DCS outdoor grill vs. Viking grill

I had a DCS and adored it...48 inch with rotis.....I am a professional personal chef and have cooked on some of the other top of the line grills and they are not my favorites.
Advantages of my DCS...
1) enamel coated cast iron grates ( the new ones DCS makes only have stainless steel.
2) the ceramic rods and the burners, you can truely get a great high heat sear, and also do low and slow.
3) I love the smoker box and burner to start it.
4) Heavy duty rotis, even for a big turkey or 3 or 4 chickens.
Draw back: the ignitors all broke some flipping plastic part broke, I live in the desert so it got lots of direct heat even when not in use.

I've always wanted to get a Viking, but I need a backyard first :)

I had a client with a nice Viking, but it had inconsistent heat on the burners.....not sure if it was the fact that they never actually cleaned it or took care of it until I got there, but I got them to have someone come and clean it and replace a regulator....it worked better but still it never seemed to get hot enough to really sear a piece of beef, you know give it good crusty char.

For 6 years I have had a Viking 41 inch natural gas grill. I love it. I had a friend of mine replace the grate that came with the pit due to cracking. I went back with all stainless steel grate. I hope it will last another 20. I also have a DCS 6 burner stove. It to is great. I would say both are great grills. They are a bit over priced though.

So you want a built-in grill, rather than free-standing? The Viking and DCS are both great high-end grills, and I think you would be happy with either one. At about the same power and number of BTU's though, I think the DCS grill cooks a little bit better. I'm not sure how much of a difference the ceramic radiation plates in the DCS make, but I have a feeling that helps it get that extra boost in temp to get the nice sear.

I don't have experience with either.  My brother-in-law, recently went from a cart Weber Summit to a island with new stainless grill.  I was the first to cook on his new grill, I had used his Weber Summit and I am a Weber grill owner too.  The new island grill was a lousy replacement.  I was fighting flareups continuously, heating was not even, and clean-up was going to be real chore.

For me I would compare:
• Flare up control, which grill can I do chicken and steaks without having to worry the meat catching on fire?
• Even heating, which grill is designed to provide the most even heat front to back and side to side?
• Clean up, which is easier to clean up and maintain?
• Durability, is it USA made or China made, how heavy the stainless, the grates, the parts, etc, which will give you the best long term service?
• Features, honestly if I got the first four points in one grill, extra features just don't matter, basic cooking is what most of us do, but if all things are equal on the first 4 points then features are an issue.
• Parts availability, my weber is over 10 years old, I have replaced the grates, flavorizor bars, ignitor, burner tubes, some things I have replaced twice, but I always can get the parts, and my grill is good for another 10 years.

Who cares you should be grilling with charcoal anyway!! Just add Bulls-eye....

 

 

 

 

 

--------------------------------------

Outdoor Grills