Weber Electric

For many, charcoal and gas grilling are king! Companies that do offer electric grills simply retrofit a heating element in a gas grill shell, uninspired and certainly not optimized. Weber recognized that this gap in their product portfolio coupled with growing urban regulations on charcoal/gas grills had created an opportunity to reinvent their electric grill offering.

We partnered over several efforts to help define this conceptual direction. During field research, we found electric users wanted the performance, flexibility and finesse of a gas or charcoal grill. Current electric offerings lacked the nuances of a cooking experience beyond simple “grillables” like burgers and sausage.

Our next effort focused on developing conceptual approaches for high-end electric grill performance. Solution spaces included exploring: cooking zone integration, electric UI/Control Schemes and Urban “balcony” Form Factors. Once narrowed to a general direction, we created a series of electric grilling bucks including “Frankenstein” a full featured grilling prototype put to use by Weber chefs! Their experience went on to influence the final cooking architectures brought to market.

The grill has hit the market in two forms: Weber Pulse aimed at high performance users and Weber Lumin aimed at urban apartment dwellers. Our conceptual threads remain throughout both product lines. One of the few projects in my career where my design passion intersected my hobby passion. Dig in!