With the Char-Griller Double Play 3 Burner Gas and Charcoal Grill, you don't have to answer that hardest of questions: "Gas or charcoal?" — You can have both.
I was a charcoal man for many a year. In fact, it wasn't until we had kids and there were simply fewer hours in the day that I made the switch to gas, because the extra twenty or thirty minutes of getting the coals to the perfect heat just weren't worth spending. Within a few months of switching to gas, I was glad I did, the difference in flavor being so much less pronounced than ever I expected.
But I still love cooking with charcoal now and then, an itch I scratch with a tiny little half-dome Weber grill. Before I got my current gas grill, I used a big old Char-Griller charcoal grill, and I still think of it fondly from time to time. Having used that Char-Griller for the better part of a decade, I can tell you that it was one damn fine piece of hardware.
But seeing as I'm now semi-converted to gas grilling, the next Char-Griller grill I own will be this one, the Char-Griller Double Play 3 Burner Gas and Charcoal Grill, a unit that gives you the best of both worlds. For indeed, neither the charcoal nor the gas side of this grill is an afterthought. Both are large, well-made, fully functional grills.
The charcoal half has ample room for briquettes and it can even be fixed up with an added smoker box. The gas side has three powerful primary burners and a side burner that can be used for pots and pans. Each half has its own built-in thermometer and controllable ventilation chimneys, and all together, this grill gives you a whopping 1,260 square inches of cooking space.
Hundreds of Home Depot buyers have rated and reviewed this gas/charcoal grill, and it currently enjoys a shining 4.4-star average rating. One reviewer hits the nail on the head for all of us when he says it's "perfect for gas grilling during the week when [he's] busy coming home from work [then he] busts out the charcoal for the weekends!"
A writer with AmazingRibs calls this dual-function grill a "capacious grill" that offers a huge cook surface and calls it ideal for any al fresco chef "with a tight budget." — Steven John
Pros: Gas and charcoal cooking with one grill, great low price, huge cooking surface
Cons: Thin metal housing prone to rust
Buy a Char-Griller Double Play 3 Burner Gas and Charcoal Grill from Home Depot for $348