Just out of curiosity, but for your kettles that are in active duty, how often do you clean them? Are you using just hot soapy (dish soap?) water, or is there something better to clean them with?
I tend to at least lean out the bottom of the cattle from ash either right after I use it, or with in a few days. It's lead me to discover one flaw in the one touch design, they need to let the fingers travel more so that their range overlaps a bit. I always end up with little triangles of Ash that the fingers don't get to that I need to do by hand.
This is my first Weber Kettle and I want it to last a life time, so I'm just wondering how often I should be cleaning it inside and out, to make sure that happens.