Dave, since we will have an extra inch or 2 of height, due to the insulation, I was planning on putting the hinges on the front upper edge. The door for the initial unit will be less than 50lbs. I like your idea, but it would make the door a little heavier. I haven't calculated how much, but I don't think it would be a lot.
Slider, I agree with you. The stack will be rectangular, as well, because I think it will look more in place, but also, I can make it any size I want. With pipe, you are limited to certain diameters and thickness. I like racks that slide out. This makes cleanup easier and eliminates some of the hot and cold areas because they do not run end to end. I also cook with water in the RF plate, which evens out the heat across the cooker.
Smoke, I was not implying that the shape would even out the cooking. That would come from the combination of the uniformity, the insulation and the water. The point of this thread was to get opinions on the cosmetics of a rectangular smoker. We kind of got sidetracked a bit. I tend to agree with you that, as long as it is built well, some people will overlook the shape. My concern was the size of that population. After doing more research on other forums and just asking around, I believe most people care more about the performance of the cooker than the shape. And the fact that I can put virtually any paint job on it, or even wrap it in a vinyl print out, makes it even more desirable.
