When most truck campers think about grilling at camp, they picture lugging around a propane bottle, checking fuel levels, and hoping the campground hasn’t posted another dreaded “No Open Flames” notice. During much of the summer in the West, fire restrictions can turn your carefully planned steak dinner into a frying pan affair.
But what if you could still grill—without propane, without an open flame, and even indoors?
That’s exactly what Kenyon International has been quietly perfecting.
From Luxury Yachts to Campgrounds
If the Kenyon name doesn’t ring a bell, that’s understandable. The Connecticut-based company has spent nearly a century building products for places where reliability isn’t optional.
Founded in 1931, Kenyon began manufacturing aviation and marine instruments before becoming one of North America’s leading producers of premium ceramic cooktops and electric grills for luxury yachts. Anyone who’s spent time on the water knows that marine equipment has to survive constant vibration, harsh weather, salt air, and incredibly tight spaces. Those same engineering principles translate surprisingly well to life in a truck camper.
Today, Kenyon is the largest North American manufacturer of stainless steel electric grills and cooktops, earning multiple Hearth and Home Vesta Awards and an IBEX Innovation Award along the way.
A Grill That’s Welcome Indoors
Here’s what immediately caught my attention: the Kenyon City Grill is one of the few electric grills that’s UL-approved for both indoor and outdoor use.
That’s a pretty big deal.
Most portable grills are designed exclusively for outdoor cooking. The City Grill can be set up on a picnic table one day and on your camper’s countertop the next. If the weather turns ugly or you’re camped in a steady rain, your burgers don’t have to wait for blue skies.
Even better, there’s no propane tank to carry, refill, or find storage space for.
Small Grill, Serious Heat
Don’t let the compact size of this 27-pound grill fool you.
The City Grill uses a 1,300-watt electric heating element that reaches temperatures exceeding 550 degrees in roughly five minutes. That’s plenty of heat for burgers, steaks, chicken, vegetables, or seafood.
Its approximately 155-square-inch cooking surface comfortably feeds four to six people, making it a great fit for couples, families, or a few hungry camping buddies.
Construction is exactly what you’d expect from a company with marine roots. The body is built from marine-grade stainless steel, while the non-stick cooking grate removes easily for dishwasher cleaning. Temperature adjustments are handled with a simple control knob—refreshingly uncomplicated compared to many digital appliances.
The entire grill measures roughly 21 by 12 by 8 inches, making it compact enough to store in many truck camper basement compartments or exterior storage boxes.
Bigger Family? Meet the G2
Need more cooking space?
Kenyon also offers the G2 Grill, essentially the City Grill’s bigger brother.
The G2 bumps the cooking surface up to roughly 210 square inches, enough to prepare food for as many as eight people while maintaining the same 550-degree cooking performance. Power increases to between 1,440 and 1,800 watts depending on the model, but the overall design philosophy remains the same: durable stainless construction, straightforward controls, and serious cooking performance.
The Catch?
As with most things in life, there is one tradeoff.
These are 120-volt electric grills, meaning you’ll need shore power, a generator, or a sufficiently capable inverter or portable power station to operate one.
The City Grill draws roughly 10 to 11 amps, so it’s not something you’ll casually run from a small battery bank for extended periods.
For campers who primarily boondock without a generator or large lithium battery system, that could be a limiting factor.
Why It Makes Sense
If your camping style already includes hookups, a generator, or a robust electrical system, the advantages begin stacking up quickly.
First, you eliminate another propane appliance and another fuel source to manage.
Second, there’s no open flame, which means no flare-ups from dripping grease and far less smoke drifting into neighboring campsites.
Perhaps the biggest benefit comes during fire season. Many public lands and campgrounds restrict charcoal and propane grills under Stage 1 fire restrictions because they produce open flames. Since the Kenyon is an enclosed electric grill, it may remain usable where traditional grills aren’t—though campers should always verify current regulations with the land management agency before firing up any cooking appliance.
Then there’s the versatility.
When your camping trip ends, the grill doesn’t become another piece of gear collecting dust in the garage. Plug it into an outlet on your patio, backyard, or driveway, and it’s just as useful at home as it is at camp.
Final Thoughts
The Kenyon City Grill won’t replace every propane grill on the market, nor is it trying to.
Instead, it offers something genuinely different—a premium electric grill that transitions seamlessly between your truck camper, campsite, and home. For campers with sufficient electrical capacity, it eliminates propane bottles, reduces smoke, simplifies storage, and provides a practical cooking solution during wet weather or many seasonal fire restrictions.
At $695 for the City Grill and $949 for the larger G2, these aren’t impulse purchases. But Kenyon has never built bargain appliances. They build products designed to survive decades in one of the harshest environments imaginable—the marine world.
After spending time with the City Grill, it’s easy to see why it has developed such a loyal following. For truck campers looking to simplify their cooking setup while gaining the flexibility to grill almost anywhere electricity is available, Kenyon may have cooked up one of the more interesting alternatives to propane we’ve seen in years.
For more information about the Kenyon City Grill, visit the company’s website at www.cookwithkenyon.com.
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