Grill Buying Guide: How to Choose the Right Grill Size

With the summer right around the corner and the weather looking better than ever, you will want to treat yourself and your family with a grill. There is no better way to spend this time, just imagine soaking up the sun while smelling the aroma of your burger cooking in the grill.

Now, if you are to buy a grill, then you need to be mindful of a few things, and the size of the grill is very important. If you’re new to this, you must be a tad bit confused about how to choose the right grill size. But you can breathe a sigh of relief because we have got you covered!

How to Choose the Right Grill Size

At first, let it be known that there is no one-size-fits-all, or in this case, one-sized-grill for all. People have different requirements, and with those requirements, their need for the grill size will be different as well.

But there are a few things which would typically help you make the decision on which grill size to get for your backyard.

Size of the Party

The very first thing you need to address when buying a grill is the size of the party you will be catering to. Because the right size is going to be determined by the number of people you will be cooking for.

If you are planning to use the grill to host different parties and gatherings, then you will be needing a bigger grill. That is because you have more people to feed, and if your grill is small, then chances are it will take forever to cook the meat on the grill as not many of them can be put on the grill at the same time.

However, if you are just planning to get a grill for you and your family, then I don’t really see a need to go all out and get a large grill. It would be wasteful as all the cooking surface is not required.

A Good BTU

Let’s address what BTU means. It is an abbreviation of the British Thermal Unit that is used to measure the energy produced by the grill. The BTU is a measurement of how much energy is needed if you want to heat a pound of meat. So, you might think 100 BTUs per square inch is what works best for you.

I would say though, BTU is not a good measure if you want to decide on the right size of grill because, in many cases, the manufacturers and sellers of the grills overestimate the figure, which might automatically make you believe the grill is much larger than it is in real life.

So, if you are trying to find a grill to get online, then you should spend some time researching the specific grill you are looking into. There are times the BTU might be significantly high, but the making of the grill is poor.

With all that being said, a high BTU does often mean the grill is larger. Keep this in mind when you decide on what to get.

What Output Do You Want from the Grill

As I have said before, you will need a different grill size based on what kind of output you require from it. For more frequent use for the family, you can make do with something medium size. But for events and occasions, you need to invest your money on something much larger.

However, if you and your friends or family enjoy going on camping trips and picnics, then you cannot make do with something medium or large. You need your grill to be on the smaller side, one which you can travel with.

In this case, you could opt for having two separate grills, one for your home and the other for these trips. Or you could have one small grill for both of these plans.

How Many Burgers Can You Grill at a Time

We most commonly use grills for cooking burger patties, sometimes steaks, and then there are also barbecues. As burgers are so often grilled on these, manufacturers now tend to advertise and specify how many burgers can be grilled on the surface area. So, you will be able to measure how much you can cook at the same time.

But this is not the best of measures as there are times the figures are misleading as they do not take account of the size of the patties or space between them. And chances are you won’t be able to make 30 burgers if the manufacturers say you can make 30 at a time.

You should much rather take account of actual measurements of the grill than the number of patties it says it grills.

Surface Area of the Grill

If you are trying to determine what size of grill you need, then you should look at the surface area of the grill. This is exactly the kind of measurement I was talking about before. The surface is measured in square inches, and for an average size household, something within 500 square inches is just the right size.

But for occasional barbecue parties in these households, you would want to get something a little bigger. Something around the range of 650 square inches would be perfect and most suitable.

Size of Your Backyard

Now, this might be one of the most important things you need to consider when you decide to buy a grill. If you have a very large space, then this might not be something you have to worry about, as you have plenty of space to place the grill in. So a large to a medium or even a small will not really make much of a difference.

But the size of the backyard comes to mind if it is on the smaller side. Because you need to have enough space in there to place a grill. If you get something big, then chances are you will have a very cramped space and not much space for the people to sit around.

This is something to consider as you need to leave some space between the wall and the grill. And you have to have some distance between the grill and the sitting area as it radiates a lot of heat.

Conclusion

These are all the things you need to keep in mind when you are trying to decide on the right side of the grill. If you are able to access your requirements, then you will have a very easy time determining what size to buy.