Thinking of adding a Kamado. Good idea or not?

ssv3 said:

Started it off with a kamado and loved it. Then as my q arsenal grew the kamado sat for two years before I sold it. It was a lot of hassle and too many parts and accessories, with deflectors, racks, grates etc etc. compared my other cookers. IMHO a Weber 26 with an SnS will do way more in it's simplicity than a hefty kamado with a million parts and accessories. Basically I found it cumbersome compared to my other cookers. My $.02.

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My exact experience. The 26 kettle w/ SnS IMO is hard to beat on numerous levels

ssv3 said:

Started it off with a kamado and loved it. Then as my q arsenal grew the kamado sat for two years before I sold it. It was a lot of hassle and too many parts and accessories, with deflectors, racks, grates etc etc. compared my other cookers. IMHO a Weber 26 with an SnS will do way more in it's simplicity than a hefty kamado with a million parts and accessories. Basically I found it cumbersome compared to my other cookers. My $.02.

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I don't know that I'm with you on the conclusion. I agree that the 26 with SnS is more simple -- particularly in terms of cleaning up the ash. I'd even agree that for most cooks even I'd probably go with the Kettle. (and obviously, the cost difference is substantial depending the Kamado we're talking about)

The stability of the Kamado though was truly impressive. Smoking at higher temps burns through charcoal pretty quickly in the weber. My old KJ was really efficient -- also, more stable.

Then of course there is the fact that it looks really cool if it's in a nice table (which I also used to have) :razz:

I will say that If I could only have one, it would probably be the 26" Weber and SnS.

I had a KJ classic ll and loved it, the only reason I sold it was because I needed something bigger. I also have a Weber 26 and love it too (it is the size I needed). In my experience the KJ is a great fit if you want it for the rotisserie, pizza and steak.

Chester said:

So I am not needing capacity (have a gasser and flattop for larger cooks).

Why would you like the 26 kettle better for what I am looking for, namely rotisserie, pizza or steaks than say a Kamado joe? The Joe has the ash catcher, and you can get the kick ash basket to make shaking off coals easy. Seems like cleanup and maintenance is pretty simple.

Is there something I am missing?

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Good question. All I can share is my experiences with you. I was a KJ guy for years. Had 2 BigJOE’s, a Classic and a Joe Jr. Loved them... until I began playing with other cookers again. If we are just comparing the KJ to the kettle I can tell you that I preferred the kettle in the following ways.

-Cleaner flavor profile imparted to the food.
-Faster to get going.
-Less maintenance
-No more dealing with flashbacks when cooking at super high temps.
-No more dealing with cracked parts.
-Easier 2 zone cooking.
-Easier on the wallet.
-More portable.

If you don’t need the 26 you can get a pizza attachment for the 22 kettle along with a rotisserie. IMO the ceramic cookers are not the ultimate pizza oven by any means. They take awhile to get up to the high temps and it’s at those high temps that you start to see ceramic crack over time. Sure, its covered by warranty, but you still have to deal with acquiring replacement parts and then swapping them out. Ceramic lids/bases ain’t fun to replace. And when cooking at the high temps in ceramics having to deal with flashbacks was a pain in the rear at times.

This has been my experience, obviously not all will agree. You asked though... lol