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Upgrade Your Grill: BBQ Tools & Grill Accessories

Family HandymanUpdated: Jun. 27, 2018

5 great products to help you cook better and faster—and take it on the road!

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What's Up With Infrared Grills?

It sounds pretty high-tech, but the concept is relatively simple. Infrared grills have a mostly solid, corrugated grate between the flames and the food. The grate protects food from flare-ups—ideal for fatty meats. It also distributes heat more evenly, allowing for consistent cooking across the grill. More control also means less gas consumption, up to 30 percent less. The one downside is that you can no longer blame your burned burgers on a hot spot.

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Photo: CHAR-BROIL

Grill on the Go

A lot of grills are called 'portable'—usually that means they're just small. But Char-Broil's rugged Grill2Go was actually designed to be hauled around. It has a sturdy base, a top that snaps closed for transport and it runs on portable propane bottles. For those big grill-outs, it can run on larger propane tanks using an optional hose and adapter. It comes with an infrared grill surface, which makes sense because of the close proximity of the burners to the grate. It's a perfect grill for camping, tailgating and road trips. Plus: 10 Things You Should Know About Gasoline

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Photo: GRILLBOT

A Grill-Cleaning Robot

Is a robot that cleans your grill grate necessary? Absolutely not. Is it super cool? Heck, yeah! The grill-cleaning Grillbot runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and has three spinning, brass wire brushes to do the dirty work. The brushes are removable and dishwasher safe. It actually does a good job of cleaning the tops of the grate but doesn't get down inside quite as well as hand scraping. But then again, that would require scraping — by hand. It takes 15 to 30 minutes of steel drum-like racket to get your grill nice and clean.

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Infrared Upgrade

Infrared grills provide a more controlled grilling experience with even heat and no flare-ups, but they're not for everyone. Some folks like to see the dancing flames tickling their tenderloins. The GrillGrate is an interconnecting paneled system that can convert all, or part, of your existing grill into an infrared surface. So now you can sear your sirloin on one side of the grill while you slow-roast your carrots and rutabagas on the other. You can get one to three GrillGrate panels in various size sets to fit your particular grill.

Photo: GRILLGRATE

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Skip the Lighter Fluid

Here's a product for you grilling purists who abhor even the notion of contaminating charcoal with lighter fluid. It's called the Bison Airlighter. It has a butane torch to ignite the coals, along with a built-in blower that literally 'fans the flames.' It can take your coals from cold to cook time in five or six minutes. The butane reservoir is refillable and the fan motor runs on a rechargeable battery.

Photo: BISON

Originally Published: May 16, 2016