Customer Reviews for Char-Griller AKORN Kamado Kooker 20 in. Charcoal Grill in Grey with Cart

The char Grill or last for 1 to 2 years and then it starts to rust. If you keep it outside with a cover this thing will rust out and will be in operable in about four years.

This unit bent within 2 months after i bought it. now it does not lock properly, defeating the whole purpose of this grill. i am taking it back. don't waste you money and invest in something better. oh and warranty doesn't cover. they will only say that you dropped it or hit it with something, even though i sent them pictures proofing otherwise.

This grill (that I received as a birthday gift) is excellent. It has fabulous temperature control and is super easy to clean. I just had one issue during the first use. I was attempting to remove the outer grate w the grate tool to add a few more lumps of charcoal, and the grate slipped and a section of it broke off on the patio. I wasnt expecting the grate to be so delicate because the rest of the grill is extremely well-built and looks very durable. I ordered a new grate and it is being delivered today so my grill season is not seriously interrupted but the easy breakage might be something to mention in the manual next time. Thanks Chargriller for stepping up my grill game!

Bought the grill on 12-10-20 and assembled the grill on 12-18-20. I greased the grill grate and lit the fire to season. Temperature gauge reached 500 deg. and I shut the vents and noticed the paint had scorched and turned brown around the top vent. This grill is supposed to be able to cook at 650-700 deg. I will be calling Char-Griller customer service.

Absolutely amazing. Steak and vegetables were just melting in mouth.

This grill exceeded expectation! Set up and assembly was a breeze. The first cook and seasoning of the grill went much better than expected. Controlling temperature was a breeze as I had extensively researched how to reach/maintain temperatures. Coming from smoking on a side box smoker for years, this was simple to adjust to. Cleaning is also incredibly easy compared to the more expensive kamado grills! I've been able to blast this grill up to max temp for serious sears on big steaks and held low temps to smoke. Honestly this is an incredible investment! Having the side table is also a major bonus, its HUGE! This picture doesn't really set to scale how large it is. Lastly, assemble this in the location it will be housed/used....my door frame of my living room to backyard was not wide enough with the wheels on ;) 10/10 would recommend to anyone looking for a charcoal grill/kamodo cooker that isn't going to hurt your wallet.

I really like this grill. The flavors induced by using lump charcoal are fantastic. So far I have smoked a chicken on it but will soon try a pork butt and then a brisket. Highly recommend.

The bang for the buck is off the charts on this model. I'm obsessed with researching anything I buy that has any competition at all so I have been digging in to all kamado grills out there to compare. I figured that I might as well go with the entry level price point after reading about the Akorn for hours. Once I picked up my grill and assembled it, every complaint that I was warned about in reviews was not an issue. No bent parts, no missing parts, no chipped paint, and was really easy to assemble. If you can view a picture, select pieces and hardware and assemble them as pictured as well as work a screwdriver you will have zero issues. The cart is very sturdy and with this model being priced the same as the ones with the side shelves there isn't any reason to not choose this one unless space is an issue for whatever reason. I was amazed when assembling it to find that nearly everything is made from either stamped or cast steel or possibly aluminum. There are only 3 things I could find that are plastic:. wheels, axle cover and the tabs below the latches on the removable ash pan. Outstanding. Would recommend this to anyone in the market for a grill/smoker. I have only used it once since assembling it and it is just as good at holding heat as my brother's BGE but at least half the weight and a third of the cost. I'm not easily impressed but I would have paid up to $500 for something like this and would have thought it was still an incredible value.

Took out of box put together and cooked 2 steak's on the grill and we love it Highly Recommend

The Kamado is based on some of the earliest cooking technologies. Japanese “mushikamado" I understand is a wood stove introduced to Americans after the Second World War. Eventually, it became known as a "kamado" which literally means "stove" in Japanese. I received the King Grill Akorn 6 + years ago as a Father’s Day gift. It took me and my two boys to assemble it due to the weight of the tub with two holding and one inserting the bolts. It takes some use to become familiar with the heat vs flame of a conventional grill. The design is smart with an easily removed ash pan. It too is heavy but had a Y shaped support to hold the pan while you fasten the catches. I start my story here because that Y shaped support was the first to break. Spot welds failed. Moving on I realized that the Akorn is great in holding in smoke but terrible with holding out rain. The ash pan now weighed a ton because it is filled with water. And with water comes rust. The fire pit has rusted through. While adding my charcoal, the steel (not stainless) fire grate fell through into the ash pit. So, my experience with the King Grill Akorn was a B- If it weren’t for the great work surface, my rating would have been lower.

By no way am I anyway a Pit Master!! This makes smoking and grilling so much easy and at a 3rd of the cost of a Green egg.

Great grill long or short cooks. Recommend

This is my second akorn grill, 1st one still going strong but ashpan rim started rusting out and nuts on both top n bottom body started to pull out. This new grill has SAME NUT SET UP, BUT DIFFERENT ASHPAN DESIGN A LIP. Overall great slow or long cook/smoker. The old one came with warmer basket rack this new one did not. Seems solid thou one screw stripped out n broke. Overall would keep buying these grills recommend. Another thing ordered the saphire blue grill sent me the grey grill, called them said they could come get it n bring out another. Told them no its fine not assembling another.

It was a gift for my bf. He loves it and has used it many times already. Once you get the hang of regulating the temp it is great to use. We just cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner on it, stuffing, green beans and all. We have also made pizzas several times which have been fantastic! The only complaint would be the difficulty of assembling it. It takes 2 people and a considerable amount of time. Other than that I strongly recommend.

The warning I will offer is if you plan to EVER use or store your grill in an open air, uncovered environment, beware. This grill has a design flaw. As rainwater runs down the sides, it seeps into the bottom joint between the removable ash pan and the main body. The ash pan section is held in place by two clamps and has a seal to keep air out. It does that better than I thought it would but what it won't do is keep a single drop of moisture out. Moisture and ash mean serious rust fast. I take care of everything I buy and I bought the custom cover but had to order it, no one ever stocks it for the cart unit. I have always kept it covered but on the rare occasion when it began to rain before the unit cooled enough to cover proved to be enough to damage it. I had to completely disassemble the unit and use a wire wheel on it to remove the rust from both surfaces where removable bottom section meets main body of egg. It was rusted horribly bad, almost ruined. I painted it with Rustoleum but the rust was severe and the metal very thin in this area. The two times I was late covering this grill, I took the bottom off the next day and one of those times I found water standing in it and poured the water out and rinsed it good. This is a serious design flaw with this otherwise decent kamado. (This review is for the grill but since the cover is so critical to my issue I will add that it sucks. It looks good, feels good but I have had to replace it each year. Cold and sun both absolutely destroy it. You cannot put it on with the grill still warm, it will ruin it. They are high and they have to be ordered. You won't find one without ordering one, at least not for the side cart unit like I bought.) Great unit except for this flaw. My unit is in it's 3rd year. For twice as much I could have bought the Vision Grill ceramic. I will be getting it as soon as this one rusts out and won't allow airflow control because of it. Disappointed in what was an otherwise exceptional grill. If you are grilling under a good roof line, but this unit with confidence that you can keep up with any kamado and have better features, But DON'T keep it on an open patio, even if you plan to cover it.

Easy assembly, easy to cook on. Nice grill

The instructions were easy to follow and came with hardware. All went well until the last 4 screws which did not fit. I was able to go to a hardware store and find the correct size screws. I cooked the first meal and it was amazing! Overall, Great Grill for the money.

I read all the reviews, on this site and others, and almost didn't buy this grill. What you have to look at is the percentages of complaints against good reviews. Those with complaints often voice their opinion, those satisfied, not so much. The percentage of complaints against good reviews is pretty low for this grill. With manufacturing and shipping, things are always bound to go wrong. But when my local Home Depot dropped the price to make way for plastic Christmas trees and mechanical Santa's, it got my attention. First it was $240, when they dropped it to $210, the force was too strong and I took it home. Assembly is not as difficult as most describe. What you have to watch for is the direction of the side supports/bars and locations of screws. otherwise you'll have to take those apart once or twice to get it right (like I did.) I guess I was one of the lucky ones, but I bought it out of the store, eliminating a lot of the bent and missing pieces I hear about. All the parts were there, and the rivets in the firebox showed little signs of the chipping I hear about. I did find the lid a little difficult to align perfectly with the bottom half. The one I bought indeed came with the warmer rack. I bought the cover separate, which appears pretty heavy duty and should last a couple seasons. The ash box has a pretty tight seal, I hear complaints of it dropping or the clips rusting out. I plan to keep the exposed parts treated with WD-40 and this shouldn't happen. If the bottom seal starts to loosen (as I expect it will) it looks like I can roll the clips a little tighter to keep it sealed up. I seasoned the grill with a 3 hour burn of regular briquets (sue me) and did my first cook with a combo of briquets and lump charcoal. Lump charcoal burns hotter, less ash, briquets longer, more ash, some claim to taste a difference but meh . . . maybe. I season with hickory chips and when using briquets burn them until they are white so all the additives burn out, so it all works out. After the flames died down I closed it up with both dampers open it shot up to 650 in a matter of minutes! I closed up both dampers and there was almost zero smoke leakage. As expected the temp started to come down. Being new with the Kamado, by the time it got to my target temp of 400 degrees I had almost put out the coals! :-D The temperature control is awesome, not something I'm used to. This is a whole different type of grilling, and it's going to take some getting used to. It comes with a grill tool so you can remove the center grill and drop in more lump or wood chips while cooking, which is what I do. When we're done cooking we close up both dampers and it puts the coals out, ready to use for next time. We're on our third cook and getting the feel of how it works . . . and it is awesome. Pros: Awesome temp control, mine seals up as advertised with hardly and leakage when closed down, manufacture is pretty good for the price. Cons: I really don't like the plastic table top much, and the tool hangers on it are HUGE. They are molded into the end of the top. I had to leather-strap my utensils to use them. At this price, it really should include the cover, but it is what it is.

This grill is outstanding! Very well built, holds temp very well and easy to control the temperature. By far my favorite charcoal grill. The table is plastic but the cart is sturdy.

Finally decided to get this since all my friends have one and my electric smoker broke. Also allows me to grill. I know they work good. But many of the parts were bent in the box. So now my cart doesn't roll. both side cart panels were crushed closed like a crab claw, I guess they couldn't find a fork lift at home depot and kicked it off the top shelf. Some how the egg was fine. The top shelf was also bent. I had to bend several pieces with some fliers. I had to borrow a friends minivan and drive 1.5 hours to pick this up at the store b/c i figured it would be better than it getting shipped fedex. I was disappointed in how rough the cooking grate is. I grilled some sausages and they came out ok. Will have to keep experimenting with it and get my hammer out and finish bending the metal back in shape.

I got the grill for Christmas this year from my family. I am very happy about that. I have cooked on it and it’s great. Took about 1 1/2 hours to assemble by myself. Easy just pay attention or you’ll have to redo things. Cooking on its easy just takes a little time to get the grill up to temp. Believe the book. The temp gets up slow and hard to bring it down. I love the grill and can’t wait to experience the ins and outs of cooking on it.

Happy with this unit

I've just unpacked and assembled myself, it took longer that expected to assemble, around 1.5-2 hour. They need to add labels to the parts, its hard to figure out what is what. in my case one of the part was not correct, I've attached the picture. i sent mail to customer service, we will see what happens. Overall good quality, it does not feel cheap product.

*****DEFECTIVE PRODUCT***** I researched this product before buying and bought at home depot, last one in a sealed box. I had everything put together except the egg, when I took it out noticed the bottom of the grill had defects, stripped screw, scratches, and one area had a dented area and damaged screw that had had a repair with a substance to it. I assumed the repair go to be heat resistant, it is a grill after all.... remember the old adage of never assume, well I decided I could live with it since I had no way to return it assembled without renting a truck. Used the grill one time, the repair goo melted at 300 degrees and stuck to the cloth like seal on top and ripped it out when I opened it! The grate also had missing coating. WHERE IS QUALITY CONTROL??? WOW, VERY DISAPPOINTED!!! sent an email with picture to char-griller and have NOT HAD A REPLY. Again, I have no way to return this put together, and I am EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED they would allow this grill in the condition it was to be sold. And EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED they have not responded to my email of how to remedy the situation. *****BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!!!

If you like charcoal grilling and smoking, you will love this cooker. Only used it 3 times so far, but chicken, brats and a smoked brisket turned out awesome. It will take a little time to learn how to manage temp, but 30 briquettes held 350 deg for 90 minutes and I was able to maintain 200-250 for 4 hours w/ the brisket w/o adding charcoal. Flavor is fantastic and the warming grate allows for flexible cooking options and lots of space. Never used a green egg, but this weighs and costs about 1/3 as much and makes great food. I couldn't be happier so far - it is a vast improvement over a standard weber.

I was concerned in buying this grill. everyone kept saying to buy the BGE or some similar $1k product. Well that is out of my price range. I decided to buy this upon reading the tons of online reviews. I am impressed I was a pretty decent BBQ er before this and was worried about using dampers to control the temp and how to use direct indirect heat other than doing it, by placing the coals well all the coals are directly below cooking surface. I tried it by controlling the temp with the air flow after seasoning the grill surface. My chops and sausage turned out great especially since it was my first time cooking on this grill nice and tender chops and the sausage dripping on them. YUM YUM!! All in all this should last as long or longer than my old grill as it is coated with the porcelain on the steel surfaces. The cart was a great additional to this buy. I shopped it on amazon it was not this nice cart but 2 smaller ones on each side which (IMHO) would make it not as easy to use. Also this cart makes it easier to move as you have 4 wheels. Amazing product so far, I cannot wait for next weekend. Using mesquite on some brisket!!

This thing is AWESOME!!! I like it so much that I'm getting rid of my pellet grill. Holds heat and easy to control once you manage the air control. I use lump charcoal from home depot and once you're done cooking close everything up and save what coal is left for the next cookout! This is a do everything from grilling to slow and smoke. Good bye to my pellet grill and my propane grill.!!!

The cart can be tricky to assemble especially when solo. I really like this unit. It replaces my big propane grill and my propane smoker. Gets to temp quickly and holds the heat well. Large enough cooking area for several slabs of meat. The warming tray swings out of the way in order to get to the cooking surface. The accessory hangers are just fat, stubby molded plastic. Should be metal hooks instead. Customer service rep. was very helpful replacing a damaged component. I actually spoke with a human in Atlanta. The temperature gauge is accurate! The tool to remove the grate system is excellent. The construction is solid. I would expect thread lock on all of the bolts. There should also be a draft control chart attached to the cart. Copy it from the assembly manual and keep it handy and weatherproofed. Cleaning your ash is easy with the removable bottom clean out cover. Get a wide mouth metal bucket to receive the ashes. The finish is good and cleans up easy. Get Grilling!

I've had this baby two weeks now, and it has surpassed my expectations. I just couldn't pull the trigger on Kamado-Joe model with the $$ involved. Read a ton of reviews on this and gave it a shot. Have smoked fish, grilled steaks, burgers , chicken... Just smoked ribs for first time this weekend.... UFB great, maintained a nice cool 250deg for 4 hours, never ran out of smoke or flared up. Over cooked my steaks first time, tried searing and was quicker than I had figured. Not sure how long the upper or lower seals will hold up, but very happy with the construction and ease of use so far. Not to mention how great the food tastes. Purchased the cheap version electric charcoal starter - 11.99 at Lowes, simply put into vise and bent into a 24.99 angled one. Just bend slowly and continue to move out of vise while bending as not to crimp or break element. Good Grilling to all !!

It looks even better in person, than in the picture!!! Great Product, Great Price!!!