[rating:4/5]
I’ve used more than my fair share of grills throughout the years – wood burners, coal, and propane. I have stayed away from electric grills (like the George Foreman) like the plague. I can’t really explain the reason – I mean I’m strongly against electric heat on my stove as well, but that’s just because I was raised on gas. There’s just something about the use of an electric grill that just always felt “fake” to me. Or, if you just need a grill, you might also like our review of a smokeless charcoal grill.
Or at least that’s how I used to feel
Weber is known for making high-quality grills, but when they contacted me about the Q140, I didn’t know what to think. I had always thought of Weber as one of the best gas grill manufacturers, but could they capture that same level of greatness with an electric grill? When the Q140 arrived, it was in a much larger box than I had expected it to be – from the outset I realized that this wasn’t what I had expected in an electric grill. If you’re looking for something bigger for summer BBQs, the Jag Table Grill is what you want in your backyard.
Set up was easy, just two screws to hold the handle on, and putting the wheels on the cart (plus taking all the packing materials out and putting the heating element in) and I was ready to go. How the Q140 works is really impressive – the surfaces inside the grill are reflective to allow the entire thing to reach the optimal temperature. Unfortunately, there’s no outside thermometer on the Q140, so you’ll have to watch it very closely if you’re cooking something that is temperature specific. In that case, you’ll probably do better with the Solaire grill.
Related: Also check out our Weber Q1000 review.
The Q140 has a pretty decent amount of cooking space, checking in with 189 square inches of cooking area. That’s enough to cook twelve burgers easy, or in my case three very large steaks. I have the before picture to show the space available, however, I was hungry (as was the family) and I didn’t think to take a pic of the finished products.
Clean-up was a breeze – just pulled out the reflective surface parts and tossed them into the dishwasher. They came out as clean as new, which was pretty nice – God knows how much I have to scrape my gas grill to keep it clean. The Q140 also heats up amazingly fast – literally within five minutes of turning it on I could hear the sizzle of steak cooking.
Related: If you like this grill, you might be interested in our Weber Genesis II 335 review.
Storage is another great thing – my backyard is literally littered with grills (I cool out a LOT), and my wife would probably kill me if I tried to leave another one out there. The Q140 is small by itself and would be easy to store without the cart, but the cart folds down and makes the grill look like a piece of roll-along luggage. It’s an intuitive idea, and it really helps because I can put it on a shelf in my basement with no issues.
Unfortunately, the price will probably be a deterrent for a lot of people – but there is definitely a niche market that will appreciate the Q140. Maybe you’re living in a condo with regulations on open flame grills, maybe your propane tank is empty and you don’t feel like driving anywhere to fill it – or maybe you just want to try something different. The Q140 is probably the closest you can get to cooking on an open flame grill without actually having any open flames (another bonus here – open flames can produce flare-ups when fat/grease hits them, whereas the electric heating element will not).
I give the Weber Q140 Electric Grill and Cart a final rating of four stars out of five – there are people for who this will be great, but for others, the cost will just be too much. If the grill would come with the cart in a package instead of having to buy them separately, that might help a bit. The lack of a thermometer for precision cooking is also a glaring flaw – pretty much any other grill out there come standard with one.
Pros:
- Great for people with open flame restrictions
- Small size makes it a breeze to store and set up
- Reflective surfaces are easy to clean and heat up super quick
Cons:
- No built-in thermometer to easily check the cooking temperature
- Too small for a large family to cook an entire meal on
- Price point is way too high, and the cart is even more.
You can pick up the Weber Q140 Electric Grill from Amazon for $219.27, and the Cart for an additional $42.95
