Blaze Professional LUX 34-Inch 3-Burner Built-In Natural Gas Grill With Rear Infrared Burner - BLZ-3PRO-NG

The Skinny:

• Superior 304 stainless steel utilized in virtually every aspect of grill construction
• Extra thick 12mm hexagonal Searing Rod grids deliver restaurant-quality sear lines
• Fully feature-packed with included rotisserie kit, full-width grease tray, and more
• Grease Control System and Lower Heat Baffle Design funnels away pesky runoff
• LED Illuminated Control System beams sophisticated red lights and halogens

With a gas grill so clearly designed to impress, where do you even begin?

At the start, of course. When building the Blaze Professional, its makers set out to produce the best-valued Luxury grill in the industry. Personally, we’re inclined to agree — and that’s straight from Chef Tony, who got his hands on the 34-inch model for some serious grill testing. Superior construction supports the grill from hood to heel. Heavy-duty, H-style burners roar with might or delicately simmer at a whisper. Every drop of juice that sneaks beneath the cooking surface is volcanically vaporized and recycled into even more flavorful power. Want to flip two dozen standard 4-inch burgers? Here, have 25. Ready to roast a whole turkey to roast? So is the included waterproof rotisserie kit and its best friend, a 10,000 BTU rear infrared burner.

Professional’s in the name, but it’s not all work — it’s also play. With no more than a fingertip, a striking veneer of red opulence glows over the burner knobs. Move an inch away, and bright halogen lights beam on to surround your sizzling entrees with superstar ambience. The show doesn’t stop once the grill runs cold; a cooking surface comprised of unique hexagonal rods sear some of the most impressive marks into a steak we’ve ever seen.

Quality
Blaze Professional boasts 304 stainless steel throughout with mature, compelling design choices.

Firstly, we wanted to fact-check claims that the Blaze Professional is built with 304 stainless steel inside and out, so we put an XRF gun in Chef Tony’s hand and put him to work. After a thorough examination of the grill components, he returned impressed — the firebox, burners, Flame Stabilization System, Searing Rods, control panel, drip pan, and both the inner and outer walls of the hood are all, in fact, 304 stainless steel. Forged entirely out of such top-tier, outdoor-rated materials, we can confidently say that Blaze Professional heartily embodies superior construction and durability.

• Speaking to the components themselves, everywhere we looked screams competence and confidence. Let’s talk flame tamers: every great grill’s got them, but not like these. At first glance, the Flame Stabilizing System does what you’d expect; it distributes even heat along the entire cooking surface, protects burners from wayward drippings, and instantly vaporizes them for added flavor infusion. But what separates them from contemporary tamers is that each of the three panels weighs in at 4 1/2 pounds of 12-gauge thick 304 grade stainless steel.

  By now, you’ve noticed we haven’t mentioned the cooking surface yet. We saved the best for last: on the 3-burner model, expect these 12mm thick hexagonal Searing Rods to stretch out 30 3/4 inches wide by 20 inches deep for an abundant 614 sq inches of grilling room. But the real value is their heft: divided between 3 burners, these pieces weigh in together at 11 1/2 lbs, making them stand among the heaviest-duty cooking grids in a gas grill. The unique shape enforces more meat to metal contact — look forward to searing bigger, meaner marks and enjoying faster heat recovery when flipping food.

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Performance
Blaze Professional provides incredible burner quality, guaranteed ignition, and fine-tuned temperature control.

Blaze Professional isn’t just about the looks and feel. Under the hood, you’ll find 18,000 BTUs of cooking prowess apiece — that’s 54,000 BTUs total in this configuration — in formidable H-style, cast stainless steel burners. Though it sounds tongue-in-cheek, we’d be remiss to ignore that we frequently receive feedback stating these burners really are exceedingly powerful. Used to cooking on grills in the Practical or Entry-Level class? Buckle in. These burners get white-hot, and they don’t apologize about it. If you’re willing to be flexible in your grilling style as you settle in with those premium knobs, they’ll show you that all your results before were a compromise — and the time for “good enough” is over.

• Guaranteeing a sure start every time is Blaze’s powerful ignition system, involving their proprietary Push & Turn Flame-Thrower w/ Backup Flashtube & Crossover Channels. It’s a mouthful, but as an elegant, simple system that works like a charm every time, it certainly earns the real estate. Should summers of sizzling steaks whittle away at the reliability, each individual burner is backed up with dedicated flash tubes as a secondary ignition source.

  Sure, the burners are powerful and their operation is supported with bulletproof ignition, but they’re only part of the picture. Blaze Professional ships with Heat Zone Dividers — solid slide-in panels between each burner that enforce a wide range of temperature flexibility. You can do more with this than stagger dishes across the surface at once. Stage a white-hot searing zone on one end while the opposite one simmers into a perfect finishing spot. Effectively speaking, this equips you to carry a tuna steak through a commercial-quality grilling experience.

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Features
Blaze Grills clearly put in the elbow grease to craft a truly Luxury-class grilling encounter.

• Protecting this Luxury grill is a best-in-class limited lifetime warranty on all stainless steel components, including burners, housing, flame tamers, cooking grids and more. Beyond the immaculate construction, excellent peace of mind, and luxurious grilling experience, Blaze saw fit to pack their heavyweight grill with more capability than a Swiss Army knife. For starters, Professional arrives with a premium rotisserie kit — no need to pay extra for this one — with a fully-enclosed, waterproof motor. When you’re not adding steakhouse-level crust with the 10,000 BTUs out of that back infrared burner, simply store the spit rod on the hanging hooks in the rear.

  Keep your side dishes toasty and squeeze more out of your hood volume with the removable warming rack, adding 201 sq. inches of cooking space (for a new total of 816 sq. inches). Further beneath the grill, a full-width drip pan on smooth glide rollers makes clean-up a snap. Equally smooth on the roll are the 4 heavy-duty locking wheels; easy to maneuver around whenever you want, and rooted to the spot when you don’t. Speaking of cart configuration features, Blaze packed in every inch of space that physics would allow them: 2 spacious, folding side shelves up top, 2 deep drawers to the left, and a large access storage door to the right.

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Then there’s that sleek, contoured control panel. Not only is each burner sculpted to look fantastic and feel outstanding in the hand, but a few tasteful bonus buttons the combined LED Illuminated Control System — this is functionality we’ve grown to really love. The upper button switches on the internal halogen lights to keep the party going into the night, whereas the lower one bathes the control knobs in Blaze’s trademark sophisticated red light.