On 24 Feb 2005 06:38:36 -0800, "Sheldon" > wrote:

>
wrote:
>> Can anyone give me advice on a reasonably priced
>> outdoor built-in grill unit? I'd like to build
>> myself a custom outdoor kitchen, and I'd like to
>> keep the price of a fairly nice and large main
>> cook surface to about $1000 or less. I was looking
>> for LP but natural will work too.
>>
>> I know these units get expensive, but I also know
>> that I don't think most of them are worth it, they
>> are just charging a large luxury premium for these
>> types of things.

When I was a wee lad, I once worked on a small dock,
where, among other things we sold cooked crab.

The WAY we cooked crab was to build a 4x4x8'
stainless steel box, set down on cinderblocks,
with ledges inside to hold up an expanded-steel
mesh. We'd dump 10 gallons of seawater into the
bottom of the thing, dump 100-400 pounds of
crab in on top, and then shove a burner taken
out of someone's home furnace under the whole thing,
and drip the fuel-line into a can of deisel fuel.

I mention this to illustrate the point that
cooking equipment isn't particularly complicated.

You need a gas supply, a stainless steel
box with a cover, drains, and air-holes,
one or more valves, and an array of replacement
burners, and something to hold the food up
and away from the burners.

If you want something that will also look pretty,
then you also need someone who knows how
to cut and weld stainless.