What Are The Differences Between Gas and Infra-Red Grills?

Temperature range makes all the difference between gas and infra-red grills!

The difference between gas and infra-red grills is not a fuel difference - they both use gas for fuel. The difference is in how the heat actually makes it to the cooking surface. In a traditional gas grill, a direct flame is used to heat the cooking surface. In infra-red grills, the burner assembly is made from a stainless steel housing with a ceramic top. The ceramic top has thousands of tiny little ports in it, and the burner itself is inside this assembly (but it is not visible without taking the assembly apart). The burner heats up the ceramic plates, which in turn radiate heat up to the cooking surface.

As a general rule, infrared grills get really hot (but they don't do low temperatures), where regular grills give you a broader range of temps (but usually don't get as hot). The exception is some of the high end grills which can reach infra-red grill temps but still can handle low temp settings as well.