Char broil tru infrared. Got my wife one a few years ago. We e really enjoyed it. Costs around $300

Don't get me wrong, Traegers cook great food, but in my opinion, the people who have Traegers don't enjoy cooking as much as I do. To me the best part of cooking is is being able to work with your food and owning it at the end of the day.

Traegers are super nice but nothing can make food taste as good as a ceramic grill. Nothing is a versatile either

+1 on the BGE suggestions, but she said under $300

+1 I prefer/love the taste of charcoal/smoked meat. I recently got a great deal on a kettle grill, the Char Broil Kettleman. You can bring this thing up to 500+ temps & grill burgers in no time. The grill surface (and kettle design) really does prevent flare-ups very well. My go-to prior to this was a Brinkmann Smoke 'N Pitt barrel/offset grill; ran it for over 10 years. The "break-thru" for me was lighting my charcoal on my fish fryer in a chimney; once you hit the charcoal w/the propane fryer, it lights in less than 5 mins & you're ready to rock on your grill.

BTW, you can slow cook on a kettle grill; Google "snake method"... I smoked out a 4# & 6# butt on mine over the past few weeks & nailed the temp for 6+ hrs...

I paid $89 for my CB Kettleman on Jet.com.

BGD

BGE not on a 300 dollar budget
Traeger not on a 300 dollar budget

My rack holds 5. $20 on Amazon. Got the chicken leg holder as well.

I have the Akorn. Absolutely love it. I use it several times a week. Takes a minute to learn, but once you figure it out, it has been the best grill I have ever owned. I have had it about 1.5 years. No rust, nothing broken, cooks great. Get the cover for it as well. There are a lot of youtube videos on the Akorn. I call it my poor mans BGE. I cannot afford a $800 plus grill....I picked mine up at Lowes on sale for $250ish. It totally made some of the best bacon wrapped cream cheese/garlic/jalapeno stuffed backstrap I have had on Saturday. Just put a little soaked apple wood chips when the coals were ready and boom! I only use the Royal Oak lump charcoal from Wal-Mart. It seems to have performed the best for mine. I have tried a few others, but Royal Oak has won hands down. Get a good dual read thermometer set as well. One that reads the grill temp and also the meat temp. This will save you some of the learning curve/frustrations when you are slow cooking.

Jr Traeger can be had for not much more. Smaller , they will cook hotter too.

If you are worried about temperature variation then get yourself a BBQ Guru or something of that nature and not have to worry about temp fluctuations anymore.

Thanks guys I always cook for a large group of family so always good to know how much you can fit. I routinely cook 4-5 slabs of ribs, 10 steaks, or a ton of chicken wings and need the room. Looking at the BGE for my next purchase

Thanks for all of the suggestions! The BGE, Weber, and Traeger are no go's. Just not in the budget, I just ordered the Akorn and cover off of Amazon. They had the best price, plus no tax and free shipping. Can't beat it!

Very good grills. You wont be disappointed