Lion Premium Grills L75623 32″ Built-In Natural Gas Grill Review
Outdoor kitchens and built-in grills are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Some outdoor chefs are actively upgrading their older outdoor cooking area or developing a completely new grill station. This is also happening at a time when natural gas is growing in popularity, with more and more municipalities offering hookup services.
The demand has inspired many grill manufacturers to offer drop-in natural gas grills at very affordable costs. Lion Grills steps up to the plate with their L75623 32″ Natural gas grill.
It is made from high-quality stainless steel. The lid is double layer seamlessly welded for improved heat retention. The stainless steel burner elements produce up to 75,000 BTUs of heat. There is also a rear mounted burner element. It’s intended to work with the heavy-duty rotisserie that is included in the purchase.
Construction & Ease of Assembly
The Lion Grills L75623 32″ Natural Gas Grill is built largely from quality stainless steel and other materials. The stainless steel grill grates look visually appealing when it’s fresh and new out of the box. However, they are very sticky. As time goes on they lose their gleam. Cast iron grill grates with a porcelain coating would have been nice, even if they wouldn’t 100% match the visuals of the brand.
One minor flaw to note is that during long, high heat grilling sessions the knobs and the metal on the face of the grill can start to get a little hot. This doesn’t happen as much with shorter sessions. If you are just grilling up a steak, you might never notice it. If you are using the natural gas burners to augment the rear mounted rotisserie, the knobs can soak up a lot of heat.
Assembly itself isn’t all that complicated. With an outdoor drop-in grill like this, it’s the installation that can be tricky. Lion Grills claims that it’s exactly 32-inches with an overall thorn remover length of 2-inches as well as an overall handle length of 4.5-inches. The drop in size of the lower firebox is tight, and it might be fairer to say that it’s 32.25-inches. If you are looking for a grill to drop straight into an existing spot, you might have to make some minor adjustments. If you are building a brand new outdoor grilling station, you might want to wait until the grill is delivered to finish the drop-in frame.
One other thing to note is the rotisserie isn’t battery operated. It needs an electrical outlet nearby. This is arguably better. Just make sure that you are running a power source into the counter or frame, so you don’t have to deal with an ugly extension cord every time you use the rotisserie.
Grilling Performance
Natural gas inherently has one-third of the energy density of propane. With some natural gas grills, you might notice that the preheating stage takes a little bit longer. With the Lion 32” Natural Gas Grill, you don’t have this problem with the primary burners. However, the infrared element for the rotisserie does need a while to fire up and doesn’t seem to put out the same kind of intense heat you get from a propane burner.
The rotisserie is set up to slow cook a whole chicken. In this type of setup, you want to run the rear burner for 20 to 25 minutes. Then turn off the infrared and use the natural gas burners in the firebox set to low. When the internal temperature of the bird reaches 160 degrees. You should switch back to the infrared burner to crisp the skin for 5-7 minutes at full heat. If you skip this step, you might end up with rubbery skin.
Keep in mind that a whole chicken isn’t the only way to use a rotisserie with an infrared burner. If you want to try some things that are a little more ethnically interesting, you could use it to make chicken shawarma. This calls for dry seasoning boneless chicken thighs with ground Aleppo pepper and salt. Then skewer them onto the rotisserie spit and grill them directly in front of the rear burner.
Grilling Areas
The Lion Grills L75623 32″ Natural Gas Grill has an impressive 830 square inches of grill grate space. This gives you enough real estate to grill for six to eight diners at a time.
Special Features
The rear-mounted burner with the rotisserie included in the purchase is very nice, and not something that you always find in competitors.
Ease to Clean
The Lion Grills L75623 32″ Natural Gas Grill is very easy to clean when used as a traditional direct heat grill. The drippings tray gathers most of the runoff. The grates do need a little bit of extra elbow grease to scrape down.
When you use it as a rotisserie, things can get a little bit messy. The drippings from a particularly juicy bird can potentially overwhelm the grease management system. One easy way to deal with this is to place a disposable heavy-duty aluminum foil roasting pan under the spit. Tossing in some baby red potatoes and onions with some chopped parsley will help soak up the drippings while simultaneously cooking a side dish.
Warranty
The Lion Natural Gas Grill has a multi-tiered limited warranty.
Cast stainless steel burners, the stainless steel frame housing, and stainless steel cooking grates all come with a lifetime warranty. The stainless steel flame tamer has a 3-year warranty. The natural gas valves and other components come with a 1-year warranty.
This is better than most of the warranties offered by competitors in the same category and price range.
Conclusion
If you have a natural gas hookup on your patio, and you are looking for the right grill to upgrade or install in your new outdoor grilling station, the Lion 32″ Natural Gas Grill deserves a good hard look. Just give yourself a little wiggle room during installation, and make sure you have an electric outlet factored in to handle the rotisserie.
