Weber Master-Touch review
Published 25 May 2026 · Last updated 10 October 2026 · By Ben Austen · Affiliate disclosure
Weber Master-Touch GBS
Until about five years ago, I’d used a Weber Master-Touch for more than twenty years, and I cooked on it regularly. It was all quick stuff, straight over the coals: chicken thighs, wings, sausages, burgers, koftas and so on. I never did a low-and-slow cook on it. It wasn’t something I was interested in, or even aware of, back then. So anything here about long cooks is pulled together from other sources. The rest comes from my own cooking.
The short version
The Master-Touch GBS is the kettle I’d buy. It’s £299 at Weber UK, and for quick cooks over hot coals it does the job.
Weber sells it for low-and-slow too, with the Kettle Smart Ring (£289) adding a fan and app control. The Smart Ring doesn’t fit the Master-Touch Premium, because the Premium has a hinged lid, and that’s the main reason I’d pick the GBS. I give it 8.5/10.
Key takeaways
- £299 at Weber UK, with a 10-year limited warranty.
- The lid lifts off and hooks onto the side of the bowl, the grate is hinged so you can add coals, and there’s a thermometer in the lid.
- The £289 Kettle Smart Ring fits the GBS. It doesn’t fit the £409 Master-Touch Premium, which has a hinged lid.
- That’s why I’d buy the GBS over the Premium.
- 8.5/10.
At a glance — Weber Master-Touch GBS 57cm
| Price | £299 at Weber UK (checked October 2026) |
| Grill size | 57cm across, 2,342 cm² of cooking area |
| Size and weight | 107cm high, 65cm wide, 72cm deep with the lid on · 21kg |
| Lid | Lifts off, with a Tuck-Away holder on the side of the bowl |
| Grate | Hinged, takes Weber’s Gourmet BBQ System inserts |
| Thermometer | Built into the lid |
| Ash | One-Touch cleaning system |
| Fuel | Charcoal |
| Kettle Smart Ring | Fits (£289). Doesn’t fit the Premium |
| Warranty | 10-year limited |
| Score | 8.5/10 |
Who this is for, and who this isn’t
If you’re buying your first charcoal barbecue, a charcoal kettle is a good place to start, and in the UK that mostly means a Weber, especially if you’re new to it. The Master-Touch GBS is the one I’d get. If burgers, sausages, wings and thighs are most of what you cook, it’s all you need, plus a chimney starter and a bag of decent lump.
You can absolutely do long cooks on a Weber too. I never did them on mine, but Max Good, who tests grills full time for AmazingRibs, calls the Original Kettle “excellent for all types of cooking from searing steaks to smoking ribs”. The Smart Ring makes them easier, because its fan holds the temperature for you. I cook on a Big Green Egg Large now, and my review of it covers long cooks on a kamado.
What I cooked on my Master-Touch
Chicken thighs, mostly. I love them, and they were on my Master-Touch more than anything else. The other regular was koftas, with pitta bread and salads so everyone could make their own gyros, and a few beers with friends. Happy days.
I had to learn a few things the hard way. Keep the lid down, or it flares up, especially with something fatty like chicken skin. If a marinade or a glaze goes on before the meat goes on the grill, it just burns. And when I was a lot younger, I did the usual thing of charring the sausages.
Back then, I was nowhere near adventurous enough to try desserts or anything else. I’ve since done a BBQ apple crumble on the Egg.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Simple to use, and easy to light with a chimney starter.
- Once it was going, it burned for a long time with a nice even heat.
- It’s hard-wearing. The metal is good quality and not thin like the cheap kettles you see in DIY shops now, which heat unevenly and just break.
- Mine lasted forever and didn’t really rust.
- The ash catcher did a fairly good job.
Cons
- Cleaning it out was a bit of a faff, as I remember.
- With little kids around, I think a kettle is a bit more dangerous than a kamado.
- There’s no fan or app control unless you add the £289 Smart Ring.
Lighting it and controlling the heat
I lit it with a chimney starter every time, with lump charcoal. It was super easy to light, and once it was going it burned for a long time with a nice even heat.
I controlled the heat with the vents, one in the bowl and one in the lid. Back then I didn’t really move the coals around.
The Kettle Smart Ring
The Kettle Smart Ring is £289 at Weber UK, and it turns a Weber kettle into a smart one. It adds a fan and a Wi-Fi controller that you run from the Weber Connect app, so you set the temperature on your phone and the fan holds it there. I haven’t used one, so this part comes from Weber. It fits 57cm kettles, but Weber says it doesn’t fit the Compact kettles or any kettle with a hinged lid, which means it fits the GBS and not the £409 Premium.
Together the GBS and the Ring come to £588 at Weber UK, but I wouldn’t buy them together. I’d buy the kettle first and add the Ring six months to a year later. That spreads the cost, and it gives you time to learn the vents yourself, which teaches you how a kettle cooks before you hand the job to a fan. If the Ring never feels worth £289 after that, don’t buy one.
Master-Touch vs the alternatives
vs the Master-Touch Premium
The Weber Master-Touch Premium is £409 at Weber UK, £110 more than the GBS. I haven’t cooked on one. Its lid is hinged to the bowl rather than lifting off, and it comes with a diffuser plate and a char-ring, which Weber includes for low-and-slow cooks. The grate is stainless steel and flips up on both sides. What you lose is the Smart Ring, because it doesn’t fit kettles with hinged lids, and that’s why I’d still buy the GBS.
vs a kamado
I cook on a Big Green Egg Large now. It’s £2,065 on Big Green Egg’s own stand (£1,495 without one), and I’d buy it again. It’s what I use for long cooks, though a Weber can do them too. With little kids around, I also think a kamado is a bit safer than a kettle.
vs gas
I’ve also had a gas barbecue, an Outback three-burner, for a couple of years. I got it free through our street’s WhatsApp group when the previous owner upgraded. It fired up really quickly with a pretty even heat, it was easy for sausages, chicken thighs, koftas and veg, and changing the gas bottle locally was easy. It was a good piece of kit. I moved on because I wanted to start doing low-and-slow, which gas can’t really do, and because gas always feels like cheating to me. Maybe it doesn’t taste better, but it feels better. If none of that matters to you, gas is a perfectly good tool, and my kamado vs gas guide goes into it in more detail.
| Compared with | Price | Where it’s better | Where the GBS is better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master-Touch Premium | £409 | Hinged lid, diffuser plate and char-ring in the box | £110 cheaper, and the Smart Ring fits |
| Gas (I had an Outback three-burner) | Mine was free | Fires up really quickly, with an even heat | It’s charcoal, and you can do low-and-slow on it |
| Kamado (my Big Green Egg Large) | £1,495 | Long cooks, and a bit safer with little kids | A fraction of the price |
Where to buy it in the UK
Weber UK sells the Master-Touch GBS directly for £299. I’d buy one secondhand too. Mine lasted forever and didn’t really rust.
Accessories worth buying
The two things I used every time were a chimney starter and a bag of lump charcoal, and my guide to the best UK BBQ charcoal has the bags I’d buy. The one Weber thing I’d skip is the Rapidfire Set, which bundles the chimney with briquettes. Buy the plain chimney and a bag of lump on their own.
Which Master-Touch I’d buy today
I’d buy the Master-Touch GBS 57cm at £299. It’s £110 less than the Premium, and it takes the Smart Ring if I want to add one later.
Common questions
Is the Weber Master-Touch worth it?
Yes, if most of what you cook is quick stuff over hot coals. It’s £299 at Weber UK, mine lasted forever, and I’d buy the GBS again. For long cooks, the Smart Ring makes them easier on a kettle, or a kamado is the other way to go.
What’s the difference between the Weber Master-Touch Premium and the GBS?
The Premium is £409 and the GBS is £299. The Premium’s lid is hinged to the bowl, and it comes with a diffuser plate and a char-ring for low-and-slow cooks. The GBS lid lifts off and hooks onto the side of the bowl. The big difference is the Kettle Smart Ring, which fits the GBS but not the Premium. I haven’t cooked on a Premium, so this comes from Weber.
Which Weber Master-Touch is best?
The GBS, for me. It’s £110 less than the Premium, and it takes the Kettle Smart Ring if you want app control later.
Can you do long cooks on a Weber Master-Touch?
Yes, and a Weber is good at them. I never did them on mine, because I only cooked quick stuff back then. The Smart Ring makes them easier, because its fan holds the temperature for you.
Lump or briquettes on a Master-Touch?
I always used lump charcoal on mine, lit in a chimney starter, and lump is what I’d recommend on a kettle. Briquettes have their place, like an Airbnb barbecue where you want instant light, but they’re not what I cook on.
Sources and how I tested
I used a Weber Master-Touch for more than twenty years, until about five years ago, for quick cooks straight over the coals. Everything here about long cooks, the Kettle Smart Ring and the Premium comes from Weber.
- Weber UK, Master-Touch GBS 57cm product page — price, size, weight, warranty and features, checked 10 October 2026
- Weber UK, Master-Touch Premium 57cm product page — price and features, checked 10 October 2026
- Weber UK, Kettle Smart Ring product page — price and which kettles it fits, checked 10 October 2026
- Big Green Egg UK, Big Green Egg Large product page — price, checked 10 October 2026
How I got this, and what I’ve spent
My parents bought my Master-Touch around 2000, and I used it for years. I don’t know what they paid for it.
Nobody sent me a Master-Touch or a Smart Ring, and nobody at Weber has seen this review before you have. The photos are Weber UK’s own, because I don’t have any of mine. None of the links here are affiliate links, so nothing here earns a commission.
The verdict
8.5/10.
The Master-Touch GBS is the kettle I’d buy. I cooked on one for more than twenty years and it lasted forever. It was easy to light, it burned for a long time with an even heat, and the metal was good and thick and didn’t really rust. Cleaning it out was a bit of a faff, and with little kids around I think a kettle is a bit more dangerous than a kamado.
At £299 it’s all you need for quick cooks, and the £289 Smart Ring is there if you want to do long cooks without minding the vents. I’d buy the GBS over the Premium because the Ring fits it. Would I buy it again? Yes.