I have done an extensive amount of research on grills. Here is the condensed version:
Natural
Gas is 3 times cheaper than propane. It will take a couple of years to
pay for itself but add in the convenience of not running out of gas and I
think this is the way to go. The estimate to have the gas line installed for me was $385 and that includes tax, permits and inspection.
Getting a grill that is setup for Natural Gas also adds to the price of the grill and reduces your number of options.
Grills
can be put into 3 buckets, low-end, mid-range and professional series. I
started looking at mid-range and then into the professional. There are a
couple of brands that try to sit in the middle of the two but they tend
to sacrifice quality in the structural parts to keep the cooking parts
on par with the high end models.
After looking at about 100 grills I narrowed it down to several brands and models.
- Weber
- well made but expensive. To get what I wanted was well over $1k and then the other brands start to look better.
- Broil King
- Low end models sacrifice quality
but the top-end models have all the features and have pretty good
quality. top end models are still expensive.
- Napoleon
- Most
of their grills are high quality but the less expensive models are made
in china and don't hold up. Their low-end models are priced with Broil
King's top-end.
- Lion
- This was my favorite for the cost/value.
They only make two models and the main difference is the size. Top
quality construction. They are expensive at base cost but you get a nice set of extras that come with it.
I looked all over for pricing and Amazon was very competitive with these models. Pricing includes shipping.
Lion:
This is the one I would recommend, it has the
rotisserie burner and comes with a bunch of extras like the rotisserie, smoke box and there is
also the ability to add a searing burner.
Napoleon:
There are several models in this price range from them but I liked
this one the best for feature to price ratio. This model is still very
nice and well constructed but not to the same level as the Lion. This
one includes the rotisserie and has a searing station.
Broil King Imperial:
This one is the same brand as you will see at home depot but it's
the high-end model. Anything from the imperial line is supposed to made
of more solid materials and better construction. I don't think it's
going to be at the same level as the above models but I'm sure it's good
and it's priced significantly lower. It comes with the rotisserie but
no searing station and as far as I can tell you can't add one.
. Needless to say I was a little excited about this purchase. 
