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summit (sum-it) noun

Definition:

1. The highest point or part; the top.

2. The highest level or degree that can be attained.

Synonyms: Summit, peak, pinnacle, acme, apex, zenith, climax. These nouns all mean the highest point. Summit denotes the highest level attainable.*

To skip the personal dialogue and product testimonial, please scroll down to: The Out of Box Experience. Everyone else, get comfortable, this is a long one! Are you still with me? Pay attention now, take notes, you will be tested on this later.

Several weeks ago I prepared my infamous garlicky marinade; properly saturated the enormous scallops, prawns and tuna steaks; then set out to preheat the long-trusted, hard-working Weber Spirit® residing in our screened pool enclosure. I clicked the igniter and nothing happened. I checked the propane tank; it showed full as full can be from the level indicator. I held a lit match into the small hole designated for that purpose and set my acrylic nails on fire. It appeared my fingers were to be the only flesh cooked anywhere near the grill that fine day.

Our male guests and my Equal Half offered a number of suggestions and headed for the twin tool chests in our garage. Armed to the teeth with pliers, screwdrivers, a hammer (a hammer?) and various other weapons of destruction, the men folk prodded, poked, banged and finally pronounced the Weber® dead at 3:45 PM, Sunday, February 27th of the year 2000. Seems the old grill lost its Spirit®. [You may now groan.] Or, as my pal sang repeatedly between Margaritas, “The old black grill just ain”t what she used to be.”

Fast forward to a humid tropical night two weeks later. This proud Epinion member performed a search on Weber® grills. Oh joy of joys, the wealth of member opinions on the subject numbered in the forties! The notation below the category header claimed these products were one hundred percent recommended. Surely, this convincing statistic included in my debate with Equal Half would result in our agreeing to replace rather than repair the ghostly Spirit®. Two family crises, one emergency surgery and a moderately severe case of pneumonia later, we discussed the matter again. We decided to upgrade from the Weber® gas grill basic line to a top of the line model. To remove all guilt, the Spirit® would live once more, after suitable repairs, as a donation to Habitat for Humanity. This act of generosity was kind, wise and above all, a sorely needed tax deduction.

After much research, we honed in on the Summit® Series - Model 450. Utilizing the product comparison feature on the Weber® site, we narrowed it down to that particular model. In truth, any of the series offered would serve our purposes as they all sport identical basic features and solid construction. The decision was made; now all that remained was to make the purchase and bring it home. Sounds simple to the layman but believe me, from this point on things got complicated.

No stores in this area carried the Summit® line of grills. Home Depot sold Weber® products but not the one we determined was the ideal for us. We figured the line was simply too new for mega-merchants to have in stock. I phoned Weber“s customer service asking for the location of the nearest retailer marketing their premier line. Sadly, the closest store was over three hundred miles away. The telephone representative offered to ship the grill of our dreams at a highly discounted shipping rate due to the lack of availability in our area. We thought this would be a viable solution and began the ordering process.

Now, dear reader, let me take a moment to give a word of advice. When researching a product or service, it is best to get all the details before making a purchase. A crucial detail is price. Please refrain from asking me why I omitted this bit of information from my long list of features and essentials. I attribute this to being a baby boomer and my misspent youth.

I finally asked the all-important question. The shocked look on my face stopped Equal Half in his tracks.

“How much?” my Equal Half demanded.

“It”s a lot,” I deftly replied.

“How much?!?!?” he repeated with a dramatic flourish.

“Twenty-six hundred dollars,” I whispered.

“Twenty-six hundred AMERICAN dollars?” he roared with energy never before witnessed by me.

“Plus tax and shipping,” I managed to blurt while hoping his crimson complexion was the result of a really bad sunburn.

I promised to call back the nice customer service lady after discussing this purchase with my husband and surmised that would be the end of it. Later that day, I found Equal Half checking out the Weber® web site on a solo mission. With notebook in hand and a variety of printed pages spread across the desk, he seemed deep in thought. The calculator”s paper ribbon stretched across the desk. There was hope.

Calculating the escalating cost of replacing one of the base line Weber® grills every five years over a period of twenty years would come to slightly less than the price quoted by the telephone representative. The limited lifetime warranty assured the Summit® would serve us for years without additional cost. Our experience with Weber® support over the years has been nothing short of outstanding. Needed parts are priority shipped at no charge with the well-trained staff following up on repair calls. Equal Half”s eyes twinkled when he spoke of the features we could not get in lesser models. I let him convince me of the wisdom of this purchase. I was tough but fair.

The Out of Box Experience:

· Pre-Assembled Cast Aluminum Cooking Box

· Stainless Steel Lid (optional)

· Pre-Assembled Cabinet Base

· Pre-Assembled Stainless Steel Burner Assembly

· Four Bolts - This is not a typo!

· Heavy Duty Locking Casters and All Weather Wheels

· Commercial Quality Stainless Steel Cooking Grates

· Stainless Steel Warming Rack

· Heavy-grade Stainless Steel Flavorizer Bars®

· Commercial Grade Thermometer

· Stainless Steel Smoker-Steamer

· Slide-out Bottom Tray with Removable Catch Pan

· Stainless Steel Work Surfaces and Condiment Baskets

· 20-pound LP (Liquid Propane) Tank and Regulator

· Vented Grill Cover (optional)

· Weber“s Art of the Grill Cookbook

· Use and Care Booklet and Video

· Limited Lifetime Warranty

Features:

1. Easy Assembly: The biggest problem we encountered was in getting the pre-assembled components out of the shipping cartons. The sheer weight of each piece required two strong people to lift and position for assembly. While the grill only required the four bolts to assemble, additional modules required installation. The included directions proved simple and comprehensive. Everything aligned perfectly on the first try which considerably sped up the process. Equal Half”s broken arm assured his appointment as Managing Director of our friendly crew of three, two burly neighbors and me. From unpacking to wheeling the grill to its permanent home, assembling the Summit® 450 took just under an hour.

2. Stainless Steel: Everything that normally would turn to rust in our humid, salty southern climate is constructed of stainless steel. The twin work surfaces and condiment baskets will take abuse and retain their shine. No fears here over the possibility of the Gulf winds corroding the solid doors and walls of the cabinet base as they, too are stainless steel. Shiny, easy to care for and wonderfully impervious to the weather, the cooking grates, Flavorizer Bars®, slide out bottom tray, smoker/steamer and optional stainless steel lid will last as long as we own this grill and probably longer.

3. Crossover Ignition Switch: This is another patented feature of all Weber® grills. Lighting the grill simply requires slowly turning on the LP tank valve, opening the front burner valve and clicking the large ignition button. To light additional burners simply press and turn the burner valve knobs. The burner holes are on the side facing the center of the grill instead of pointing up towards the cooking surface. This assures that most food drippings will not clog the burners.

4. Flavorizer Bars®: Again, let”s talk heft, let”s talk solid and let”s talk stainless steel. Weber® gas grills use their patented Flavorizer Bars® instead of lava rocks or ceramic tiles for cooking. Fats and juices hit the inverted “V-shaped” bars, fragrantly sizzle, and turn into smoke while any excess drains into the pullout tray below. The draining liquids collect in an ample sized slide-out drip pan for quick disposal. This process eases my worries over flare-ups and grease fires. We found the porcelain coated steel Flavorizer Bars® of the older Spirit® and my mother”s new Genesis Silver A model grills very easy to clean. The bars included with the Summit® series become pristine again with a hot soapy sponge and a rinse.

5. Cooking Grates: The restaurant quality cooking grates are constructed of commercial-grade, welded-rod stainless steel, according to the included documentation. Thus far, I have experienced none of the usual problems with hot spots or areas that seem to stay cooler than the rest of the cooking surface.

6. Cooking: Weber® gas grills are a whole new animal for most converts. Instead of direct heat cooking as with most charcoal and gas grills, Weber® grills rely on indirect heat for most cooking processes. With the old two-burner Spirit® model, I would place food directly over the burners to quickly sear and move the items to the center of the grill and close the lid to complete the process. The Summit® series allows omission of the second step. With all four burners running, place the food in the center of the grill if it requires searing, then turn off the two center burners, and close the lid. The efficiency and power of 50,000 BTUs per hour [insert Tim Allen style grunts here] along with the construction of the grill make cooking times much shorter than with conventional grills. Instead of simply grilling, air is constantly in motion under the lid creating a convection oven atmosphere. Whole chickens, roasts and larger cuts of meat require no turning and brown to perfection on all sides while cooking in shorter times.

7. Thermometer: I get quite a kick out of watching the commercial thermometer”s indicator jump from the outside temperature all the way around the dial in minutes. The thermometer fits into a slot on the lid for easy viewing of the oven temperature. When the approximate cooking time of the food arrives, simply pull the thermometer from its perch and use the lengthy probe to test for internal temperature of the food. Cleaning the probe after each use requires a nylon scrub pad or kitchen brush. This one item should never see the inside of a dishwasher.

8. Fuel Gauge: This is a must have for all serious outdoor chefs! The fuel gauge, attached to the frame serves as a hanger-style holder for the LP gas tank. The tank securely locks onto a brace with a sliding plate secured with a wing nut. Determined by the strain of the weight on the brace, the gauge shows the amount of gas in the tank. A quick glance at the gauge clearly shows how much fuel remains with its bright red indicator. As with all newer LP gas tanks, this model is equipped with an OPD (Over-filling Protection Device), a secondary device that prevents dangerous overfilling of the cylinder.

9. Dimensions:

· Total cooking area - 493 square Inches

· Height - 60″ x Width - 67″ x Depth - 31″

I realize paying this much for a grill may strike some as frivilous. We expect to get years and optimistically decades of enjoyment out of this purchase. Each individual”s priorities in life are unique. We love cooking out on a daily basis and do it year round. For around the same price as my beloved Dell Inspiron Notebook computer which will serve my purposes for somewhere in the neighborhood of two years, we own a solidly built and beautiful outdoor appliance that may very well be the last we will need to buy in this lifetime. All things considered, it seems like a pretty good deal to me!

If you stuck with me this far, consider yourself excused from taking the test. Please put on your bathing suits and dive in. The steaks will be ready in just a few minutes. Let the party begin!

* Summit® definition and synonyms from Microsoft Bookshelf®

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Tags: AMI, Charcoal, Gas, Old Smokey, Propane, Smokey, Summit, Weber