Custom Color Your Grill

by shangrilarcadia

14K96

Intro: Custom Color Your Grill

I have a nice red grill, which I keep on the porch of my white house with green shutters. But as much as I love red & green, I don't like having my porch look like Christmas year round. So, I decided to custom color my grill to coordinate with my house.

I chose to go with plain green because that's what I wanted to match my shutters. But if you are good with graffiti or have a stencil you want to use, more power to you!

Also, I guess I should point out that this only works for the exterior part of your grill - not the part that actually faces your food when the grill is closed.

STEP 1: Gather Your Ingredients

You will need:

  • a grill (obviously)
  • Rustoleum high heat spray paint
  • Painters tape
  • Newspaper or Plastic - you could use a drop cloth, but I prefer to re-use plastic grocery bags to be more green
  • Surface cleaner - there are lots of different types you can use, but I like clorox bleach wipes because they work wonders on grease and you'll only need one or two
*Paper towels - to make sure everything is dry before you paint

Note: the rustoleum comes in both regular high heat spray, and "ultra" high heat spray, but only a few different colors:
  • black (regular or ultra)
  • white (regular)
  • green (regular)
  • silver (regular)
  • almond (regular)
  • brown (ultra)
  • aged copper (ultra)
  • brown (ultra)

STEP 2: Clean

This should be done when the grill is cool and will stay cool for awhile. So do it on a day when you don't want to use it for cooking. Also, don't do it on a really windy day.

When the timings right, clean the area that you will be painting, so that it's free of pollen, dirt, grease, etc.

STEP 3: Tape

Tape around the edges of the area you will be painting. Make sure to take your time so it lines up just right.

STEP 4: Cover the Surrounding Areas

Tape your plastic around the edges so that you don't get residual spray paint on the rest of the grill. You could also use a couple of layers of newspaper for this step.

Note: I wanted to use plastic instead of newspaper because I thought it would work better than newspaper. I used plastic grocery bags to save money and be more green, but I don't think I would do that again because there is a tiny area where the paint went through the bag just a little bit. So if you want to re-use, double up and put two bags on top of one another.

STEP 5: Spray

Shake the can well, and apply a thin layer of paint from 6-12 inches away.

Wait a few minutes between coats. I put 3-4 coats.

Optional: if you're doing a stenciled image, wait a full 2 hours before applying the stenciled layer, so that you don't mess up the base layer with the stencil

STEP 6: Wait, Then Remove Tape

Wait 1 - 2 hours for the paint to fully dry, then remove the tape, and plastic.


Voila, you have a custom colored grill!

Don't cook with it tonight - wait for tomorrow to grill up more food ;)

6 Comments

LinuxH4x0r 15 years ago

Nice job! (honesty I would have just painted the shutters)

shangrilarcadia 15 years ago

Maybe it if was just one shutter, but this is... one grill versus 4 sets of shutters, two doors, a trash can, and a bistro set (all green) ;)

LinuxH4x0r 15 years ago

Oh, that explains it! Maybe you should buff it or look for some sort of high heat clear coat. I think powdercoating is how they get that high gloss it originally had

caitlinsdad 15 years ago

Nice. You could have sanded the area to be painted with fine sandpaper to degloss the factory finish to make it easier for the paint to stick. I hope you roll out the grill to an open area before you fire up the grill. That would be a fire hazard on that lovely covered porch of yours.

shangrilarcadia 15 years ago

If there was rust or loose paint I would have sanded, but the paint adhered fine over the smooth glossy finish. The high heat paint is safe up to 1200 degrees, and as long as you don't paint anything exposed to flames (the outside of the cover is not), it's not a fire hazard (according to rustoleum at least). It says the only thing that might happen is a harmless odor the first time you use the grill.

caitlinsdad 15 years ago

I guess the painting purists would take apart the grill and do an automotive baked on powder-coat for the paint with all the prep and finish detail steps. Here in the big city we are supposedly outlawed from grilling on the balcony or porch because you might get flying embers or a gas fireball too close to the house and set it on fire. Just a thought on safety overall. Always have a hose or fire extinguisher nearby.