My Jenn Air gas grill (model 720-0165) is 3 yrs old. Its large and looked impressive in the store, Lowes, it was about $1000..I went into Lowes recently to see about basic parts and found Lowes no longer carries them...first thought "uh oh.."
Next I read a bunch of bad stuff on the net..wished I would have read it before..
the barbeque is on my deck in SC. It is covered with a factory cover 90% of the time.
When new and when the burners are cleaned out it cooks evenly. But the problems I've had:-
The 4 main burners keep clogging up about every 12 to 18 months and I have to brush them and use a drill bit to open - then a ton of greyish red dust comes out. I assume this is the cast iron falling to ruin.....you can get new burners they are a mere $50. a piece!
I thought the burners were bronze because of the gold color when new...wrong! All smoke and mirrors, it was a thin coating that didn't last long. The amount of material is alarming that comes out of the burners when you clean it, maybe about 1/4 cup and I've done this twice - at this rate I don't expect them to last but a couple of years more but I am not paying $200. for new ones. Also all 4 burners have warped.
The flash plates(the plates over the burners) are looking sort of worn from the heat..they are stainless steel and the look up price is a mere $45. ea for a thin stamped metal plate..wow..talk about being proud of your stuff!
The heat plate under the burners warped and bowed down so I had to modify it so I can get the drip pan in and out.
It has the neatest smoker tray that you pull out from the front but unfortunately it was thin regular steel and now has completely rusted away. It is useless - too bad i liked it.
The igniter has also stopped working.
You know its a shame companies are allowed to falsely advertise....apparently Jenn-Air had nothing to do with these grills, nxtgrill just used their name, seems dishonest. From what I've read Jenn Air will not deal with you....anybody know different??
All of the stainless parts meaning 98% of the grill are in great shape, had they not scrimped on one of the most important parts (the cooking parts!) it would be a great grill.....maybe if you lived in the desert????
I mean come on....parts rusting completely through in 3 years?? Thats from the humidity not rain because it was dry the last 2 summers.
It will break my heart in a few short years to have to junk this unit but I know nxtgrill and Jenn-Air will never receive any future business of mine. Also at my age you think I would have learned that a shiny outside doesn't always tell the story. Of course the brand name did suck me in too, like it was supposed to.
I would definitely not buy a Jenn Air gas grill again!
