I think that part of the disparity is in frequency of use: if you cook on a daily (restaurant) or even weekly (enthusiast) schedule, you won't have problems. If

I think that part of the disparity is in frequency of use: if you cook on a daily (restaurant) or even weekly (enthusiast) schedule, you won't have problems. If you only grill on major holidays, you won't be able to just use it without cleaning. Also, a grooved scraper with the right spacing for your grate does a great job of removing large chunks. You don't need to polish it to bare metal, just remove that excess. Scrape after grilling while it's hot, wait a week, wipe with a paper towel dipped in olive oil when it warms up, and it works well enough for me.