buying a new barbecue - any ideas?

[fairy]

Hi everyone, once again I need to buy something and Mumsnet is the place to come for the best advice!

I'm looking to get a bbq for the rest of the summer and following years and most places seem to currently have them reduced, so it seems logical to get one now.

I've been looking around but I cannot find reviews anywhere, and I would like to buy a decent charcol one, like a Weber One Touch.

But does anyone else have one, or can you recommend a different one? Any help would be gratefully recieved, as I also need to impress the neighbours! How sad am I!!

Thanks in advance

Fairy, I think the main feature of the Weber type is that you can use it like an oven and roast chickens in it and stuff like that, with the lid shut - as an actual barbecue I don't think it's any better than anything else (but I'm sure someone who has one will put me right!)

If you have space, why not get a built-in one - you have to buy the bricks and build the walls, obviously, but you can make it any height you like and they have an impressive cooking area, and if you get pretty (!) bricks they look nice too (and you only have to find a home for the tray/grid and not the whole thing in the winter.)

We bought a Weber compact last week in the Homebase sale - reduced from £69 to £39. It is fab! Its great having the lid because you can char the outside then stick the lid on to cook the food thoroughly. We have used it a lot in a week and we're really pleased with it.

Oh, meant to say, if you are mainly going to use it just for yourself and family its quite good having a smallish one as you use much less charcoal and its quicker to get going.

i know they are a lot more expensive but have you thought about a gas BBQ? We've just got one & it is fantastic, you can also use it all year (if you don't mind standing out in the cold - or garage - to bbq a chop!!). Best of all it is so quick, you don't have all that tedious waiting for the correct temperature etc.

As a californian who bbq'd daily most of the year when i lived in la.....I would highly recommend a gas bbq. I went through 2 or so canisters in a summer and I used it all the time. The secret is to keep an extra full canister on hand so that you don't risk running out in the middle of a party. Supposedly consumer tests say that there is no difference in the taste of the food (although you can buy special wood chips to burn for flavor) and it is sooooo much easier. And to clean it you just turn up the temperature and it burns everything off and then you brush it off when it's cool. I have a weber in la, but I'm not sure there is that much in it. Definitely having a lid that closes while you're cooking is useful.