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20 for 20: The Best BBQ Gear of the Past 20 Years
Published On: 6/12/2025 Last Modified: 6/16/2025
Twenty Platinum Medal winning grills and smokers hand-picked for AmazingRibs.com’s 20th Anniversary!
In 2012, Max Good joined AmazingRibs.com as the world’s only full-time grill and smoker tester. He is now the team’s Vice President of Product Reviews & Keeper of the Flame. Over the years, Max has cooked on hundreds of grills and smokers and maintains the world’s largest searchable database of BBQ gear reviews. He’s assembled products, measured temperatures, slammed lids, turned the dials, kicked the tires, and cooked tons of food on an enormous variety of BBQ gear.
To celebrate AmazingRibs.com’s 20th Anniversary in 2025, Max selected the best of the best grills and smoker—20 Platinum medal winning products that will knock your socks off. We award every product we review with a Platinum, Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal. (Read more about our medals here.) And platinum happens to be the traditional gift for 20th anniversaries! Below you’re can find the top BBQ equipment of the last 20 years hand-picked by the world’s foremost authority on the subject. No one paid us to recommend these products. Read more here about how we test products. Rest assured that when we recommend a product, it is because we like it, not because someone has paid us to say so or because the company is an advertiser.
These grills and smokers make great gifts for Father’s Day. Or any day. Hopefully you’ll find a new favorite piece gear among Max’s top 20 picks!
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