Louisiana Grills Built In Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker, Estate Series 860BI

This grill has been problem after problem. When it initially arrived and fired up the grill bellowed out thick black smoke. Spoke to the manufacturer and they told me that the person who built counter must not have put adequate airflow or I had bad wood in the grill. I had brand new wood and I know for a fact there was more airflow than the manufacturer requested. After multiple back and forth with the manufacturer they determined that I had a defective fan from the manufacturer. I Fixed this (spending more money to my contractor do you have him come out and remove the grill) and it fired right up seemed to run incredible. First couple Cooks I did not realize my next massive problems and was loving it. finally put something on the grill that had a decent amount of drippings to make it all the way down to the grease tray below and found out that the grease tray they use isn't even attempted to be liquid tight. It is a mechanical bend with 3 rivets holding it to the front plate. Even if the tray was liquidtight half the drippings miss the tray and run down the side. I now have $1500 worth of stone work completely ruined. I went this route because it was significantly cheaper than my other options but this is a prime example of you get what you pay for. Beware of this terrible product.

So far, so good. I had outside built-in kitchen done & my contractor perfectly installed it. We kept it well ventilated after reading some of the reviews. I have only used it a few times and extremely happy. I did place some foil pans under the racks to catch excess grease after reading few reviews on this topic. I will periodically update this review as I continue to use it. But the grill is well made & well shipped (I know I had concerns when ordering it).UPDATE 10/17/19: I have used it now a dozen times. It smokes amazingly well. No problem starting it and using it. The stainless steel grates clean up nice in my dishwasher. I have used it on low 225 to up to 650 degrees. One possible issue is the accuracy of the meat thermometer which I just noticed during my last use. I purchased Maverick XR50 extended range wireless thermometer and will see how the two temps compares.

We installed this grill in our covered lanai, but sadly we can't flame broil anything without thick, greasy smoke choking us out. Instead, it's just a smoker and a very expensive one at that. Also, the grill is set in one position so the only way to control the heat to cook is by the digital controller. Finally, the manual shows that you need to cut out ventilation holes for air intake and exhaust, but the exhaust hole has no value as all of the smoke and exhaust comes from the back. Would be nice for the price, that a strong exhaust fan would pull the smoke out towards the direction of the exhaust hole the manual shows you need. We have a exhaust vent for our lanai kitchen which we connected to the side of the grill, but nothing goes up.It's beautiful and easy to operate, but it's definitely not for anything close to the house especially if you're wanting to get fire to the meat.

Update: Several issues with this smoker/grill and no real fix in sight. Grease pan leaks but fix there would be to line with foil. Inside body is held together with caulk(seriously)... came apart when cleaning and now grease drips right through the unit onto the base where the unit sits. Had to replace the ignitor 3 times so far. Now have an error code and waiting to see how to fix that. All of this servicing was done by me... thankfully im able to do this on my own. May have to consider filing a claim with my credit card company to get a refund on this thing. Then will have to reconfigure my outfoor kitchen after i fund a new smoker/grill to add there. Money money money!!Original review: So far this was a great investment. Extremely well built and excellent customer service. This is the best of both worlds if you were looking to do a grill and a smoker separately. I tossed around the idea of doing them separately but decided to go with this and it was the best decision I made. Price seems high but is in line with a lot of built in grills. Comes with a decent 5 year warranty. I would also suggest getting the grill cover by calling the company... it's $80.Oh and the food... Amazing!!! Get "The Complete Barbeque Wood Pellet Cookbook" from Amazon... really teaches you everything you need to know about using a pellet grill along with making rubs, sauces and recipes.... highly recommend!

Very nice, cooks great, heavy-built SS construction. The only issue is the angle on the hopper funnel is too shallow so the pellets tend not to feed once the level gets low.

This grill is a piece of junk and Amazon or Louisiana Grills won’t stand behind it. They both volley the ball and so far no one is doing anything. I purchased this thing in July 2019 and had it installed less than 30 days ago. Error codes which causes the grill not to work and a faulty grease trap which has ruined my nice new kitchen is a major issue. Louisiana grills has sent me parts to install myself as if I work for them is a joke. Anyway got my contractor to install still doesn’t work. I just want my money back Amazon I’m done. Why would you recommend a company with such bad reviews anyway. I purchased from you not Louisiana Grills. Stay away from this company.Update:They sent me a new smoker. Worked great for 90 days now the Pellet box catches on fire. This is the second time in two days. If I hadn’t walked out 20 minutes after i cooked and shut the grill off it would have burned my house down. Dansons response is we can’t refund you but we can send you a new grill. After research they know these problems exist but they are money hungry. I smell a class action law suit in their future. I would recommend this company to my worst enemy.

Awesome grill, works great! Additional temperature probe would be nice.