Hinged Cooking Grate

As all weber products I have bought it's well made and functional

It’s a very quality great that you would expect from Webber. Perfect fit.

The grate flips up on each end to allow you to add more charcoal or wood without having to remove the grate with the food on it. It is a life saver! Some Weber Grills come with this. I bought a more basic model and for the low price of this grate, you can't afford not to have it. It is an absolute must for low and slow smoking on your Weber Grill!

The standard grate suffices for grilling meats such as steak or chicken over coals. However, I do a lot of indirect cooking/smoking of ribs, pork shoulders/butts and other cuts. This accessory makes it super easy to add briquets or wood chunks to the side with the fire, especially when smoking for several hours

I like to handle the grill by myself, and just could not figure out how to safely add coals without fully removing the grate, placing it on the ground or a table (where it would cool down) and then adding coals…and forget about trying that when food was on it! The sides of this one flip over and make this sooooo easy! It allows me to wait to add my wood chips for that smokey flavor until just before I put the meat on. Wonderful!I'm not a "grillmaster" and if anyone sees this review and has a tip for improvement, please "comment" to me, but here's what I do with steaks, chops, and chicken breasts:STEP 1: load and light the coals (natural wood, charcoal, of course!) in a chimney starterSTEP 2: pour out the coals when the get ashy, but are still glowing. Pour them into a pile at 1 corner of the grill and add new coals on topSTEP 3: Close the lid and wait about 10 minutes for the grill to heat up (should I be doing this with the lid open???)STEP 4: bring out the meat, remove the lid, flip the grate, add wood for smokiness, add the meat to the grates directly above the coals for searing, and close the lidSTEP 5: after about 4 minutes, remove the lid, take the meat and flip it to another side on a portion of the grill that is not directly over the coals to finish out the cooking.

Super convenient, allows the cook to add charcoal without having to pull the entire grate out of the grill. The openings on this 18" model are a little small, but that comes with the territory of owning a smaller size Weber.Overall great purchase, pairs really well with the charcoal baskets which I also sprung for. You gotta hand it to Weber, they are masters of the accessory business!Again, please note this is for the smaller 18.5" Weber Kettle. I mistakenly ordered the larger 22" before I got this one ...

I purchased this Weber grill grate for my old smokey grill. It fits perfectly and it's easy to add wood chunks or wood chips as I'm smoking meat.

It was only $1 more to buy the Hinged Cooking Grate. I have a Hinged Cooking Grate on my 22 inch Weber and love the way it works so did it for my 18 inch Weber. Don't even waste your time on the unhinged grate - if you use it one time it is worth it. Why? Because if you are like me you are cooking by yourself and a beverage, then you need to add charcoal or maybe some wood chips. Old way pick up grill look for a place to put it down and not make a mess, then add charcoal or wood chips, then pick up the grill and place back on the Weber. New way, just open up one side of the hinged grill, add charcoal or wood chips then the other side. Done. No mess.When the grill is about gone, also replace the charcoal grill on the lower level it needs to be replaced also. And when you are doing this buy a Weber Charcoal Starter Tower - about $15 or so also well worth the cost.