Crisp and Golden Mac and Cheese Cakes on the Grill
Turn yesterday's leftover macaroni into today's crispy, golden side dish with this easy wood-fired recipe.
Huntsville is in the middle of a genuine building boom — Redstone Arsenal and the aerospace and tech companies orbiting it keep pulling new families into fresh subdivisions all over Madison County, and a lot of those new backyards are getting their first real grill this year. Before you drop a few hundred dollars at a big box store or a few thousand at a specialty showroom, it's worth knowing what you're actually paying for. Local hearth and patio stores in Huntsville carry excellent hardware, but showroom rent, floor staff, and delivery fees all get baked into the sticker price. Buying a solid steel Arteflame directly online means that overhead isn't part of the price. The options in Huntsville actually stack up as follows.
Buying a grill in Huntsville means weighing Huntsville's two dedicated hearth and patio retailers, which are legitimate, well-stocked businesses worth visiting if you want to see ceramic and pellet grills in person, against ordering an Arteflame directly online, which skips the showroom lease and sales staff built into local pricing.
The options compare as follows for Huntsville buyers in 2026.
Grillers Warehouse is the grilling side of Across the Pond, an outdoor living retailer on N Memorial Parkway in Huntsville. They're an authorized dealer for Kamado Joe, Primo, Memphis Woodfire, Green Mountain, and Napoleon, and the staff genuinely know how to talk you through ceramic versus pellet cooking. If you want a showroom to walk through before you buy, this is the one to visit.
Southern Hearth & Grills recently opened a new showroom on Hollow Road NW covering outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, fire pits, and grills. It's a solid stop if you're building out a full outdoor kitchen island rather than shopping for a single grill, since they can spec the whole space at once.
Buying the Arteflame direct means a U.S.-made, solid steel cooktop shipped straight to your driveway in Huntsville, without the showroom overhead the two stores above have to charge for. It's a fire pit and a griddle combined, built to sear at temperatures a propane burner doesn't reach.
| Option | Price | Searing Capability | Maintenance | Social Design |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grillers Warehouse (Kamado Joe/Primo/etc.) | Showroom pricing | Strong (ceramic retains heat well) | Ceramic can crack; gaskets wear | Standard single-cook layout |
| Southern Hearth & Grills | Showroom pricing | Varies by brand carried | Depends on unit; gas lines add upkeep | Built into outdoor kitchen islands |
| Arteflame (Online Direct) | No showroom markup | 1,000°F+ center sear | Solid steel, no grates to replace | Round, open — built for a crowd |
The open bars on a standard grate let fat and juice drip away before they can caramelize, which is why grill marks aren't the same as a real sear.
A commercial kitchen isn't required to get that steakhouse crust — what's needed is heat conductivity that a propane burner and a wire grate just can't deliver. That's the gap between a standard grate and a solid steel cooktop.
The Arteflame works because it's solid carbon steel, not open grates over a flame. Here's why that matters:
Pro Tip: The Costco Wholesale at 1205 N Memorial Pkwy in Huntsville is a good stop for prime cuts, chicken, and produce in bulk before a big cookout — it's just up the road from the Grillers Warehouse showroom, so both errands can be knocked out in one trip.
An Arteflame changes how you host in Huntsville. Its round, open cooktop pulls people in around the fire instead of leaving them on the patio waiting while you stand alone at a closed grill lid. Guests end up cooking their own skewers or finishing a steak to their liking right at the edge of the grill, which turns the cook into a shared event instead of a solo chore.