I do not have a Weber Ranch kettle
I do have a Brinkman, and it does not come with the top.
I do not use the Ranch kettle that same way as I do a regular Weber kettle however and never have even considered a to for it, I use it when doing big cooks when entertaining and just the thought of opening an closing a grill that size never even occured to me til I saw my first Weber ranch kettle and then it looked like a pain. I also do rotisserie cooking over the Brinkman and will have 3 or 4 birds on the spit at a time as well as burgers, and dogs for the kids running around with a warming rack set up for them to grab off of. Take that and hang a dutch oven with beans over the edge to keep warmed up and a lid is nothing more than in the way when I fire up the Ranch Kettle
Maybe I need to post a pick of the Brinkman, and you can see what is possible when you do not have that lid on.