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

I bought this grill in June and love, love, love it. I recommend that anyone considering this type of grill (a kamado), do some research first. It is not as easy as a gasser or even a kettle charcoal grill. There is a learning curve to all kamados but once you dial it in, the results are outstanding. In other words, if you just grill on occasion and "good" is good enough, stick with the other grills. If you want steakhouse quality steaks, pizza that tastes like it came out of a high end pizza oven, and the ability to smoke pork shoulders for 14 hours and have the best pulled pork ever for the neighborhood party, then you want kamado cooking. Not to mention...ribs! Most kamados, like the Big Green Egg (BGE) cost three times this one and do not come with a cart. Why? Well, they are ceramic kamados. Does that make them better? Yes and no. I have eaten food off of both and know pit masters who have used both. Most will say that the quality of food is the same. I agree. The biggest difference is that the BGE will last forever as long as you are careful with it. The ceramic does come with a downside however. They way a ton, so they take a small army to move unless you buy their cart that costs another small fortune. The Akorn is made from three layers of insulated steel. It is much lighter and will last many, many years if cared for. Keep it inside or covered. Water kills, especially if it gets down into the ashpan, gets the ashes wet, and sits there. When people complain that "Mine rusted!", that's why. It is light, so very mobile. The cart is a huge convenience. Take all of this into consideration, especially if deciding between an Akorn and a more expensive brand like the BGE. The cooking experience: I love it. As mentioned earlier, there is a learning curve to all kamados (there are websites to help you). For example, if you plan on doing a spatchcock chicken at 350, don't throw a bunch of charcoal in and let it go up to 700 degrees. They are a lot easier to ease up to temp than to bring them back down. Once you get a feel for the vents, you will be cooking excellent food. Accessories: Like all such grills, you will need other things for the best experience. It adds a little to the cost, so you should be aware. This is true of Akorn, BGE, and all brands. I suggest: The Akorn Cooking Stone ($35 from Home Depot)-Used to create an indirect cooking environment. For example, when smoking a 10 lb pork butt for 14 hours. A good cordierite (because of the high temps) pizza stone if you want to make pizza.-Can be $50+ but I found a great quality one for $12.95 on Amazon. Just look for deals. A dual probe grill thermometer that has a probe for the grill temp and another for the meat.($30-$40)-Mandatory for low and slow cooking. When I did the 10 pound pork butt, I monitored it from inside the house, as mine has a remote that the base signals. I know the grill and meat temps at all times without going outside. TipTopTemp (optional $20-$35): One of the things the Akorn does not do quite as well as the more expensive cousins is hold low temps steady for long cooks. You might have to run out every couple of hours to adjust the vents. The TTT sits on top of the top vent and does it for you. I can literally put a pork butt on at night, go to bed, and leave it all night without a worry. It stays within 10 degrees of my target 225. A charcoal grate from a Weber 22.5 inch kettle grill.($11)- You put it on the tabs for the smoking stone and put the charcoal on there. It brings the coals closer to the cooking surface for the best steak sear ever. Pros-VERY affordable Is a charcoal mizer! It is so efficient, the small amount of charcoal it uses is amazing. Versatile. Whole chickens, duck, turkey, pizza, bread, the best wings you will ever have. There are forums with kamado recipes for just about anything you can imagine. Many have video recipes as well. There is an included top rack that you can put corn and other veggies on, or even better, more meat! Easy clean up. It uses little charcoal, so little ash. The ash pan is VERY well designed, better than the competitors. The side table and underneath storage is incredibly convenient. Spacious-I will be doing four 10 pound pork butts for my kid's cross country team's concession stand next month. Three on the grill surface and one on the top rack. Yes, 40 pounds of meat! Cons-Is it as well built as a BGE? No, but is a Ford a Mercedes? No, nor does it cost as much! The built in thermometer is terrible. BUT, use a reliable grill thermometer like I mentioned above anyway. You will get fatter eating all that delicious food! I have included a picture of the 10 pound pork butt from last weekend. Notice the wonderful bark (the blackened outside which is not burn, it is flavor!) I got on this grill.

Easy to use, heats up quickly to high temps. Food tastes great using this grill.

With the cart there is no chance of it falling over when moving as does the ones from Walmart and Lowes. The cart also gives more room and support during the cooking. I'm extremely happy I got it all at the same time and was amazed how easily it cooks.

The grill/smoker was a breeze to assemble. The temperature is easy to control. All items cooked so far have been delicious!

Part 22 'Fire Bowl, 3 Handle, Porcelain " arrived slightly damaged. I had to paint over one of the hinges inside and unbend it. Additionally, part 32 "Hinge Assembly" is misaligned. The issues will be apparent when you look at the pictures attached below.

After my Gas Grill literally fell apart after 8 years it was time to go shopping. I stumbled on this while looking around and after reading the reviews decided it was a GREAT PRICE $279. All I can say is BUY THIS GRILL now. Get a bag of Royal Oak Lump ( forget the brickettes ) and fall in love with grilling again. It wasn't difficult to put together, looks great, cooks even better. I was surprised at how fast this thing came up to 400-500-600 degrees - Maiden Voyage consisted of 1 Ribeye, 1 Filet, 1 NY Strip, and 1/4 chicken... even grilling in the dark the food turned out FANTASTIC. I also put a bunch of veggies on a pan (with holes for grilling ) and they were also FANTASTIC. I haven't used coal in 20 years - but now I'm sold - and for this price believe me, you can't go wrong.

The Akorn with the cart is a great deal. I have cooked a dozen meals on it since my purchase and have no complaints. It is the best charcoal grill I have ever purchased.

I am new to owning a Kamado style cooker and so far I am very impressed with this product. I've only cooked a couple of meals on my Akorn, but they have been very good. I am still learning the ins and outs of controlling temps, but haven't had any run away from me yet, and I still have yet to do a low and slow cook too. I have been able to maintain 350 for 3 hours and 400 for 1 without any issues. I will say an external thermometer is a must to get an accurate grate temp due to the shape of the bowl and distance from the cooking surface, the external thermometer isn't accurate, in my grills case about 35 degrees off, which on a long cook could really make a difference. Overall though this is a very good product that doesn't use much fuel, and cooks really well. I also really love the prep space with this particular model. I definitely use it a lot either for holding my spices as I prep the meal or just holding my platters and utensils. Also the under cart storage is awesome to hold the lump charcoal and any other items, suchas the deflector plate when not being used. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting a good product at a great price. I have seen some complaints of smoke leaking from the Akorn while cooking, but I have not had any issues with it as my grill seems to be sealed up well. Time will only tell if this stays true, but there are many options out there to help correct this if it happens, just google it and you'll get many hits. Hope you enjoy your Char-Griller Akorn as much as I do.

Original shelf would not go together as welds were WAY OFF. Spent an enormous amount of time locating an HD that had a unit with the correct part and swapping it out. Several of the screws were also malformed (unable to use screwdriver on them). Shoddy workmanship, would not buy again.

I bought this grill based on the reviews it got. We had the grill shipped to home depot and when we went to pick up the box it looked like it had been thru WWII. Nonetheless, we brought it home and started to unpack it. I immediately noticed two dents on the hood and the latch was set on an angle. We got thru about 75% of the assembly and the hinge was not lining up right, the screw holes were off about an inch. Even if I rotated the top hood in order for the holes to line up, then the latch would not line up. I immediately sent customer service pictures and they shipped a new hood to me which I received about 5 days later. I placed the new hood onto the bottom and had the same issue, the hinge was not lining up right. I sent additional pictures to customer service and they sent out a new bottom dome which I received about 4 days later. Finally, after two weeks from my purchase, I was able to finish the assembly. I used it over July 4th weekend and it was a HUGE hit. Everyone loved the flavor of the food. This is a great grill and I realize not everyone has had issues with the assembly but I was happy to see how quickly customer service was to remedy the issue. I would give it 5 stars if it wasn't for the issues up front but either way, its a great grill.

I've had this product for about a month now and I have to say I am in love with this grill. The price point was very competitive for a grill this size as the weber equivalent is around $300. That being said, the beauty of this grill starts when you go past standard grilling though, because this grill has insulated walls, and well sealed joints, you have great airflow control, which allows you to use this grill for baking and smoking meats as well. The center top of the grate is removable so you can add charcoal for those really long smoke-cooks. Last weekend I used this grill to smoke up 20 pounds of meat. I made a 5 lb brisket, a 6 lb pork shoulder, AND 2 full 4.5 lb chickens, all at the same time! The total cook time for the brisket/shoulder was 8 hours, and temperature control was very simple and easy throughout the cook with the bottom/top vents. As if that wasn't enough, because this grill is insulated, you will use far less fuel (charcoal) than equivalently priced smokers, which means you wont have to open the grill up as much, which is a big reason temperature control can be such a pain on other smokers/grills. I would recommend this grill literally to ANYONE looking for a grill/smoker, and have recommended it many times in the last month of ownership!

Its sad when you buy a product and start to assemble it and parts don't line up right or packaging is torn open and nuts and bolts are all over the place. I was hoping to be able to use this, but now I have to wait until someone from the manufacturer calls me so I can have them send me a replacement lid because the holes don't line up to even mount the thermometer. I should have spent the extra money and bought the Green Egg instead. This is what you get when you try to save money. Bad choice......

Like most people, I've seen many friends using the Big Green Egg and I wanted one. The problem is I already have a gas grill and I don't smoke/grill often enough to justify spending that much money. Then I saw this Akorn Kamado at my local Home Depot. After reading the positive reviews and the fact that I had a few HD gift cards, I decided to take a chance. I'm glad I did. I've owned it for a few months now. I'm no expert, but it seems to be cooking every bit as well as the BGE. Plus it has a few advantages over the BGE. One, the bottom comes off very easily so you can dump and clean out the old coals. Two, it is very light and easy to move. This may not be important to some, but if there is any chance you will need to move it back and forth between patio, porch, driveway, etc. then it comes in handy. ADVICE: If you get one, get a cover right away. Home Depot is out of stock of the cover that is made specifically for this grill, so I called Char-griller to see where to get one. They were out of stock as well, so I decided to wait. Unfortunately, when it rains, any water that gets in through the top smoke vent gathers in the bottom. Then, on sunny days, the water evaporates up to the grill grates which are cast iron. It caused lots of rust on my grates. After a few months, I decided I couldn't wait any longer so I decided to try the Weber grill cover that is made for their Performer series of grills. It works like a charm. See Picture. It is the Performer Silver 22-1/2 in. Premium Grill Cover model 7449.

I have wanted to buy a Big Green Egg for the past few years. Knowing that I would be moving last year, I held off because I didn't want to have to transport the thing. I am glad that I waited, because I found that other companies have jumped into the kamado cooker business. I have had my Akorn Kooker for almost a month now, and I have done numerous long slow cooks on it, as well as some pizza and beer can chicken. There is a learning curve with temperature control, that depends on a number of variable (fuel, lighting technique, damping, etc..) There are numerous videos and resources online to help you figure it out. The good news is that you almost cannot ruin a meal on this thing. Assembly is pretty straightforward. My box arrived severely beat up by UPS, but the contents were well packaged and undamaged. Assembly was fairly easy, but the instructions are more like IKEA, and require special attention. It is helpful to have two people when you assemble this. I had one of my kids help me, and it was not difficult. Nothing is very heavy, you just need a spare set of hands. I sealed the bottom damper with some High Temp Copper RTV. That is recommended by numerous users. I'm sure it helps, but my Akorn already had a gasket there (which may be a new addition, as others have not mentioned it). You will absolutely want to buy a wireless remote thermometer. I bough a Maverick 732, but it failed after a few cooks. The thermometer that this unit comes with registers temps anywhere from 10-50 degrees F different than the temp at the grate. Plus, you will want a thermometer probe in your meat to measure internal temperature without having to raise the lid. If you're lookin', you ain't cookin'. Every time you raise the lid, your internal temp. will drop, followed by a quick rise (because of all the O2 you introduce). With the remote thermometer, you can keep the lid closed for hours on end and not worry. I own luxury cars, and do not mind paying more for a better product, but I think this grill delivers nearly the same value as a BGE at 1/3 the cost. As for durability, time will tell, but this grill seems well constructed. If I were cooking in the dead of winter (-15 temps) then maybe the BGE will outperform, but I honestly don't think I am going to be BBQing in the winter. Add to the fact that this unit is significantly lighter than a BGE, and comes with a cart which makes it easier to transport and store, and I think that the Akorn Kamado beats the BGE for value. BTW, I have had this thing up over 550F (pizza night) and the outside of the unit is comfortable to touch. Another nice feature is that a Weber charcoal grate (for the 22" grill - which makes the grate 18.5") fits the tabs where a diffuser plate goes so that you can place a drip pan or pizza stone under your food for indirect cooking and to keep the interior moist and aid in cleanup. A cheap mod that increases the versatility and usefulness of this grill. I am very pleased with this purchase, and Home Depot.

I just put this Acorn grill (in grey cart) together. There were several dings and knick in the paint. Ok, I can live with that, it is basically cosmetic and nothing a few sprays of rustoleum cant handle. The biggest design flaw is in the legs that house the caster wheels. It is terrible. One leg was missing a bur inside it that evidently keeps the caster casing firm and in place. One leg only had one bur and the caster floated out. I stuffed styrofoam from the packing in the leg to the correct height, sat the caster ring on in, gorilla glued it and voila. This is NOT what anyone should expect. I do not want to be hassled to call customer service or take it back. The second quality issue is the front latch. It is not aligned, it is off center quite a bit and the latch does not "latch" the top. It just floats. So far I have cooked on it twice. Excellent results. I actually own another char griller product, which I was not to happy with as well. It did not hold heat and used a ton of lump charcoal. The quality was poor as well as you can see the paint flaked off the bottom. I just bought that grill about 2-3 months ago.

I am very happy with this purchase. I bought the Akorn for my wife for her birthday because she has been wanting a smoker. The Akorn was the best all around value I saw. It can do it all.

If you're looking for a kamado grill that won't break the bank, this is it. Juiciest chicken you'll ever grill! Awesome fajitas! I haven't got to make pizza on it yet but I can't wait to. Seriously buy this grill!

Received the smoker ahead of the promised date. The box it was shipped in is substantial and arrived in great shape. The smoker is Produced in America and well made. The directions were concise and easy to follow. All the bolts , screws, washers etc.......... Were blister packed with the size and name of each piece printed on the package. Easy to assemble. I put this unit together by myself, though An extra pair of hands would help. I was pleasantly surprised how every thing lined up perfectly. Did not have to pry pieces so they would line up with the bolt holes. I would highly recommend this smoker from this manufacture to anyone.

Bought online and UPS delivered. Put it together myself.Good directions,not hard. Love the cart prep area. I have used the Akorn a couple times and the food flavor is wonderful but I still need to get the smoking temps right. I have taken off the lower vent and used a copper high heat sealer along with some high heat gasket material to be able to control air flow better. Have not used it since that fix. Added a Weber 22.5 grate where the optional smoking stone would go to put a pizza stone there for direct heat control and a stainless charcoal basket ( used colander from Salvation Army) to catch the ash and measure the lump. Also a large floor tile on the cart to put hot things on. It looks good though. Read all the posts on the web to see how to tweak the Akorn to be more efficient and worth a lot more for much less than a ceramic model. This is a good buy at HD.

Best grill and smoker I have ever owned. Easy to maintain and a pleasure to own and use.

I have been cooking on propane BBQ's for a long time and wanted to get something different. I wanted a grill, smoker and outdoor oven, this Kamado is all 3 in 1. I promise, I have cooked some of the tastiest food ever, and my wife and kids agree as well (they are picky eaters). I can assure you, if you want a grill that does it all, get this grill. 1/3 of the price of ceramic and just as good.

I've had this grill for over 10 years and I'm thinking about buying a new one. After a decade the seals have minor air leakage and there's a few cosmetic issues but overall this thing is still solid and I probably have a few more years left on it. I've cooked, seared, smoked, made pizza, and slow smoked more 12-16 hour briskets than should be allowed by law. This Akorn Kamado has handled everything I've thrown at it. Keeping it covered with a quality cover when not in use helps a ton with longevity, especially when it rains, but nothing lasts forever. The only issue I've encountered is the metal hanger on the inside for the ash pan recently rusted loose. The clips on the outside still hold the ash pan in place so not a big deal and hey, it took 10 years so no complaints from me. Great company, great product. Years of memories and family bbqs!

Limited recommendation. Not great for climates with rain, snow, humidity. I've owned 3 of these, 2 without the cart and one with. They are fantastic grills and smokers, reasonably priced and pretty well-built. BUT hardwood ash+water (even humidity) is very caustic. I don't have a garage and unless you're prepared to clean it thoroughly after every cook and store it, oil the seals etc.. it's gonna rust out. So far I've thrown one away and am ready to throw a second one away because it leaks and won't hold temp any more. It's a waste. I'm moving to an all-aluminum smoker-grill that will never rust.

Rarely do I give anything 5 stars, especially at this price range. The cart is an afterthought but the grill itself is great. Be prepared for a lot of screws to assemble, but the grill finish and design are top notch for the price. I love the blue finish. Once you figure out the right combination of upper and lower vent settings, it's very consistent to cook with and we've had some great meals from it in the first two months of owning it. Once you get it hot it's difficult to cool off with the Kamado design that holds heat well. If you want an inexpensive charcoal grill, you can't go wrong here. Note that the grill itself is smaller than some of the cheap rectangular grills so it might be a bit small if you're cooking for more than 3-4 people.

Love this griller ! It is a keeper!

all the advantages of big green egg at half the cost.

It is easily one of the best grills I have ever owned...lots of space, even heating, great space on the attached table and solid design!!!

Very nice for the price