Blaze Prelude LBM 32-Inch 4-Burner Built-In Propane Gas Grill - BLZ-4LBM-LP

• 304-grade stainless steel construction with outstanding metal thicknesses
• Brilliant all-around cooking performance with bulletproof ignition
• Multi-zone grilling so effortless, it feels like you’re cheating
• Backed by a best-in-class warranty and multi-user warranty
• Outstanding searing and baking power at 350 – 670 degrees Fahrenheit

Simply put? The Blaze Prelude is the perfect example of a Premium grill.

For this review, our irreplaceable Chef Tony put the Blaze Prelude Freestanding model through its paces in rigorous testing — such as XRF metal analysis, thermocouple heat inspection, and round upon round of roasting and searing. In his words: “It checks all the boxes.” We’re talking high performance, solid construction, rock-solid features, serious longevity, and that generous Blaze lifetime warranty.

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Quality:

First up, the Blaze Prelude is 304-grade stainless steel inside and out… minus a few key spots. The interior firebox, warming rack, drip pan, and inner panel of the double-walled lid are all 443-grade stainless steel. This is intentional. Such steel boasts higher titanium content than other grades, which means super strength and flexibility under extremely intense heat — leaving it less likely to crack, warp, or break welds under repeated conditions.

• Not to mention the solid width of these pieces. Those thick 8mm cooking rods are solid stainless steel, wide enough to absorb and hold heat nicely (which means striking sear marks at high temperatures). Blaze Prelude grills also use 14-gauge, 304-grade perforated flame tamers that carefully guard your burners from drippings, vaporizing them on contact. Across the entire length of your firebox, your sensitive burner ports will remain grease-free and safe to operate. Plus, the Grease Management System features Lower Heat Baffle Design for serious convenience in clean-up.

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But let’s talk more about those burners. Welded into shape with robust quality and construction in mind, these 16-gauge, 304-grade stainless steel tubular burners are a new design from Blaze meant to really excel at this price point. Just to drive home their attention to excellence home, Blaze even made them commercial-quality, which was a nice touch Chef Tony appreciated. Combined with that multi-user warranty — more on that in a moment — this gives Blaze Prelude outstanding staying power every time the grill tongs change hands.

Performance:

After 20 minutes with all burners on high, Chef Tony clocked this Blaze gas grill at 670 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s plenty for the Premium class, and high enough to drop an amazing sear on the thickest steaks around. For the minimum heat test, 20 minutes with all burners on low produced 350 degrees; that’s about what we expected. This won’t let you smoke or cook low and slow, but it holds the door open for various other cooking techniques such as baking and roasting.

• Does “perforated flame tamers” ring a bell? They’re not just burner protection! When grease droplets splatter against the white-hot perforations, a subtle flame kiss sears your foods — much gentler than the charred beating of a fiery flare-up. Overall, this extinguishes flames and dissolves grease before they can cause you any headaches.

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Not impressed yet? Here’s the Blaze trump card that impressed Chef Tony: Heat Zone Dividers. This split-temperature potential really pulls the Blaze Prelude series forward from other grills in this class. Between each burner rests a 304-grade stainless steel plate that halts the transfer of heat laterally across the grill. You probably won’t be ready to appreciate this genius feature until you need to grill at staggered temperatures. As soon as you do, you’ll find that Heat Zone Dividers hold one portion of the grill at a much higher heat than the other. For inspiration, this grants you the power to simultaneously flip seared steaks and bake sides mere inches from one another.

Features:

Standing proud and reliable, the Blaze Prelude raised an eyebrow with some convenient quality of life add-ons. First up: ignition. That’s handled by Blaze’s patented Push & Turn Flame-Thrower w/ Backup Flashtube & Crossover Channels. What a mouthful! But these flamethrower ignitions are far more dependable than piezo spark designs (and if you do have to replace them, they’re much cheaper). They’re also much simpler: a separator in the grill sends a small gas line through each igniter and, when activated, the sparker igniter throws a small flame that can light the whole grill in one fell swoop. If any single igniter fails, the crossover plates in the back step up for the assist; if the whole system goes, the secondary flash tube ignition comes to bat. Flash tubes can’t fail, period. If you can produce fire of any kind, and gas is trickling to that tube, the burners will light every time.

Snap in and out infrared equally caught his attention. Even most Luxury grills won’t let you purchase an aftermarket infrared accessory burner like this; Blaze offers it whenever you want, because all these burners are easily swappable. Pop off a regular burner and slip in the plug and play infrared burner — that’s it. It doesn’t get simpler. Other accessories include a branded grill cover and robust smoker box. For freestanding models, the grill cart sneaks in a convenient paper towel rack holder against the double-walled doors, a propane tank holder with locking mechanism, swivel-locking casters, and removable side shelves for extra space and easier storage; naturally, the Blaze Prelude Built-In model won’t benefit from these niceties. Last but not least, the LED Illuminated Control System powers internal halogen lights and bathes those burners in eye-catching red light. Not only is red light a strong contrast against other grills, but it’s scientifically proven to be less harsh on the vision in night grilling conditions than sharp blue lights.

Chef Tony’s favorite feature? The warranty, hands down. Blaze guarantees this grill for not 10 years, not the “lifetime” of the grill… but the lifetime of the original purchaser. Not only that, but they throw in a 3-year multi-user warranty; this will be particular draw for those of you looking to outfit a recreational area, residential housing, or any other communal area. If this doesn’t qualify as customer service, we don’t know what does.

We don’t see grills with this level of quality often. Between thoughtful construction and thick materials, the Blaze Prelude is frankly built to last. It’s also built to perform — those tubular burners, flame tamers, cooking rods, and especially the Heat Zone Dividers fold together into a multi-faceted grill greater than the sum of its parts. Throw in Push & Turn Flame-Thrower ignition (and an infallible backup), the finest warranty in the game, excellent multi-use commercial-level protection, surprising cart features, and that eye-popping plug and play infrared burner, and you wind up with a guaranteed entertaining investment you’ll hand down to your kids.