An electric grill isn't the first thing you think of when you hear the name Weber, but it might be soon. The new Weber Lumin and Weber Lumin Compact are small but spacious electric grills that come in various colors and offer versatility in what you can grill and cook in one package.
This electric grill heats up with an element similar to what you'll find in your oven, but the grill grates allow you to get a sear and traditional grill marks that you don't get in an oven. The Lumin is for outdoor use only, and it does more than just traditional grilling—you can steam vegetables and more.
The Weber Lumin is available in black, Deep Ocean Blue, Golden Yellow, Ice Blue and Seafoam Green. While it doesn't dominate your patio, it can still be a conversation starter. When you aren't using it, the whole thing easily packs up to store in a garage or storage unit. This is a great option for people with limited outdoor space.
The Weber Lumin is $479 with 242 square inches of cooking space, and the Weber Lumin Compact is $311 with 180 square inches of cooking space.
Buy the Weber Lumin at Weber and Amazon.
Setup and Options
Setup is simple and quick, both the first time and on each subsequent grilling. Choose the grates for your meal—you can use the standard grates for a basic grill experience, or swap in the steamer basket, a smoker-style accessory, or you can even opt for a griddle to make smash burgers or breakfast.
The temperature control plugs into the side of the grill and then into an outlet. It comes with a 6-foot cord. The temperature control is easy to use—turn the dial to your preferred heat or cooking option and wait for it to come up to temp.
The Lumin is ready to grill in about 20 minutes from turning on. It can reach up to 600 degrees, but keep in mind this will vary based on the outside temperature, just like a gas grill. On a cold spring day, the grill worked, but just like my gas grill, the max temperature was lower, and things took a little longer. You can safely grill in rain or shine. The time to reach grilling temp is generally within 5 minutes of most gas grills.
But Can It Grill?
We love grilling all year, but throughout the summer, we generally eat a few meals from the grill each week. The Weber Lumin can handle eight to 10 burgers, enough chicken breasts for the whole family and a plethora of brats and hot dogs.
The first thing our family noticed was that the grill gets hot enough to leave sear marks. If you didn't tell most people, they wouldn't know you were grilling on an electric grill. We made perfectly cooked burgers, hot dogs and chicken. The Lumin did a good job on brats, but we missed the flame-grilled flavor more on those than on any other items we cooked.
If you absolutely love the char flavor that you get from an exposed flame, the Lumin isn't for you. With the option, we moved our brats back to gas, but we still love the Lumin for other items.
The heat distribution is good, allowing us to use the entire grill surface without ending up with something undercooked. We love the reliability and repeatability of cooking our grille staples to perfection.
You can also steam vegetables, place wood chips in the included tray to smoke something and use the tray as a warming dish. The Weber Versatility Expansion Kit is $79.9 and allows you to do even more with the Lumin.
The fuel source is great and also a potentially limiting factor. We love that you don't need to worry about propane levels or if you have a bag of charcoal. On the other hand, you need to be connected to electricity. You can use up to a 20-foot 16 AWG gauge extension cord, but the shorter, the better.
You can plug it into a standard 15-amp or higher GFCI outlet. We did trip a GFCI outlet while using it on the same circuit as our garage fridge once, but we didn't have any other issues.
Moving the Lumin from the garage to the patio is relatively easy—just be cautious of the drip tray. There are no handles, so you need to grip the grill by the base. This helps keep the overall footprint down, which we like, but it would be nice to have some flip-up handles on a future model.
Cleanup is mostly easy using a nylon bristle brush on the grate. Grease and any parts of food that fall are funneled into a disposable Weber Drip Pan Liner, so you can throw that away when full without the need to clean a pan.
The interior below the heating element does get messy quickly, and without flames from a gas grill to burn it off, this mess stays put. You can remove the heating element to clean this out, which you will likely need to do once a month or clean around the element.
Should You Buy the Weber Lumin Electric Grill?
The Weber Lumin is easy to set up and easy to store. If you love grilling, this is a great way to add it to your home or apartment without taking up a lot of space.
This compact grill allows you to sear meat like a gas grill. While purists will miss gas or charcoal, the versatility of a steaming basket and use as a warmer will meet the needs of many.
Find the Weber Lumin at Weber, Amazon and other retailers.
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Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Josh Smith is the Senior Manager of E-Commerce at Newsweek. You can find him on Twitter @Josh_Smith and email j.smith@newsweek.com.
