The Weber Lumin Electric Grill Review: Little Grill, Big Flavor

Weber has built their reputation for being the best in the gas grill game. They claim that the new Weber Lumin will give you all of the features you love about cooking on a gas grill, with an electric grill.

A combination grill, smoker, steamer, and warmer all in one. In this Weber Lumin review, I’m going to be breaking down the Weber Lumin and giving you the low down on its performance, versatility, and build quality to let you know if this grill can compete with gas.

Weber sent me this grill for free in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Weber Lumin overview & first impressions

While electric grills aren’t a new thing, they generally lack versatility. Weber responded by launching the new Lumin – the electric grill that doubles as a smoker for people that either don’t have the space for a full-sized grill or want something portable that they can take on the go.

The Weber Lumin is a small, portable grill but it includes a lot of the features that we’ve all grown to love about full-sized grill models. The sleek design wastes no space and Weber offers 5 different colors to choose from so you can pick which one fits best in your space.

Let’s look at the Weber Lumin specifications:

Dimensions:	12”H x 26”W x 19”D
Weight:	36.5 lbs
Fuel Type:	Electric
Total Cooking Area:	242 sq. in.
Cooking Grates:	Porcelain-enameled cast iron
Power:	1,560 watts / 120v
Max Grill Temperature:	600°F
Power Cord:	6 feet
Price:	Check Latest Priceat BBQGuys

The Weber Lumin is a small grill that packs a big punch. It has a super compact design that will fit in just about any space, plus because it is an electric grill it is perfect for people in condos or apartments that may not allow charcoal or propane grills on balconies.

The Lumin has various cook settings that really pack a lot of versatility into a small package. You can use it to grill food, add wood chips to convert it into a smoker, add water to make it a steamer, and even set it on the lowest setting to be used as a food warmer.

The Lumin can reach temperatures of over 600°F, so you don’t have to worry about being able to get a great sear on steaks, burgers, and more. Plus, the smoke infusion function allows you to add wood chips and add a layer of smoky flavor to the food you’re cooking.

The smoke infusion function can be used at both high and low temperatures on the grill as well, which I found to be helpful depending on what you are cooking.

The Lumin also has a built-in temperature gauge on the top of the grill so you can see exactly what temperature you are working with. I’ve found that other electric grills tend to have a high-medium-low heat setting model, so I was really happy to find that the Lumin includes an actual temperature gauge in its design.

Finally, it has a “Grill from Frozen” function that will allow you to skip defrosting and add your frozen meat or seafood directly to the grill while it is preheating to defrost and cook in one easy step.

We love the versatility of this grill, which earned it a spot in our list of the best electric grills.

Unboxing and assembly of the Weber Lumin

The Weber Lumin comes almost fully assembled. The only assembly required is installing the grill grates, sliding in the grease tray, and plugging in the temperature controller and you’re ready to start grilling.

The Lumin comes standard with porcelain-enameled cast iron cooking grates, a reversible steam pan, the steaming/smoking reservoir, and the catch pan/drip tray combination. They also include a handy plastic scraper for cleaning and maintenance.

The temperature controller slides into the side of the grill into its own mounting bracket. When you insert the controller, you will feel it click into place so you know that it is installed properly. If the controller is not properly installed, the grill will not power on.

Weber also offers a Lumin Stand for the Lumin grill that allows you to transform the portable, tabletop grill into a more freestanding grill.

I wanted to try out all of the accessories that Weber offers for the Lumin, so I got my hands on both the Lumin Stand and the Lumin Versatility Kit. More of those accessories later.

Testing the Weber Lumin

Upon firing up the grill for the first time, I was impressed by how quickly the grill preheated. I was able to reach 400°F in just about 10 minutes.

Anytime I’m testing out a new grill I like to do a “bread test” first to see how evenly the grill cooks and whether or not there are any hot spots that I need to worry about before I start cooking anything more expensive.

I fired up the Lumin using the High-Heat Searing setup and placed slices of white bread on all of the sections of the grill grates.

After about a minute, I flipped the bread over to see how evenly the grill cooks. Overall, I would say the Lumin cooks pretty evenly but I did find that the edges of the grill grates didn’t get as hot as the rest of the grill.

The grill didn’t have any issues maintaining a steady heat, but I was disappointed to find that the edges of the grill didn’t get evenly hot. When you only have 242 square inches of cooking space to work with, every inch counts.

Once I was done with the bread test, I wanted to test out the various cooking functions that the Lumin has. I’m going to break down how each function performed.

Grilling on the Weber Lumin

Naturally, I wanted to see how the Lumin grills before I tried any of the other functions. At the end of the day, the Lumin is a grill.

The Lumin has a variety of setting on the temperature controller:

To grill on the Weber Lumin, you place both of the porcelain-enameled cooking grates into the body of the grill so the full cooking area is covered. Then, just plug the grill into your power source, turn the control knob to the highest setting, and let it preheat.

As I mentioned before, I was impressed by how quickly the Lumin preheated. I was able to get the grill up to 400°F in less than 10 minutes, which is faster than other electric grills I’ve tried.

To test out the grill, I cooked a couple of burgers, some sweet peppers, and a bundle of asparagus. I wanted to test how the grill cooked both meat and vegetables to see if it can handle a full meal.

Weber indicates that you should leave the lid closed as much as possible during the cooking process and I definitely understand why. I noticed that once you opened the lid, you lost a LOT of heat very quickly and it took a bit of time to get the grill back up to the temperature you were grilling at.

For example, when I opened the lid to flip my burgers I noticed that the temperature dropped by almost 200°F and took about 5 minutes to get back up to grilling temperature.

One thing that I absolutely love about the Lumin is the porcelain-enameled grill grates.

They are virtually nonstick and I had ZERO issues with my food sticking to the grates, which impressed me. There is nothing worse than going to flip a burger and finding that you’re leaving bits of your char marks behind on the grill grates. In my opinion, the grill grates are amazing quality and definitely one of my favorite features of the grill.

The peppers and asparagus both got a beautiful char in just about 10 minutes. The burgers had decent (but not great) sear marks and I think it was due to the loss of heat when I had to open the lid. They only took about 15 minutes to cook through and overall I was impressed with the performance.

Another thing that I really love about the Lumin is that it has an integrated temperature gauge at the top of the grill lid.

A lot of electric grills don’t have a temperature gauge and it bugs me not to know the actual temperature that I’m cooking food at. It was nice to have a temperature gauge built into the grill that was easy to read.

Smoking on the Weber Lumin

One of the key features that caught my eye about the Weber Lumin was its ability to convert into a smoker. I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical about how well an electric grill could smoke food but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the design really works!

To convert the Lumin into a smoker, you simply remove one of the grill grates and replace it with the Smoke Infusion Setup. You place the dry reservoir in the space and fill it with a handful of wood chips, then place the reversible steam pan on top with the walls extending downward.

When you are ready to fire up the smoker, you simply set the Lumin on the highest heat setting, close the lid, and wait for 5 to 10 minutes for smoke to start forming.

You will see the smoke start to billow out of the back of the grill once the wood chips start to ignite.

Once the smoke starts to form, you can reduce the heat in the grill to the Smoke Setting and you’re ready to start smoking your food. Food can be put on the remaining grill grate, but you can also place the food directly above the wood chips on the surface of the pan as long as you don’t fully cover all of the holes in the pan.

I was extremely impressed with how much smoke the Lumin was able to produce. I decided to test out the smoke function with a couple of chicken breasts to see how much smoke flavor they really soaked up. My wood chips stayed ignited the entire time I was cooking my chicken (about 25 minutes) and the grill continued to produce smoke throughout the entire cooking process.

When the chicken was done, I was pleased to find that the smoke flavor really penetrated the meat and I was able to taste the distinct, barbecue flavor that I was hoping for.

Overall, I think Weber really nailed the smoke function on the Lumin grill. For such a small, compact grill, I was extremely impressed by how easy it was to convert it into a smoker.

I think this function could be a game changer for people in condos or apartments that otherwise would have no way to smoke food, but it’s also a great function for people who want to take a super-portable grill on the go with them when they’re camping, hiking, or traveling.

Steaming on the Weber Lumin

As if grilling and smoking weren’t enough, the Weber Lumin also has a really cool steaming feature that will allow you to steam delicate foods such as vegetables and seafood.

The setup for the steaming feature is similar to the setup for the smoking feature. You can preheat the grill and have it ready to steam food in about 10 minutes.

To steam food, you simply remove one of the grill grates from the grill and replace it with the steaming reservoir. Then you fill the reservoir to the water fill line and place the steam pan on top with the walls facing upwards (the opposite of the smoke function).

Preheat the grill on the high heat setting for about 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to the steam setting and add your food.

It’s important to note that you want to leave the lid closed as much as possible when using this function and that the temperature gauge may not be 100% accurate due to the presence of steam in the chamber.

I think that having a steam function on this grill is a huge selling point. Not many grills are equipped to steam food and there are some foods that just taste better when they’ve been steamed. It’s a great option for vegetables, seafood, shellfish, and other delicate foods that just don’t need to be exposed to the high heat grilling function.

Cleaning the Weber Lumin

Between the compact size of the grill and the nonstick cooking grates, the clean-up on the Weber Lumin is just about as easy as it gets. You can remove all of the components like the grill grates, the smoke/steaming trays, and the warming trays, and clean them right inside your kitchen sink with warm, soapy water.

All of the parts included in the versatility kit are also dishwasher-safe, which is another huge bonus in my opinion.

Because the porcelain-enameled cooking grates are so nonstick, I found it extremely easy to clean them up with a simple grill brush.

After you’ve done some cooking on the grill, it’s important to look inside the cooking chamber for grease and leftover food. If too much accumulates inside the cooking chamber you will run the risk of a grease fire, so it’s important to keep it clean.

Additionally, the heating element is removable but you do need a screwdriver to remove the screws that secure it into place. Being able to remove the heating element is a great feature when it comes to cleaning because you can ensure that you get down into every nook and cranny of the cooking chamber.

The Lumin Stand

The Lumin Stand is an accessory for the Lumin grill that allows you to make cooking on your Lumin more convenient.

It has a really cool, collapsible design that can be opened and closed with just one hand. It’s extremely lightweight but still solid enough that you don’t have to worry about sturdiness.

Weber Lumin Stand specifications:

Dimensions:	26.8”H x 21.6”W x 21.9”D
Material:	Polypropylene
Price:	Check Latest Price on BBQGuys

Assembling the Lumin Stand is really easy and only takes a few minutes. You simply attach the bottom portion of the legs to the frame of the stand using the bolts provided. The side table clicks into place easily and the entire stand folds for easy transport and storage.

Overall I was impressed with the quality and durability of the stand. It’s made from heavy-duty polypropylene and comes with a center storage rack and multiple hooks for easy storage of your grilling tools and accessories.

The one thing that I didn’t really like about the Lumin Stand was the side table. While it’s nice to have a side table next to your grill, the quality isn’t as great as I would like.

I don’t think the side table can hold much weight and I would be hesitant to place anything heavier than grilling tools on it. Weber claims that the side table can be used for prepping food, but I really don’t think that it is sturdy enough to do much work on it.

The Lumin Versatility Kit

Weber also offers a Lumin Versatility Kit at an additional cost. It’s a 4-piece expansion kit that includes additional smoking/steaming reservoirs that allows you to convert the grill into a full smoker (as opposed to only having the smoking reservoir on one side of the grill).

It also includes 2 warming dishes that can be used on the low-heat setting to keep food warm. They are reminiscent of a buffet-style chafing dish and a great feature to have if you need to keep food warm for a few hours after it’s done cooking.

The entire versatility kit is dishwasher-safe, which makes clean-up a breeze!

How does the Weber Lumin compare to the Weber Q-series? 

The Lumin is not the only electric grill model that Weber offers, they still offer their Q-series of electric grills as well. The Q-series of electric grills launched in 2009 and Weber says they have no intention of discontinuing the older series of grills.

I would say that the biggest difference between the newer Weber Lumin and the Weber Q2400 is versatility. The Lumin allows for more precise temperature adjustments, plus it has the ability to convert into a smoker, steamer, or warmer.

The Q2400 is a much simpler electric grill model that has more limitations than the Lumin. If you are just looking for a simple electric grill to cook burgers, chicken, and hot dogs then the Q2400 may be the right choice for you, but there is no question that the Lumin is a far superior model with a lot more versatility and features.

Final thoughts: should you buy a Weber Lumin Electric Grill?

Overall, the Weber Lumin is a little grill that packs a big punch. It is one of, if not THE, most versatile electric grills on the market, and Weber obviously put a lot of thought into the engineering and design of the grill.

While the cooking area is smaller than a full-sized grill, it’s definitely big enough to feed a family. Plus, the ability to smoke, steam, and grill all in one gives you a lot of options when you’re cooking.

Another perk of the Weber Lumin is the fact that it is an electric grill. It’s a great option for people in condos or apartments that may not be allowed to operate a charcoal or propane grill in their living space. Additionally, the Lumin Stand allows you to convert the grill from a portable, table-top unit into a more full-sized, freestanding grill that doesn’t take up much space.

If you’re looking for something to take on the road camping, hiking, or traveling then the Weber Lumin is a fantastic choice. It will give you a lot of the versatility of a full-sized grill in a compact and portable design that can go virtually anywhere.

I’d say that the Weber Lumin is probably the best portable, electric grill on the market today and is definitely worth considering if you’re in the market for an electric grill.

If you’re still not convinced which electric grill is right for you, be sure to check out our article outlining the Best Electric Grills on the market.