Customer Reviews

Ducane 31732101 Affinity 3100 Natural Gas Grill, Black

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After looking at the desirable but expensive Weber LP Grills and having owned several of the mid-priced "junk" grills that lasted 2 to 4 yrs. I found the Ducane grill. It's made by Weber, has the Weber support and is a quality grill.
The Ducane name has been around for many years and though they had a good reputation they were hard to find. They line is basically limited to 2 products and don't have all kinds of bells and whistles. They just cook well. The 2 units are the 3100 & 4100 series. I purchased the 3100 which met my needs.
The Ducane 3100 equates to the Weber Spirit E-310. Both have approximately the same cooking area & have 3 burners, 36,000 BTU. If you have need of a larger cooking area try the Ducane 4100 with 4 burners, 48,000 BTU.
Both my son & son-in-law have Webers and one of the things I've always disliked about the Webers is that their controls are mounted on the top side of the table area. Why not the front like all others? Their location minimizes the surface area to be able to put down plates or items being used while cooking.
At any rate I bought my Ducane 3100 for $299.00, it was assembled and delivered for $10.00. That's a number I could live with and get a quality product.

Got the grill delivered, ordered from Amazon. Free shipping. Came ahead of schedule from the logistics shipper CEVA. Easy to put together (took me and bro in law about an hour). I think the performance will improve over time as it is seasoned a bit.. Tried to do chicken wings for the inaugural bbq and even at the minimum it was cooking too hot which I suppose is to be expected. My bad for going with a slow and low meat first time out... I love that it doesn't have a silly side burner (I find them useless) and you get real, nicely sized, usable working surfaces on both sides of the grill. Wheels and casters are solid. Everything has a nice, well made feel. The stainless steel cooking grates are awesome. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the warming rack which is ceramic coated steel (I think) and seems a bit undersized but not a big deal. Overall this is solid for the price. It appears to me to be of equal quality to the Weber Spirit but you get three burners for the price of two (for the comparably priced units) and unlike the Weber, the control knobs are on the front of the grill instead of being placed right in the middle of the side table work surface which always seemed stupid to me.

We've owned this for a year now and love it. There is nothing fancy about it but it performs well and holds up. The ignition buttons still work, there's an even flame and there is plenty of room for a family of 4 who likes to entertain. As far as assembly, my mother-in-law put it together while we were at work. She expressed some difficulty but was able to do it herself while watching 2 children at the same time!

We received the grill when promised, and it arrived in perfect condition.
Easy to assemble. Have grilled on it about 5 times now and love the size and the features. It is perfect for what I was looking for. No fancy features, just a great grill.

The BBQ was received as promised, delivery was fast and prompt. Delivery crew were professionals, and effective. It was a bit of a hassle putting it together, it took me about an hour, but no big deal, after all it IS a big product. Just pay close attention to all the parts, and follow the step-by-step instructions carefully, and you will be fine. It looks scarry at first, with all the parts, nuts and bolts, but as I said before, No Problem. Instructions are clear, with good illustrations.
Upon turning it on, the BBQ ignited instantly, and worked flawlessly. Heat distribution is good. This is our second natural Gas BBQ, and it is much better than the first one that cost 3 times as much.
All in all I am happy with the product, and definately it worth the price.
Happy BBQing.
Monty

Always had a Weber Spirit and loved it.
Moved to a condo where the raised deck had Natural Gas available and began my search.
Found a great deal on a Ducane grill about the same size as my Weber and found out they were manufactured by Weber.
Amazon deal, free shipping, no tax, DUH, easy decision....
Delivery guys were awesome, carried right up to my unit.
Installation a breeze. No extra parts!
Used it a few times and I'm spoiled again!

I wanted a natural gas grill this time around because the cost of exchanging LP tanks just keeps going up. Running out of gas when the steaks are halfway done is now a thing of the past to. The Ducane is owned by Webber which consistently gets the highest ratings for quality. This model was over a hundred dollars less than the Webbers at the local big-box stores. I love cooking with this grill because it heats up lots faster than my old Aussie and doesn't flair up much at all. If I had to list any drawbacks it would be that the cooking racks are wire and not porcelain coated steel though so far that hasn't caused any problems. The assembly instructions are a bit lacking it the parts description details but eventually it goes together pretty nice. I would diffinately recommend this grill to anyone looking for a great cooking, no frills, good sized natural gas grill.

Overall, grill works well. Some of the sheet metal is a bit flimsy. Assembly instructions are mostly pictoral and can be a little perplexing at first, especially with the seemingly haphazard way they pack the hardware.

Overall agree with the other reviews. Bought this for my parents, and they love it. Very good quality, and operates very well (lights very easy). Only small issue was with some of the instructions. Pictures for two different screws were identical, so you had to make a guess early in the process. I got lucky and it worked out, but it could have meant going backwards a few stages if it hadn't. But this was very minor issue. Would highly recommned this product.

I did alot of research online about different natural gas grills and after reading many reviews, the Ducane Affinity 3100 seemed to be the best value in terms of quality, user satisfaction and price. So, I pushed the Order button on Amazon.com and received the grill in a reasonable 1.5 week time frame. The delivery went smoothly and the outer packaging looked just fine.

However, after unpacking and sorting out all the parts to check inventory prior to assembly (I don't always do this, so I'm glad I did this time), I discovered several missing bolts, nuts and washers. How frustrating is that, when I've got a BBQ party coming up in 3 days??!! Ok, I could deal with that irritating situation (go to my local hardware store and pick up the missing parts)...however, I also discovered a huge dent in the body of the grill itself. Now, I know that this didn't happen during shipping, because to create that kind of damage, the outer box would definitely have also been damaged. So, it must've happened at the Ducane factory.

I am highly disappointed that the Quality Dept didn't catch this at the factory and let it get sent out. I was just going to return it and get a replacement, but I decided to go with a Weber grill instead. I know that Weber now owns Ducane and Weber is known for their high quality grills...however, it doesn't seem like Weber's reputation has benefited Ducane's quality, so I'm going with a genuine Weber instead.

On a positive note, the materials and construction of the grill itself seems of high quality and sturdy. Maybe I just got a lemon (obviously, since so many others seem to have high praises for the grill). If you get one, just be sure to check out all the parts before investing time into the assembly of it.

Also on a positive note, Amazon was very good about coordinating to get the grill picked up and returned. Gotta love Amazon's user friendliness :-)