Summertime is in full swing and that means cookouts on the grill as often as possible.
And while plenty of people like to grill on an old-fashioned kettle with charcoal most folks aren’t interested in all the hassle and headache (not to mention preforming and babysitting) that those kinds of grills bring to the table.
Natural gas grills, on the other hand, give you on-demand heat that is easily controllable and adjustable whenever you want to get things going. Quick to preheat, quick to sear, and easy enough to set up in multiple temperature zones so that you have better control over your outdoor cooking, natural gas really is the way to go.
Unfortunately, with so many different options out there to pick and choose from finding the best natural gas grill can feel like a real uphill battle.
But that’s why we have put together this quick guide.
Let’s take a little deeper into everything that the ten best natural gas grills on the market today have to offer!
The Best Natural Gas Grills on the Market Today
One of the coolest things about this Weber grill is that it comes with a super affordable price tag – usually available for less than $500 (sometimes much less than that) – without sacrificing any of the cooking power, performance, or capabilities you are after.
Capable of being configured for natural gas as well as liquid propane, the versatility of this particular Weber model is pretty special as well. The internal GS4 grilling system leverages infinity ignition platform for quick starts and reliable performance, the porcelain enameled grill bars guarantee that things stick a lot less to your grill than they might have with regular steel, and the inclusion of a dedicated grease management system to avoid flareups is a nice bonus, too.
Unlike a lot of other natural gas grill options on the market today that come with a two or a four burner configuration you’re going to find this Weber set up with a triple burner layout. This allows you to do dual zone cooking pretty efficiently, keeping things warm on one side while using two burners to really ramp things up so that you get crazy high temperatures for seering and finishing off.
The primary cooking space give you 424 in.² to work with, more than enough to handle a family cookout but also plenty enough to handle a couple of racks of ribs, two briskets, and more hot dogs and hamburgers than you’ll ever know what to do with.
- Plenty of cooking space for all your needs
- High-end Weber grilling system that allows for easy operation and control
- 10 year warranty and Weber reputation for quality
- Inexpensive price point
- Some assembly required
- Can be finicky when switching from natural gas to propane
For a number of years now, the folks at Napoleon have produced some of the best gas grills money can buy – capable of going head to toe with Weber (the company most consider to be the undisputed king of the ring when it comes to grilling in general).
This particular Napoleon model is designed to provide you with an almost unbelievable amount of cooking space, upwards of 805 in.² to work with. That’s nearly double the Weber model we just highlighted a moment ago, guaranteeing that you have even more space to cook all of your favorite meals outdoors with impeccable temperature control.
Capable of cranking out as much as 74,000 BTU of heat while also taking advantage of infrared technology to get things even hotter – the perfect solution for putting a nice sear on a gorgeously cooked steak, or crisping up the outside of a medium rare hamburger – it really doesn’t get a whole lot better than this.
Sure, this grill is a little bit on the heavier side of things (weighing in at 178 pounds) which means it’s not quite as portable as some of the other options out there. But if it’s going to be positioned in one place outdoors (which is pretty commonplace when you’re running natural gas to it) that shouldn’t be much of a problem.
Like a lot of other natural gas grills this Napoleon option can flip between gas and propane pretty easily, giving you the utmost flexibility in how you want to use your grill going forward.
- Super large cooking space (enough to handle 24 average sized burgers all at once)
- Six individual burners with complete temperature control options for each
- Effortless multi zone cooking with ceramic infrared rear burner technology for a perfect sear
- Some question marks regarding the overall longevity of Napoleon grills in general
- This beast is heavy and difficult to move around after fully assembled
You are going to see a lot of Weber grills on this list, and for good reason. The company is synonymous with outdoor cooking, with grill technology in general, and is one of the most beloved names in grilling and barbecuing for a good reason.
The Weber Summit is a game changing new grill at the high-end of the natural gas world, providing you with maybe the most consistent and elegant solution to cook outdoors you’ll find anywhere.
Yes, it does come in at a pretty heavy price tag (there’s a reason why it’s called the Summit, after all) and there are other girls out there that offer a little more cooking space or a little more raw power, but none of them have the same kind of usability, consistency, and reliability that this Weber option has.
To begin with, you get access to 580 in.² of cooking area as well as an extra 110 in.² in a dedicated “warming rack”. This isn’t the largest working surface on our list (in fact the Napoleon we highlighted a second ago has a little more space), but it’s more than enough to cook everything for a large family or a decent size party pretty efficiently.
Four main burners make up the “bread and butter” of the cooking surface that’s capable of putting out 48,800 BTU of heat – but there are also four “snap jet” burners that can provide a little bit of extra heat, focused heat, that gives your grill amazing searing capabilities and a lot of other flexibility while cooking.
One of these snap jet burners is a dedicated sear station option, another doubles as a side burner when you’re cooking up sauces or warming upsides, the third burner acts as a smoker system for low heat output, and finally you have a dedicated and rear mounted rotisserie burner that works with the rotisserie spit accessory for the Weber Summit to totally change the way you use your grill from top to bottom.
- This is as close to an outdoor kitchen set up as you’re going to find in a single grail
- Legendary Weber reputation for build quality, durability, and warranty
- Super easy to use and highly flexible cooking surface with multiple dedicated burners
- A little bit on the expensive side of things
- Pretty big, pretty heavy, and pretty bulky
Lion grills may not have the brand-name recognition that Weber or even Napoleon grills have right now, but you would be making a huge mistake overlooking them – especially this particular model.
Providing plenty of workable space while remaining relatively compact, everything about this natural gas grill screams premium quality from top to bottom.
Everything starts from commercial grade 304gauge stainless steel (some of the highest quality construction materials available in the grilling world), and from there you’re only going to find even better quality parts across the board.
Cast stainless steel burners are capable of providing an amazing amount of heat output (nearly 60,000 BTU), and tucked into the back of the grill station is a 15,000 BTU infrared rotisserie burner that opens up a world of cooking options you just don’t find with lower quality set ups.
The cool thing about the Lion in particular is that it also includes a lot of the fancy bells and whistles you’d only find as extra (and expensive) accessories that have to be purchased separately. This grill has the rotisserie set up and a dedicated smoker box included with your purchase, both of which can be pretty expensive when you have to source them separately from your grill with most other manufacturers.
The interior lighting (heatproof lighting) for improved night grilling, the chrome features and accents, and the easy to clean cooking surface all help to put this over the top when you’re looking for a really nice (and really high-end) natural gas grill.
- Super high quality construction components throughout
- Included heatproof lighting on the interior of the grill hood is a huge convenience feature
- Inclusion of much-needed accessories (smoking box and rotisserie) for free is a game changer
- Doesn’t have the same reputation for durability that Weber or Napoleon have (yet)
- Almost foolishly expensive compared to some other (larger) options
- Definitely on the heavy side of things because of the overbuilt engineering and highest quality construction components
This Weber grill – the Genesis II – is the second iteration of this series and one of the best three burner options available from the folks at Weber today.
Many consider this natural gas grill to be the very best option you can find for less than $1000, making it a bit of a step up from the Weber Spirit grill we highlighted at the beginning of this breakdown without you having to spend a mountain of money more to get your hands on it.
Including the legendary GS4 grilling system that almost all Weber gas options include these days – a system that is built on top of the infinity ignition platform, porcelain enameled flavor bars, and a dedicated grease management platform – you’re going to be able to make quick work of all your favorite grilled meals when you are running the Genesis in the backyard.
This grill provides 513 in.² of grilling space to work with, grilling space that you’ll be able to use to cook an endless amount of hot dogs and hamburgers, multiple chickens, and a couple of racks of ribs – or a combination of all of the above (and then some) without ever crowding things out).
The grill also includes two dedicated side tables for easy to access working spaces, though plenty of people pop them off of the Weber (super easy to do) and create their own work surfaces or counter tops for this grill specifically.
Capable of using both natural gas and liquid propane (like most every other Weber natural gas set up on the market today), this set up is a little bit heavier than most – weighing in at 170 pounds – but uses a smart large and small wheel system to maneuver it around.
- Super large cooking surface to work with
- Fully compatible with iGrill3 accessories
- Consistent triple burner heat output with a fine level of control
- Legendary Weber reputation for durability and consistency
- Big and bulky for a triple burner set up
- Side tables are little flimsy
- Works best when set up in place and then parked their semi-permanently
This is the “big brother” model of the Weber Summit natural gas grill we highlighted above – a little bit larger, little bit more powerful, and a little pricier – but a lot of people find it to be the ultimate gas ground when they are planning on doing cookouts for larger groups or more consistent grilling on a semi-daily or even daily basis throughout the summer.
You see, you get access to 693 in.² of cooking area to work with when you step up to this version of the Weber Summit. On top of that, you gain access to 145 in.² of warming rack room as well – and you don’t just have to use that warming rack to keep things nice and toasty.
There are a lot of folks out there that use the warming rack as a smoking station, to cool things down when they have them on higher burner configurations, or to expand a dual zone cooking surface into a triple zone cooking surface for even more control over your finished results.
At the end of the day, though, you’ll have access to 60,000 BTU of heating power across six individual main burners. There are also dedicated snap jet burners that provide extra flexibility and cooking capabilities – side burner, sear burner, smoker burner, and a rear mounted rotisserie burner – that open up a world of culinary opportunities for you to pursue with your grill as well.
All in all, the biggest difference between this Weber Summit and the one we highlighted a little bit earlier boils down to the overall size of both models (and obviously the price tag). You get a little more space to work with and a couple of extra burners but you’ll have to pay more for the privilege.
- Very well-built and constructed
- Unparalleled control with all of the different burner configurations
- Plenty of organized storage underneath the grill set up
- Top-tier Weber reputation for quality and consistency, and reliability
- Sky high price tag
- Will definitely take up a lot of room in the backyard
- Rotisserie module is a little bit finicky to take advantage of
If you are a competition grill master, have dreams of hosting a cookout for the entire neighborhood, or just want to have access to maybe the most power in a backyard grill possible for a grill the size – especially one running natural gas – this Napoleon Prestige 500 model is where you want to zero your attention.
While not quite as overpowered as the Prestige 665 from Napoleon (or as expensive), the Prestige 500 offers you a lot of power and a lot of performance with a premium price tag attached.
Four primary burners are your bread and butter options for configuring the cooking surface that you have to work with, a cooking surface that comes in at 500 in.². Have a feeling for where the name of this model came from already?
All of these burners have the ability to fire up to 48,000 BTU of heat output when they are cranked up to maximum, and you can take things to entirely new levels by juicing things up even further with a dedicated infrared rear burner designed to help you sear much more effectively.
The cooking surface is large enough to handle 31 average sized hamburgers, and that’s not even counting the extra 140 in.² you’ll be able to use a with a dedicated side burner that sits outside of the actual grill itself.
Jet fire ignition systems that Napoleon has been using for quite a while now are super consistent and easy to use, providing you with quick start capabilities that you don’t have to worry about malfunctioning anytime soon. They also include a back channel design that lets these burners light off of one another for improved safety, neat little feature that some other gas grills should be looking to take advantage of.
Lastly, and we thought this was a really cool touch, the inclusion of a “glow feature” that makes the knobs of active burners glow red helps to improve safety even more so. It’s nice to know which of your burners are fired even when the grill hood is down at a glance.
- 500 in.² of grilling space lease plenty of room for hot dogs, burgers, and ribs
- Dedicated side burner outside of the grill is a really neat feature to work with
- Safety features on this Napoleon are top-tier
- The price point is kind of high compared to similarly sized grills on the market right now
- You can’t remove the left side table of this ground because it’s where the burner is included
Even though Bull hasn’t been around as a brand anywhere near as long as Weber or Napoleon – having just started making grills in the 1990s – they have built up a bit of a cult following for producing high quality options that are consistent, super well-built, and easy to use with almost unbelievable heat output all at the same time.
This Bull grill – the Angus model – is made out of 304 stainless steel construction materials, with the hood constructed out of 14gauge 304 stainless steel that’s a little bit thicker, little bit stronger, and a little bit better at retaining extra heat.
Proprietary infrared technology inside of the Angus works with perforated stainless steel flame tamers that produce a more even heat across multiple zone cooking surfaces, giving you the kind of control over your outdoor grill that you might not even have indoors when you are cooking on your stove or in your oven.
Throw in the fact that the folks at Bull include a top to bottom lifetime warranty that’s one of the best in the business (if not THE best in the business) and it’s easy to see why so many people are flocking to this relatively new company.
The only thing that is going to hold some people back is the price tag associated with these models. Even though the Angus is one of the least expensive options made by this manufacturer it is still going to set you back a pretty penny.
- Unbelievably high quality from top to bottom
- Proprietary infrared heating technology and flame taming systems provide better control than most anything else out there
- Included rotisserie system is a nice addition you don’t have to pay extra for
- The price is definitely situated at the premium end of the market
- These grills are bigger and bulkier than most other options
- The hood can get “stuck” when you are cooking, with some reporting they have to sort of fight it open
This Napoleon grill is pretty much identical to the Prestige 500 model that we highlighted just a second ago with one major exception – it doesn’t include any of the dedicated cabinet space or side tables that the traditional “all-in-one” set up will.
This is the exact same grill surface and “main grill module” from top to bottom, though, taking advantage of the exact same four primary burners and dedicated infrared burner to provide up to 48,000 BTU of heat output across 500 in.² of cooking surface.
Yes, you are going to have to have a dedicated space that you can install this built-in gas grill into – an outdoor kitchen set up with natural gas lines hard plumbed in – but other than that there really isn’t a whole lot different between this unit and the one that comes with a rolling cabinet and side burner.
- Capable of heating up to 1800° and 30 seconds or less when you fire the infrared burner
- Enough square inch cooking space to handle 31 regular sized hamburgers at once
- High-quality construction components you expect from the folks at Napoleon
- You’ll either need to build your own grill cart or have an outdoor kitchen you can drop this grill into
- You lose the side burner when you go with this configuration
If you aren’t interested in spending a mountain of money on a new dedicated natural gas ground, but still want to take advantage of advanced engineering and consistent cooking technology, this particular option is going to be right up your alley.
The Premier three provides you with 550 in.² of cooking surface to work with, most of that the “primary cooking surface” that comes in at 396 in.². The remainder of the surface sits up top in the form of a warming rack or a dual zone area where you can cool things down if they are starting to cook too fast.
Not quite as well-made as some of the other options we’ve highlighted on this list – for example, the grill grates themselves are formed out of cast-iron as opposed to the stainless steel or porcelain enameled options many of the other top contenders include – you won’t have to cut corners on quality much to cut costs with the Premier three.
This remains a very well made and highly capable system that features a triple burner layout to pump out temperatures as high as 36,000 BTU when you have everything firing at maximum output.
All in all this remains a relatively budget focused option for those that are just getting into the world of natural gas grilling and makes a perfect starter grill for sure.
- Relatively inexpensive
- More than 500 in.² of cooking surface to work with
- Triple burner configuration pumps out 36,000 BTU of consistent heat
- Not quite as well-made as other options on this list
- Right around the same price point as the Weber Spirit, a better option for most
Final Thoughts on the Best Natural Gas Grill
When you get right down to it, all of the options that we have highlighted above are well worth a closer look if you are serious about doing some real grilling this summer.
At the same time, if we had to pick just one natural gas grill of the options we broke down in this quick guide it would have to be the Weber Genesis II.
This natural gas grill is just such a capable and flexible platform that makes the most of the proprietary GS4 grilling system from the folks at Weber. Tapered quadrangle shaped burners, a totally overhaul degrees removal system, infinity ignition technology, and more all come together to make this version of the Genesis the best Weber has ever made – and it just might be the best natural gas grill money can buy.
Not the most expensive option (but certainly not the cheapest option, either) if you want to take your outdoor cooking capabilities to the next level and still want to be able to rely on your gas grill for years and years to come there’s no better name in the business than Weber.
You just can’t go wrong with the new Genesis II.