Costco is selling their own Kirkland Signature Six Burner Gas Grill and it is absolutely beautiful. We spent some time going over the full specs on this grill and started out being impressed at heck.
However, the more we dug the more we realized that this grill is a risky purchase and not one that we can recommend yet.
Important Features of the Kirkland Six Burner Gas Grill
The Kirkland grill is loaded with stainless steel and boasts of 737 square inches of grilling space. The grill is powered by five primary burners and a sixth rear mounted infrared searing burner.
The grill has an enclosed cabinet that houses the propane tank (not included) and is a nice place to store the grill cover (is included) when not in use.
The blue LED lights on the burner control knobs are stunning and would look amazing on your deck.
The grill has beautiful design features that even encompass the lid mounted Kirkland branded thermometer.
Everything about the outside of the grill, including the two large stainless steel side tables, looks amazing. Whoever designed the exterior of the grill did an excellent job.
A really neat feature on this grill is the rear mounted infrared sear burner which is the first time we have seen this feature on any model of grill. There is a dual level cooking grate directly beneath the burner which is where you put your steaks when you want to sear them.
The Owner’s Manual for the grill says that the sear burner should only be used when all of the primary burners are turned off. Sear your steak for two minutes per side, turn off the sear burner, turn on the primary burners and then move the steaks to the primary grate to finish cooking.
We must admit that the process seems a bit “fussy”.
We have seen grills like the Weber Genesis II E335 that have a sear burner in the base of the grill and other grills with a side mounted infrared sear burner. We have also seen grills with a rear mounted infrared rotisserie burner. But we have never seen a rear mounted IR sear burner.
The cooking grates are made from solid 304 stainless steel rods which should be easy to clean and give great grill marks. Below the grates are multiple Flame Tamers also made of stainless steel.
The moment we saw the Flame Tamers, more specifically the holes punched in the ends of them, our hearts dropped as it became apparent that the grill was made by a company that has a long history of making poor quality grills. The hole pattern in these Flame Tamers are the hallmark of a company called Nexgrill.
The grill has a grease drainage system inside the enclosed cabinets that slides out easily. There does not appear to be any disposable liner trays available for the grease traps which is a bit of a bummer for cleanup.
Price of the Six Burner Kirkland Gas Grill at Costco
The grill is Item Number 2327661 and currently costs $899.99.
Our warehouse has this grill placed beside the identically priced Weber Genesis II E335 which makes for an interesting head to head showdown.
Despite the Kirkland grill being slightly larger than the Genesis, and in our opinion much better looking, it is not a grill that we can recommend due to issues with long term reliability as described below.
Why We Are Concerned About The Kirkland Gas Grill
We scoured every corner of the box the grill comes in and all through the Owner’s Manual and the name of the manufacturer is not provided anywhere.
However, when we called the Customer Service Number in the Owner’s Manual (1-866-984-7455) we were greeted by a lovely young lady who said, “Thank you for calling Nexgrill Customer Service”.
Oof!
Nexgrill is a company that historically specialized in making highly affordably gas grills that were so cheaply made that you would use them for one to two seasons and then throw them away.
The Nexgrill standard of quality is reflected in the Limited Warranty for the Kirkland grill. The Limited Warranty covers:
- Stainless Steel Burner Tubes: 10 Years
- Stainless Steel Parts: 3 Years (Grill Body, Lid, Etc)
- Rear IR Burner: 1 Year
- Grates: 1 Year
- All Other Parts: 1 Year
This is one of the crappiest warranties in the industry.
Brands like Weber offer a 10 year unlimited warranty for EVERYTHING. Brands like Napoleon and Blaze offer Lifetime Warranties.
Costco is essentially offering a one year warranty and that is perfectly in line with what you should expect for a grill manufactured by Nexgrill.
It is possible that Costco has worked with Nexgrill to make a high quality grill that will actually last. However, with no real world field data on this grill it is impossible to know.
We do not mind recommending the Nexgrill Tabletop Grill at Costco as the grill is under $200 and serves a great need. However, at $900 we cannot recommend this six burner grill as there are too many unknowns about its longevity. Stick with the Weber Genesis instead.
We did some more digging and it looks like Costco is selling an extremely similar Nexgrill branded grill at some locations. I suspect Costco is working on a longer term partnership with the company to find the right price points and competitive positions.
