I want to buy a new grill!!!!!
 

I have $500 to spend I have a performer,a nice off set,and a Jim Bowie pellet pooper. Any suggestions?

Get an Akorn. It allows you to grill and barbecue. It is the only kamado you can get for $500 or less (unless you find a Vision on sale at Costco).

^^^^^^this^^^ and you will still have money for charcoal beer and meat:thumb:

Get the Akorn and have something that will do things (high heat) that your other grills won't. Set aside a couple bucks for a CL Smokey Joe and tamale pot to make a mini-WSM. They're incredibly versatile. Mine gets more use than any of my other grills.

You are going to get a ton of great recommendations. Good luck with your decision. I use everything in my signature. Love em all.

I do have one request. When you decide reopen the post and give us the what and why of your decision.thanks

Would it be better to save a little more money and get the ceramic one? Thanks for all your input.

Depends on what your planning to do with it, since you have all those other grills/smokers, the Akorn will cover any other cooking needs you have at a fraction of the cost.Theyre very effecient, and a lot more portable than ceramic.

Downside to them is they have less grill space than many of the higher priced ceramic ones.If your looking for something with a lot of space and its going to sit in one place go with ceramic, if your looking for something thats easy to move around and you wont be cooking a ton of meat all at once the Akorns hard to beat for the price.Cant go wrong with either one, I prefer the Akorn cuz I do a lot of cooks away from home at relatives houses, camping, cook offs etc.. so I like the combination of efficiecy and portability it offers.

SteelSmokin, with the cookers you have it sounds like you have most of the bases covered already. As mentioned above, a ceramic cooker may be the way to go but you will be limited in terms of cooking space and mobility; some people do lug them around from place to place but mine haven't moved an inch since I bought them, too much of a pain in the ass. They're also fragile to an extent, if they stay put that really isn't an issue but once you start moving them around anything can happen... On the upside they are excellent for super high temperature cooking/baking, they make these cooks effortless so I believe in that respect they're unparalleled by any other cooker out there. Given what you have however, if you're not intending to do this type of cooking I wouldn't bother with ceramic.

Kamado cooker of some sort. I like my akorn but if I had had a little more money to play with I would of looked at the big steel keg. I love my akorn more than ANY other grill I have ever grilled on or smoker I have smoked in. Sear steaks and burgers it will do that. Cook a tri-tip at 350 it does that. Smoke a pork shoulder at 225 for 8+ hours it does that too. Control that is nearly as effortless as my indoor electric oven, it comes pretty close. Moist delicious food does it.

If I had 500$ to buy any grill I wanted right now. I would go to my local Lowes and buy another akorn if I had 900$ to spend I would look at a BSK but I would want to touch and caress the BSK before shelling out money.

My $0.02.

Akorn or WSM, but since you have a good setup for designated smokers already - i'd go akorn.

Small capacity smoking, grilling at ANY temperature and a couple hundred bucks left over if you play your cards right...

No brainer.

I struggled with a small BGE - mine is one of those (not uncommon) which is temperature deprived. None of the other sizes suffer from this problem. An email to the mothership got the useless reply "Mine works". Replacing the fire grate did help and the BGE now will reach 500°, given an hour.

I solved the problem by buying a BSK. No problem reaching 700° (which the same size BGE will also do). one big advantage - the BSK exterior can be touched when cooking at 500°. the exterior of my egg is 375° when the cooking temperature reaches 500°.

I got the BSK on sale for $650.

I wish you well on your decesion but when they go on sale I am buying an Akorn.

How about a UDS and save the rest of the money?

I just found a Kamado Joe for $599 good deal? What do you think?

Every Pitmaster needs a Smoky Joe and a UDS in his war chest. That Performer will do everything an Acorn will.