Bug 352129

It is typical to share many kernel options (such as vga mode) between different kernels. Not an expert on grub, but it seems that it doesn't have such a feature. Debian has chosen to fit various options into comments of menu.lst. A sample:

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=noapic acpi=off root=/dev/mapper/bork-newroot ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

For example, my motherboard has a problem which wouldn't let it boot without the noapic option. The extra options make the kernel upgrade safe.