Saturday morning I went to help a friend/coworker move from their apartment to a new house. He and his wife have never had a house before, and right now they have a 1 year old, are expecting another baby in two months AND are housing a foreign exchange student who goes to our school. He's a great guy with some insane basketball skills...SERIOUSLY
http://www.wilthethrill.com/Anyway, we've had them over several times, and his wife (who is from El Salvador) has LOVED all the meals I've grilled for them. However, being apartment dwellers they could never have a grill. Anyway, got them moved in, get home at 1pm and notice these two deals locally...
Now the first one was listed for $45 "Brand New". I could clearly see it had the economy kettle triangle at the bottom. BUT I could also see that there was a new condiment rack inside. I messaged the guy and he said he'd sell for $35.
The second was a BRAND NEW Green One Touch Gold for $70. They wouldn't budge on price. So, away I went to pick up both. I went to pick up the one touch, and when I got to the Broadacres Swap Meet, the guy met me outside the gate. What I got was a completely new in box kettle. $70 away.
As I was driving that day, I thought about my friend Wil. He has no grill. At first, I thought about gifting him my 78 red that I'm now selling. But once I picked up the second kettle, I knew he'd love it. I got there and sure enough, it had NEVER been used. DD code from 2000. It had a One Touch system inside, new ash pan, condiment rack, and unused charcoal rails. It even had the showroom sticker on it. CRAZY.
Anyway, I went home, dropped off the condiment rack and charcoal rails (I'm only human), grabbed one of my older charcoal chimneys and went back to his new house to drop off his new to him kettle. He was thrilled. We put it out on the back patio, and he made me promise to show him how to use it in a couple weeks. Can't wait.
Then I went back home to put together the green kettle.
This is actually my VERY FIRST brand new kettle. Some thoughts. I like others hate the new handle. I refuse to put the taco shell on...will this mess things up long term? I also notice that the plastic handle materials are all thinner plastic than even my 2014 copper. The legs are of thinner metal than in the past. HOWEVER I LOVE the new leg assembly procedure. Click, click, click. I also like the LOOK of the new ash catcher, if not the squeezing. We'll see how that works out. My wife really likes this one, so that's good...
All in all, I've wanted a dark green, and although it's not vintage, it is nice. With all that said, this is where I stand right now...I'm all ready for a big cook next weekend...
joking aside, in the last year, I've used each of these multiple times, and it's fun to pick which grill to use.