Within our database, you’ll find drop-down options for horizontal, vertical, and built-in stainless steel pellet grills and smokers. The key advantage of stainless steeling being corrosion resistance compared to painted carbon steel once the paints starts to fail.

However, there are actually different grades of stainless steel with different levels of corrosion resistance. In general, any pellet grill/smoker that uses 304-grade stainless steel, that’s the best grade with the most corrosion resistance.

There are some brands that will also make use of 430 and 201-grade stainless steel, which do not provide the same level of corrosion resistance compared to 304-grade stainless steel. These other grades of stainless steel can show pitting over time, especially if exposed to a coastal climate (salt exposure).

Though it’s not always clear which grade of stainless steel has been used by the manufacturer, and while some components may be 304-grade, others might not. Therefore, if you really want to get into the weeds on this, you would have to contact/check with each pellet grill/smoker manufacturer.