Grills & Smokers

Ducane Affinity Series 4400 (LP) Grill Ducane Affinity Series 4400 (LP) Grill Key FeaturesType:GrillFuel Type:Liquid Propane • Na...

Weber Ducane Affinity 4400 Grill Weber Ducane Affinity 4400 Grill Product Technical DetailsTechnical Details:30742301 ...

I have wanted a nice grill for years, and never was able to convince myself to spend more than $150 or so for a gas grill. Now that I am older, and maybe a bit wiser, I’ve decided that sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

I am not an expert griller, but I am more inclined to entertain folks at home than take them out for dinner and this is one way to accomplish that more often. My wife originally was considering a Brinkmann Pro Series 2600, but a little research steered me away from that brand. I discovered some older good reviews on the Ducane grills made before Weber bought them out. After reading that Weber backs these and some very favorable reviews and good comparative features I bit the bullet and ordered the 4400.

This model weighs about 180 lbs delivered and comes with just the grill enclosure containing the assembled burners and control valves. The rest of the assembly is up to you, the end user, unless you find it assembled at an Ace Hardware store, where these are sold.

The assembly instructions are black and white “picture story” style, with no really helpful written instructions. This means you have to decipher which screws and bolts are represented by which shade of grey bolt or screw in the diagrams and pay close attention to which illustration applies to your model as these instructions cover more than one model. Overall, it wasn’t too awfully difficult to figure this out, but make sure you’re not distracted or hurried as this will very likely cause you to make a mistake that will frustrate you but not require too much disassembly. This is because each panel, with the exception of the doors, is unique in some respect. The only thing I had problems installing was the deflector plate below the grill body, which was fairly heavy and awkward to hold in place by oneself.

All in all, I figure it took me about one and a half leisurely hours to put this together completely. I must say, this grill is much better quality than many I’ve examined at Home Depot and Costco and other places for about the same amount of money. The stainless steel seems to be all 300 series grade unlike many brands that use some 300 series, but a majority of 400 series (ferrite based, razor blade quality) low grade stainless steel.

The lower section behind the doors had a beveled cut-out for placing a LP tank securely without needing lock pins and there’s sufficient room for the rotisserie shaft and other items like oven mitts and cleaning brushes underneath. The doors are doubled walled and won’t flex or get dented easily. There is a rather simple metal rack attached to the right side outer shelf for hanging utensils.

When placed fairly close to a wall, the grill does not have to be moved out from it in order to open the hood as it swings from center side pinions and doesn’t take up any additional room, unlike my old Sunbeam that I had to remember to move a good way from the house before cooking on it.

The grill grating is a hefty 1/4″ stainless steel “wire” style (too thick to be called wire!) and comes in two identically sized sections. These fit snugly under the back bevel and probably won’t lift out with meat that may get stuck to them. The four burners are typical cylindrical stainless steel covered by removable porcelain coated heat distribution plates. The burner controls are fairly adjustable, not terribly precise, but much better than just Hi or Low. Unlike some other grills I’ve researched, the control knobs do not seem to get hot or melt, work smoothly and lock in the “off” position with a hidden detent.

I have only used this grill once, first testing all four burners and the additional rotisserie burner and side burner. The electronic ignition is a welcome step up from the push button flint style that dies after a few months outside. With this grill, you must light each individual burner that you turn on. An adjacent burner will not ignite the one next to it so be sure and verify that any burner you open up is lit before you go on to other things.

In my single test use, I grilled three 16 ounce t-bone steaks and appreciated that it appears I can use timing and placement reliably on this grill. I warmed up the grill to 500 degrees, observing the built in scaled thermometer on the grill hood. This took less than ten minutes with an outside temp of about 45 degrees. I seared all three steaks for one full minute on high with two burners going side by side, then dropped the burners down half a turn and cooked these covered for four minutes before flipping them.

As a result, two steaks were medium rare from the front two/thirds of the grill surface and one that was closer to medium from the rearmost section. Next time, I think 5 minutes a side for the front two should make them medium as well. I had read that the front section of the Ducane Affinity models were cooler than the rear and this validated that appraisal. Very nice grill marks on the meat!

In conclusion, this grill is so much nicer than any I’ve ever had before and better constructed than I expected for a grill made in China (for Weber) and priced under $500. I expect this appliance will give me many years (hopefully ten or more) of trouble free and reliable grilling performance.

I would not hesitate to recommend this over most comparably priced grills.

I will update this review with any future pertinent details that I discover.

Ducane “Affinity 4400″ Grill Ducane "Affinity 4400" Grill Product Technical DetailsTechnical Details:30741301/30742301 ...

Ducane Affinity 4100 Grill Ducane Affinity 4100 Grill Product Technical DetailsTechnical Details:30742101 Key F...

Ducane Affinity™ 4200 Grill Ducane Affinity™ 4200 Grill Key FeaturesType:GrillFuel Type:Natural GasIgnition Type:Push-...

Ducane Affinity 3100 All-in-One Grill / Smoker Ducane Affinity 3100 All-in-One Grill / Smoker Product Technical DetailsTechnical Details:30...

Ducane Affinity™ 3400 Grill Ducane Affinity™ 3400 Grill Key FeaturesType:GrillFuel Type:Natural GasCooking Area:343 sq...

Ducane Affinity 3200 Grill Ducane Affinity 3200 Grill Key FeaturesType:GrillFuel Type:Liquid PropaneCooking Area:418 sq...

Ducane Affinity 3400 (NG) Grill

Ducane Affinity 3100 (NG) Grill

Tags: Ace Hardware, AMI, Brinkmann, Ducane, Gas, Leisure, Sunbeam, Weber