Cuisinart All Foods Roll-Away Review

Check out this hot, large, grill mounted on a sturdy stand. After some setup time and provided you manage the handle that gets really hot, the Cuisinart Roll-Away is a prime candidate.

Performance Comparison

The side tables on the Cuisinart All Foods Roll Away sure come in handy! Seen here with the Barebones Forest lantern.

Output Power

The All Foods Roll-Away packs a powerful punch as far as output power goes. It has clear low, medium and high settings, but it gets hot. It's great for searing on its cast iron grate.

Control

The All Foods starts right up, and the 15,000 BTUs swiftly cook anything you throw at it. The built-in thermometer is an asset as this baby can easily reach over 500 degrees relatively quickly. This product did go through fuel fast and did not pass the wind test. On a very windy day, it required relighting four times during a twenty-minute cooking session.

Portability

Though it's light for a standing, cart-style product, the All Foods felt like the heaviest. The main body of the grill is heavy, and moving it from a standing position into a folded one was the most challenging.

The All Foods is tricky to transport and to raise from a folding position to a standing one and vice versa, especially as compared to the other cart-style grills. When in the standing mode, there is a hook that hangs from the bottom of the back side of the grill to a bolt on the top of the wheel portion of the cart that must be unhooked before it can be set into a folded position. The problem is that the hook doesn't stay open and just falls back into place if you don't hold it up with your other hand.

Top: The latch that won't stay unhooked unless pulled around the outside of the bolt. Bottom: The hook bar that is attached to the bottom of the right side of the grill.

There is also a hook bar on the bottom of the right side of the grill that has to be lifted up and off of the entire top of the wheel side of the cart. If you hold the hook up with your right hand and lift the whole grill off of the hook bar with your left hand, (all while keeping one foot on the bottom of the non-wheeled side of the cart) you are then left with the entire weight of the whole system in one hand. Gravity can quickly and nervously take over, while the left side of the grill wants to take a nosedive to the ground. You'll have to grab the handle with both hands and gently set it on the ground. Alternatively, you can hold onto the handle with one hand, and the top of the wheeled side of the cart in the other, and gently guide both to the closed position.

From the closed position, there are two metal hooks to be unfastened to raise it back up to a standing position. Both fall back into the hooked position unless you pull the hooks out past the bolt where it is supposed to be placed. In time, this could cause the metal to bend which could render the whole system loose and unsafe. Check out the STOK Gridiron if you're looking for an excellent, smooth and effortless setup system that doesn't require the gymnastics that this product does.

When folded and wheeling it from one spot to another, the weight of the main body of the All Foods is not as evenly distributed as the LXE or the STOK, which makes it bottom heavy and slightly more challenging to maneuver. When folded, the most massive portion of the LXE (the grill) is positioned more in the center of the cart, whereas with the STOK, the weight is more towards the handle.

When folded, the All Foods has most of the weight towards the wheel end, which makes it feel like a super cumbersome and bulky rolling suitcase. While in the transporting position, the top of All Food's lid sticks out further from the cart than the other two products as well, which makes it a bit more cumbersome to maneuver. The lid latch on the All Foods does close securely, and the wheels are durable. One of the cotter pins that keep the grill fastened to the cart fell off during an outing, which added to the challenge of transport.

Cooking Area

The All Foods has a large 240 square inch porcelain coated cast iron grate that did get a bit rusty from time to time. If this happens, season it with some oil on a small rag or paper towel. There is a cover over the burner, which means no dripping grease will fall into the holes in the burner, clogging them up. The stainless steel side tables are a great added feature. Do be careful because the handle on the lid of the All Foods gets hot when grilling.

The Cuisinart All Foods Roll Away with its porcelain-coated cast iron cooking grate.

Wind Resistance

The All Foods received one of the lowest scores for wind resistance. It blows out easily in the wind and can be extremely frustrating, especially if you haven't noticed it has blown out. On the positive note, it does light back up quickly and easily. We don't recommend this product for windy excursions.

The Coleman RoadTrip LXE and the Weber Q 1200 both scored high in this metric. The LXE is a stand-alone, cart style model and the Q 1200 is a tabletop model.

Best Applications

The All Foods is one of the more challenging products to transport. It would make a great addition to any condominium or apartment patio or an extended stay camp setup.

Value

At $150, this product is in the middle of the road pricewise of all the contenders tested. It is a beefy grill that is a pleasure to cook on, but it did receive one of the lowest ease of transport scores of all the contenders tested.

Conclusion

The Cuisinart All Foods Roll-Away is a stainless steel grilling machine. It heats fast and grills hot, and the side tables and thermometer are nice bonus features. The All Foods is portable but cumbersome. If you're looking for something with a quick, easy setup, check out the Napoleon TravelQ 285, or the Primus Kuchoma if you're looking to go fast and light.

The Cuisinart All Foods Roll Away with the side tables folded in.