Review of Charmglow Gourmet Luxury Island Model # 810-8750-S (store, washer, online)

[reviewer]

There are few luxuries I enjoy more than inviting all my friends over for a summer barbeque party. It's fun, convivial and thoroughly enjoyable to gather with friends and celebrates the lazy hazy days of summer before the autumn rat race begins again. In the past though I used to miss half of the party because I was running in and out trying to gather all the food and beverages so we could grill outdoor.

Then I got the Charmglow Gourmet Luxury Island Model and my troubles were over. This is a total kitchen in the great outdoors. This self contained unit has all the necessities to enable me to cook completely outdoors.

The Island has a large multi-function cook top. There are two side burners so you can keep tabs on your side dishes. Storing uncooked food is simplified as the unit has a built in refrigerator where you can also store drinks and keep your condiments cool. The most obvious advantage of this grill is the 965 in2 cooking area. As there are 6 temperature controlled areas on the grill itself, you are able to cook meats at one temperature, chicken at another, vegetables at a third and so on. Once food is done, there is a warming drawer that will keep items warm as the remainder of the meal is completed. This drawer has an adjustable temperature so nothing is overcooked while there rest of the meal is being prepared.

This Charmglow Gourmet Luxury Island also comes with a bank of overhead lights. This feature lets grilling continue even past sunset as these lights are very useful in illuminating the cook top, so guesswork it a thing of the past. When the grill is not in use, there are dual sliding stainless steel covers that protect the porcelain cooking area.

The design of this outdoor kitchen is a little different from the "normal" grill with that bank of lights that spreads across the entire cooking surface. The unit comes in black and cream with powder coated black finishes to durability and style. It comes using liquid propane however we are getting the conversion kit and switching the unit over to natural gas at the end of the season.
One caveat about this Gourmet Luxury Island - it is very heavy weighing in at about 502 pounds. Once you put it in place, you aren't going to be able to move it easily as it is not on casters.

[Jimspy]

I notice you posted this review just over a year ago. But it has been more than a year that Charmglow no longer exists, I think they were taken over by Brinkmann. I broke one of the ceramic grill grates, and need a replacement. A thorough online search has turned up absolutely nothing, except I finally found a link to the Brinkmann website...which is down for maintenance.

I wonder if you have any ideas where to get replacement grill grates for this rather unique BBQ?

Also, do you have any solution for the fact that there is no grill cover? I don't mean the sliding grill covers for when its NOT in use, I mean the kind of grill cover that you can cover the cooking food with, to give it indirect heat. We improvised something, but perhaps others have a more elegant solution.

[Enobay]

Just had an electrical fire with my 810-8750. Burned the electrical components behind the controls panel. Started at the warmer drawer temperature control. I traced it back to one the warmer drawer element connections which I found loose. Each connection had two flat washers, one lock washer and a nut. Problem was the wire terminal was installed over the three washers. Correct installation should have been a flat washer - wire terminal - flat washer - lock washer and then the nut. The process the manufacturer used eliminated the lock feature which allowed the nut to become loose.