You bought a new grill, beautifully arranged the skewers, but the next morning you noticed that the walls were curved in waves and the bottom was bent? It's not magic and it's not always just bad metal that's to blame. Let's find out why the metal is "capricious" and how to avoid it.

The most common reason - you bought a "disposable" barbecue in a supermarket at a promotional price.

The bottom line: If the steel is less than 2 mm thick, it is physically unable to withstand thermal expansion. When heated, the metal molecules expand, and a thin sheet simply has nowhere to "lie", but to bend in the direction of least resistance.

Even 3-millimeter steel can be "tightened" if the structure is simply a smooth "box".

How to do it right: Good grills have folds on the edges of the walls or metal rods (square tubes) welded around the perimeter. These "ribs" hold the geometry, acting as a skeleton.

You grilled meat and immediately decided to pour water on the coals to get home faster? Congratulations - you just signed a verdict for your grill.

Physics of the process: Rapid cooling creates enormous stress in the metal. The crystal lattice is unable to rearrange evenly, and the metal is instantly "cut".

A grill is designed for grilling over charcoal, not for using it as a fire pit for five hours at a time.

Problem: If you pack your grill tightly with dry oak or birch wood, piling it up in a "pyramid" over the edges, the temperature inside can exceed a critical limit for which steel is not designed.