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Are Luxury Grills Worth The Money?
We have a great selection of luxury grills available, from Alfresco, Lynx, Fire Magic, TEC, and Viking to whet your appetite, but why exactly are luxury grills so sought after and pricey?
And more importantly, are they really worth the money?
We'll touch on all of this and highlight some of the unique features of each brand we mentioned above, and more!
What Is A Luxury Grill?
It's a little arbitrary to choose a specific dollar amount to define what's "luxury" or not, but generally speaking any grill in the $5,000-$7,000 range and above is considered luxury.
Some luxury grills can even cost $15,000 or more.
When you’re shopping for a new grill and you venture into this price point you’ll really notice a difference in the features, the performance, and the overall quality.
Another mark of a luxury grill is that it's made in the USA. All of the brands that are regarded as the best of the best are not manufactured overseas.
Understanding Grill Price Tiers
When we discuss the different classes of grills, we’re usually talking about four distinct price tiers - these are budget, mid-range, high-end, and luxury.
Budget Grills
Budget grills have a place in the world - their purpose is to gave you a taste of what grilling is like, and a vessel to throw some quick burgers on after work.
Like many other budget products, budget grills tend not to last very long, and will eventually give up on you as the lack of high-quality components in budget grills limits performance, consistency, and durability.
Mid-Range Grills
This next tier probably has the widest breadth of brands and products in it. The price range for these grills start at around $700 and peak at a couple thousand dollars.
Mid-range grills provide good value and generally are durable and more consistent than a budget grill.
They are considerably better made than budget grills, and made with high-quality materials to ensure you’ll be grilling for years.
With mid-range grills, there is almost always some sort of downside. It could be that the grill is fantastic but its manufactured overseas. Or it might be lacking premium features like a rotisserie kit, lights, or a rear infrared burner.
These things may or may not matter to you, of course, but the presence of multiple of these "downsides" it what places these grills in the mid-range tier.
High-End Grills
High-end grills improve on the durability and features of entry-level grills and typically have only one or so of the "downsides" mentioned above.
These grills broadly have a price point of $2,500 to $5,000, have enhanced features and are higher quality than entry-level grills.
The construction has also been upgraded as well as the quality, so you could be using this grill for decades and really up your grilling game.
In the high-end range you'll find no corners cut in the design and materials departments.
Luxury Grills
The absolute top tier luxury grill class is refers to the grills that are made of the finest materials, have incredible design philosophies, and are loaded with all of the features you expect from an expensive grill - plus features you just don't find elsewhere.
For example, Alfresco's ALXE grills come with a built-in drawer where you can add wood chunks or coals. At the bottom of the drawer is a tiny burner that ignites the fuel and fills your grill - and in turn, your food - with delectable smokey flavor.
And that's just one of many examples! You just don't find those sorts of features standard on other grills.
These grills are top of the range and are sure to impress everybody at your cookout - both with their performance and aesthetics.
As previously mentioned, luxury grill brands are made in the USA and typically backed by lifetime warranties.
What Are The Luxury Grill Brands?
Here is a quick overview of the brands we believe fit into the luxury grill class, presented in alphabetical order.
Alfresco
Alfresco is based in City of Industry, California, where their products are all designed and manufactured with the most advanced precision stainless steel fabrication equipment available.
What sets Alfresco apart from other brands is their complete offering of outdoor kitchen products. No other manufacturer has as wide of a selection as Alfresco when it comes to outdoor kitchen products.
Whether it's a built-in pizza oven, a trash chute with an enclosed trash drawer underneath, a beverage center, refrigerated drawers, warming drawers, or really anything else you can imagine - they've got you covered.
With all of that being said, Alfresco's flagship product line is their outdoor grills. We mentioned the sorts of features you can expect on their built-in grills before.
Another product unique to Alfresco is their refrigerated base cart grills. Each of their grill sizes are available on a standard cart, but their 42-inch and 56-inch grills are also available on a refrigerated cart base that features one refrigerated door and two refrigerated drawers.
Alfresco also manufacturers a sister brand, Artisan Grills by Alfresco, that we would say falls in to the high-end category. Artisan grills are made in the USA with similar design to Alfresco.
You just won't find as many extra features on Artisan - and the Artisan warranty coverage is 15 years, not lifetime like Alfresco.
-----> Read Our Alfresco Grills Expert Review
Fire Magic
Fire Magic Grills are also manufactured in the USA and come with unique features that elevate their products above many other brands on the market.
Most notably their grills can come kitted with a high quality digital thermometer and a viewing window that lets you monitor your food without having to lift the lid to peek. Not to mention it's an aesthetic showstopper in your outdoor kitchen.
Fire Magic grills are also marked by their high level cooking performance. Their grate rods take a proprietary shape that provides a supremely hot, even, and consistent cooking area.
You can also control your temperature with precision on Fire Magic Grills - it's possible to hold temperatures steadily between 200ºF and 1,000ºF on most of their grills.
Last but not least, Fire Magic offer grills that literally drop in to your outdoor kitchen and provide a flat, seamless cooking surface when the lid is all the way down.
Fire Magic also has a sister brand, AOG (short for American Outdoor Grill), which offers similarly designed grills, made in the USA, with fewer features than Fire Magic Grills.
Lynx
Lynx was founded in 1996 by a group of individuals who had decades of collective experience manufacturing commercial grade stainless steel cooking appliances.
They wanted to apply what they learned to the outdoor kitchen and founded Lynx, which to this day continues to be one of the absolute finest outdoor kitchen brands on the market.
Lynx grills are marked by the purest construction materials - and the best features you'll find on an outdoor grill all come standard on a Lynx.
With Lynx, you also have the choice of how you want to configure your burners. You can choose from proprietary ceramic burners, Infrared Trident burners, or a combination thereof in your grill.
Lynx also has a sister brand at a lower price point with fewer features called Sedona by Lynx.
As of June 2022, Lynx ceased production on Sedona grills to focus production capacity on Lynx Professional Grills. It is unclear when or if Sedona grills will be produced again.
TEC
Some may argue that TEC doesn't quite belong in the "luxury" category because their grills lack some of the special features that other brands on this list provide.
However, we include them on the list because they are the leader when it comes to infrared grilling and their grills are truly special cookers.
Infrared grilling is more efficient than grilling with traditional gas burners because infrared waves directly heat your food - as opposed to a flame heating air, which in turn heats your food.
TEC grills are marked by their perfect consistency, wide temperature range (200-900ºF), and general ease of use.
Not to mention, they have a sleek stainless steel aesthetic and a wide variety of accessories/upgrades available to enhance your culinary experience.
Viking
You may have heard of Viking before - they are the creator of perhaps the most well known luxury indoor kitchen range.
They've brought the same level of design precision to their line of outdoor kitchen appliances.
Features wise, Viking is similar to Lynx in the sense that their grills come with all of the bells and whistles you can think of. Beautifully lit knobs, rotisserie kits, smoker boxes, and more come standard on each Viking grill.
Wolf
Wolf is a sister brand of Sub Zero appliances and they make a fantastic outdoor grill. Like their indoor counterparts, Wolf grills come with signature red burner knobs and have a beautiful stainless steel exterior.
One unique thing about Wolf is that you won't find any of their grills available for sale online - they're only available at brick and mortar shops or through local design professionals.
With that being said, their grills are undoubtedly one of the top options when it comes to the luxury market. Like the other names on this list, Wolf grills are feature rich and perform at a culinary grade.
-----> Visit Wolf Grills Website
What Separates Luxury Grills From The Rest?
Design & Build Quality
When we get into high-end grills, there is definitely a closer attention to detail and quality when it comes to the materials.
You won't find anything less than the highest quality, commercial grade stainless steel used to construct a high-end outdoor kitchen product. More often than not, hand welded seams are used to bring the products together instead of mechanical fasteners found in lower end products.
There is not just a manufacturing process, but a crafting process too. The design behind the top of the line grills are precise to the point that every single measurement and design decision is geared towards cooking performance.
Features
There is no end to the features available on luxury grills, and when you have a pretty big budget the only thing you need to worry about is what features are going to let you grill the way you want.
Most of the brands we have mentioned in this article (with the exception of TEC) feature multi-position rotisserie kits, spring assisted lid opening mechanisms, lit burner knobs, and interior grill halogen lights as standard features.
From there, the features don't stop but vary by brand. It's not uncommon for luxury grills to have some sort of functionality that will pump smoke into your cooking chamber, essentially giving you the option to convert your grill into a smoker.
Last but not least, it's common to find more cooking surface area on a luxury grill compared to similarly wide grills on the lower end of the spectrum.
Cooking Performance
Luxury grills have plenty of heating power, no matter whether you opt for a traditional style burner or an infrared burner.
What really sets the highest end cookers apart from the rest is how evenly and consistently they cook. Not only will they hold temperature to your precise setting within a wide temperature range, you can expect the entire cooking surface to have a consistent temperature.
That means no hot or cold spots on your cooking surface, and perfectly evenly cooked food every time you fire up the grill.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, the amount you want to spend on an outdoor kitchen is a personal choice - so when it comes to the question "are luxury grills worth the money?", the answer depends largely on your preferences and needs.
For us, we think luxury grills are justified in how much they cost and are worth it if you are in the market for a high end outdoor cooking experience.
The brands we mentioned bring together the absolute best in outdoor cooking - for showstopping entertaining spaces where friends and family can gather to share great food and create lifetime memories.