A built-in grill head is a hole in a wall before it is a grill. The Fire Magic Choice Multi-User CM650i is 36 inches of stainless steel that drops into masonry. It is built for courtyards and pool decks, where several households share one cooker.
Fire Magic sells the same head at 24 and 30 inches. Open the parts list and the reason is plain. These three burners carry the same part number as the two in the CM430i. Same burner, same drilling, one more of it.
So nothing under this hood is new. It is the same fire, repeated. The question worth answering is what the extra foot of width actually buys.
First Impressions of the Fire Magic CM650i
You never meet this grill loose. A qualified professional installer sets it into a poured island. Fire Magic makes that installation a warranty condition. Nobody cooks on a CM650i the day it arrives.
Once it sits flush, width is the whole first impression. Three knobs run across a control panel 38 1/4 inches wide. Satin stainless, no polish, no trim. It looks like something ordered by a facilities manager.
The control panel carries most of the character. Knobs are heavy, round and deeply knurled. The drip tray slides out from underneath without tools. Everything you touch feels heavier than it needs to be.
Lift the hood and the money shows. Spring assist carries the weight, and it stops open at 90 degrees. Nothing on this grill plugs in. Press a knob, turn it to HI LIGHT, and a spark fires from inside the control.
The first cook across all three burners explains the size. Thirty six inches of Diamond Sear grid holds a full run of thighs. A tray of peppers goes on beside them, over the third burner. The food tastes as it does on the 24-inch model, which is rather the point.
Key Features of the Fire Magic CM650i
The Multi-User set is what separates this from a plain Choice grill. Every one of those features sits on the 24-inch model too. Buying the 36 buys width, not a different specification.
- Three matched main burners: Part 3042-60, three of them, 23,000 BTU each. The 24-inch model uses two of the same part.
- Stainless steel: Double-walled 304 stainless hood and housing. Beneath the grids sit 16-gauge 304 stainless Flavor Grids.
- Diamond Sear cooking grids: Patented under D857,453 and D862,984. An anti-theft locking mechanism holds them where they belong.
- Push-button igniter: The spark lives inside each knob. There is no power connection and no battery anywhere on the grill.
- Anti-theft warming rack: 36 by 8 inches, 288 square inches of it. Two hook positions give a cooking height and a storage height.
- One-hour shutoff timer: A timer in its own stainless box cuts the gas. Shared courtyards get a backstop against a knob left open.
- Analog thermometer: An angled dial in a polished stainless bezel sits in the hood. Nothing to calibrate, nothing to power.
- Made in USA: R. H. Peterson builds these in City of Industry, California.
69,000 BTU reads like a step up from the 24-inch model’s 46,000. Spread it across the grid and the step disappears. This grill gives 106 BTU per square inch. The CM430i gives the same 106.
That is not a coincidence. Fire Magic uses one burner across the whole Choice line, drilled to one size. The 36-inch model gets three of them where the 24 gets two. This is not a hotter grill, it is the same fire, wider.
What the third burner does buy is a zone. Two burners force a blunt choice: half the grid hot, half of it dead. Three let you close one end and keep two running. Ribs can sit over a shut burner while steaks sear a foot away.
The grid itself does more work than the output figure suggests. Diamond Sear bars are broad and flat across the top. They lay a wide mark on a steak instead of a thin line. Fat falling through hits the Flavor Grids and returns as smoke.
Depth is where the upgrade stops. The cooking surface stays 18 inches front to back on all three widths. Hood height does not change either. You can cook more at once, never anything taller.
Build, handling and durability
Double-walled 304 stainless is most of the construction story. Almost nothing on it moves, so almost nothing can loosen. Only the hood does, and spring assist carries it to a stop at 90 degrees.
The parts list is the real durability argument. Ten of the components most likely to wear are shared across every Choice width. Regulator PR-4, drip tray 3093 and knob 3026 carry over from the 24-inch model. Igniter 3199-50 and valve 3025 do too.
That matters more in a shared courtyard than in a backyard. A property running two or three sizes stocks a single bin of spares. Only the obvious pieces change with width. Grid set 3542-DS-3, Flavor Grids 3065-S-3, manifold 24181-12 and lid 23734-50.
Height and depth are shared with the rest of the line as well. The head stands 20 3/4 inches with the hood open and 13 5/8 inches shut. Maximum depth is 25 3/4 inches on a 24 and on a 36. Only width and weight move.
Weather is handled by material rather than by accessories. Nothing is supplied to shield it, and wind is a real constraint. The manual allows 15 minutes of full output behind a closed lid, no more.
Running costs, upkeep and value
There is no Fire Magic price to quote. Its product pages send you to a dealer instead. Flame Authority and Kickass Grills both listed the CM650i-RT1N at $5,157.00 on 27 August 2026. No manufacturer number stands behind either listing.
The step up from the 24-inch model came to $966.60 at the same dealer that day. Half again as much grilling surface arrives with it. Per square inch, the 36 works out at $7.96 against $9.70 for the CM430i.
Gas sizing deserves a thought before anyone pours concrete. Supply pipe wants a 1/2 inch bore as a minimum. Runs longer than 20 feet may need something larger. Three burners at full output are not a small draw.
Upkeep is a routine rather than a project. Ten to fifteen minutes at full output burns the grease off, then brush. The drip tray pulls out and takes disposable liners. Flavor Grids catch fat before it ever reaches a burner.
What the price does not cover is the enclosure and its fittings. A combustible island needs insulating liner 3177-52. An enclosed cooking bay needs a 42-VH-7 vent hood. Both smaller Choice grills take the 36-VH-7 instead.
Possible Fire Magic CM650i Complaints
- The width is a building decision, not a buying one: Masonry has to be cut to 37 3/4 inches, or 38 3/4 where a countertop overhangs. Enclose it and the vent hood steps up to a 42-VH-7. Once the island is poured, changing your mind means rebuilding it.
- The extra foot buys no depth and no headroom: The grid stays 18 inches front to back, exactly as on the 24-inch model. Hood height is identical right across the line. A tall roast fits no better here. The third zone has to do that work instead.
