Kamado Joe® Classic Joe™ I Premium 18-inch Ceramic Charcoal Grill and Smoker in Red with Cart, Side Shelves, Grill Gripper, and Ash Tool. 250 Cooking Square Inches, 2 Tier Cooking System, Model KJ23RH

I love this grill. I previously owned a Big Green Egg, but gave it to my son when I was living in a high rise. Now I'm back on solid ground with a patio and needed a grill. After a lot of research, I decided to try the Kamado Joe. It's not cheap, but given the fact that it comes with plate setters, ash tool, and grill grate tool, it is cheaper than a Big Green Egg which includes no accessories. I was amazed at how fast I got it. Free 2 day shipping with Amazon Prime. There is some assembly required, but that is also simple. You will need someone to help you get it out of the crate, but that's more from bulkiness than weight. I loved my Big Green Egg, so I was a little worried that the Kamado Joe wouldn't have the same quality and temperature control abilities. No need to have worried. This is a well built product that has actually made some improvements over the Green Egg design. I'll compare the two since my dilemma was to buy this or The Big Green Egg: 1. The temperature control is as easy, accurate, and consistent as my Big Green Egg. Once the charcoal is lit, you can adjust the dampers to achieve your desired temperature, and it stays right there even on windy days. 2. The top has a felt ring around it that holds the cast iron damper cap in place even when opening and closing the grill. This is an improvement over the Big Green Egg which just had the cap sitting on the ceramic. I would have to remove the cap when opening the lid to keep it from falling off of the Egg. 3. With the Big Green Egg, you needed a bucket and ash tool, that was not included, to clean out the ash after cooking. The Kamado Joe has a slide in drawer that catches the ashes. The drawer holds enough ash to burn down a full load of charcoal, then you just pull it out, empty it, and put it back in. It would be a good idea to occasionally remove the fire box, etc. and clean around it (also true of The Big Green Egg), but this tray makes it much easier to empty the ash out during every day use. 4. You could only cook on the upper or lower level at one time on The Big Green Egg. The Kamado Joe comes with the Divide and Conquer system that allows you to cook all on one level or half the grill on the upper level and half on the lower level (closer to the coals). It also allows you to make half of the grill indirect heat while cooking with direct heat on the other half. This was great for reverse-searing steaks. I could cook them to medium rare with indirect heat then move them to the lower grate with direct heat to quickly sear them. 5. The only thing I can think of that the Big Green Egg has over the Kamado Joe is the ceramic cap that you can put in place after using to shut off airflow and put out the coals. Closing the damper on top of the Kamado Joe has the same effect, but maybe a little less efficiently than the ceramic cap. I don't want to take anything away from the Big Green Egg, because it is a quality product and mine is still in use performing like-new after 4 years. I have only had the Kamado Joe for a few months now, so while I can't say how durable it is, I can say that it feels as solid as the Egg and I would expect it to also be performing like a champ in 5 years. Overall, I am very happy with my Kamado Joe, and keeping in mind that I have 5 years experience with the Big Green Egg and only 3 months with the Kamado Joe, so far I would recommend the Kamado Joe to anyone who is on the fence like I was between this and The Big Green Egg.

This grill is a game changer! I have been a gas grill dude for a long time because of its convenience and affordability. The problem with a frequent griller is that these consumer metal grills die after a few years even with good cleaning practices and I really missed the smoke/charcoal flavor that you don’t get from a gas grill. Tired of buying replacement parts every year, for the next grill search, I wanted to look into a ceramic style grill because of all the great feedback heard for several years. These aren’t budget grills and are pricey but getting a grill every 5 years adds up and gets frustrating. This time I decided to stop the cycle and spend some money on a high quality unit; the Kamado Joe Classic was my choice. My first thought is wow, I can’t believe how great this grill cooks and it seems the more I cook on it, the more it cures. I’ve cooked brisket, burgers, chicken, sirloin tip roast, baked cornbread, and tons of vegetables. This thing just continues to amaze me and my family is super happy not no have to lie about the char from my past grills. I’m not saying that this grill automatically turned me into a award winning grill master, but the divide and conquer set up gives more options to perfect your cook as opposed to traditional grills where shoving the delicate stuff on the top rack and closing the lid is about your only option. The grill arrives in a crate and is extremely well packed. This is a heavy grill and is simple to set up, however, you need two to three people to lift this beast on to the base. Once on the base, the inside fire box parts and the rest of it goes in really easy. The construction is thick ceramic and has a beautiful red glaze. It’s essentially a giant pottery cooker. Owning charcoal grills back in the day, I assumed that clean up was going to be a fairly dirty affair, however I found that with using the recommended chunk charcoal, there is a lot less to clean up than with briquettes. The Kamado can use chunk charcoal and wood. While briquettes will work as well, I personally will not use them in this grill to avoid that fuel smell imbedding in the grill. There are several chunk coal brands on Amazon that will work great including the Kamado brand charcoal. Lighting this grill is easy as long as you have good charcoal and a good starter. I use the haystack looking starters and food chunk charcoal. The included divide and conquer system is an innovative way to maximize a cook, meaning that it allows for indirect and direct grilling simultaneously. There are other accessories available as well which extends the options of use. The top and bottom vent work together to provide consistent heat through your cook. Once you learn how to work the vents to control heat, you can walk away with confidence that nothing crazy is going to happen. This pottery marvel keeps the heat better than any grill I’ve used. I found the Kamado to keep a 300 degree temp with the vents closed after a cook for about 3 hours. I was blown away. Knowing this, a batch of cornbread followed my last cook. The thermometer works well, but was hard to see, so it was replaced with a more visible model. The ash drawer is a nice addition and helps with cleanup. The side shelves are solid metal and match the metal legs. I like that they fold down and are metal-wood always rots away. The wheels work well. Be sure to assemble the locks to the front the grill instead of the back in case you set up in a corner like I do. There are tons of videos available to help you on your way if needed. I am extremely happy with the quality and versatility of this grill and am confident that this grill will outlast me. I highly recommend this to anyone that is looking for a heavy duty ceramic style cooker!

Great value and delivery was prompt. It works very well. Only issue was unboxing. Ceramic heat reflector was tucked into the lid. When lifting the lid out of the container, the ceramic heat reflector dropped out of the center of the lid. The heat reflector hit the concrete and busted. I was not expecting anything packed with foam to fall out of the lid. Assembly was very simple. Just be careful unpacking.

I purchased the Kamado Joe Classic during an Amazon Prime Day special and also received an included Joetisserie unit in addition to the usual accessories. It arrived on time with free shipping and w/o any visible damage to the box or contents. All parts inside were in good order, well packed, nothing damaged. The unit assembly was easy, the wheeled legs seem sturdy and I like that it has a brake on the wheels. My father has been using a big green egg for, wow, 40+ years, he paid $25.00 for his. He has made a smoked Thanksgiving turkey every year now for decades and it is the bomb and is one of the big reasons I got this. I can't believe its taken me this long to get one of my own. The quality of the unit is top notch and there were no visible defects upon assembly. I have now used it to sear steaks, grill veggies/corn, slow smoke beef cheeks for tacos, rotisserie a chicken , and rotisserie a prime rib roast and I love it. I've used lump charcoal w/ Kamado Joe fire starters. Temperature control is easy and consistent. I love that the top cap is attached and can't fall off when the kamado is opened. Once the temperature is set, it will stay consistent for hours. The ash drawer is a very useful feature. There is a very informative series of you tube videos on cooking with the Kamado Joe, the explanations of how to make adjustments to set the temperature I found extremely useful and has eliminated trial and error in setting the temperature. The prime rib dry rub along with the smoky flavor and moisture from cooking in the kamado made the rotisserie prime rib roast the best prime rib I have ever eaten!! I love the smells that cooking food in the kamado generates.......going to smoke some pork ribs this weekend and will have to try cooking a pizza soon. I've always used a charcoal grill but cooking with the kamado adds another dimension to your outdoor cooking, very versatile.

I was overdue for a new grill, but Kamado grills were not on my radar. I used to cook on a cheap Weber kettle grill, but tossed it when I moved in favor of a cheap hand-me-down gas grill. I found that I didn't do a lot of grilling on gas. It didn't offer half of the flavor of charcoal, and even after replacing burners I had terrible hot and cold spots that prevented any consistency. "Buy a new grill" went on the to do list. Meanwhile, a close friend and colleague got a Big Green Egg. I had some pulled pork that he cooked on it, and I don't remember ever having better barbeque. He told me about cooking steaks, pizza, and chicken on it. It sounded great, but I still couldn't imagine spending $1,200 or $1,300 on a charcoal grill. The same guy notified me when this version of the KJ Classic went in sale because the new generation was released. It was a "Deal of the Day" for $699, and I went for it. I'm so glad I did, and now I definitely get it. At that price there is NO good reason to buy the Classic II. Most of the differences will be a draw, or a slight improvement for most users. Right now it looks like the old version is only $100 less than the new one. For less than 10% of the total price, I might be inclined to get the Classic II. There are dozens of comparisons that should convince you that the most important things about BGE and KJ (build quality, customer service, and the end result: food) are essentially indistinguishable. Some perceive BGE ceramic as being slightly better finished. KJ has an indisputable advantage when it comes to included accessories. You absolutely can't go wrong with either one. If I were to point out one objective advantage of KJ that I've found really convenient, it's the split, two-piece ceramic heat shield (platesetter in BGE vernacular). Since it's split, you can cook indirect and then direct without pulling hot racks out of the grill- which is what you have to do to remove the one-piece platesetter on the BGE. You can also put some char on something, and easily move it back to indirect if the internal temp isn't quite where it needs to be. This is included with the KJ, while the one-piece platesetter is an add on with BGE. This KJ package included a stand and shelves. I ended up repurposing an old outdoor grilling area, and putting it on wooden decking with firebrick, and fabricating a range hood out of a wheelbarrow and an attic fan. I modified the shelf brackets and hung the KJ shelves on the wall. The food is amazing, and I'm eager to get outside and grill. I've done steaks, burgers, chicken, quail, and the best gluten free pizza I've had to date. The only accessory for the grill that I'd recommend is a Kick Ash Basket for maximum convenience. This allows you to lift out your remaining charcoal and just shake the ash off before topping off with new charcoal. If you're unfamiliar with lump charcoal you just keep re-using what's left after a cook, instead of throwing it away like briquettes.There are knock off ash baskets for less, but many come with stories about warping and welds breaking. It's also helpful to have welding gloves for handling hot parts when you need to. I bought my basket and welding gloves at ceramicgrillstire.com. Other than the grill itself, grilling accessories and charcoal seem overpriced on Amazon. For the best food results I'd also recommend a high quality instant read thermometer. I've tried several Sub $15 thermometers on Amazon and at Wal Mart, and they all sucked. Spend $30 on a Thermoworks Thermopop. You'll thank me. I bought mine from a local BBQ supply store. An "Expert Grill" 30" heavy duty kettle grill cover on sale for $6 at Walmart fit perfectly. When you see 200lbs of ceramic, watch a charcoal grill sit at EXACTLY the temp you want, for as long as you want (this takes a cook or two to dial in, but isn't hard), raise the temp from 350 to 750 in two minutes for your reverse sear, and taste the food that comes off of a full ceramic Kamado, you can appreciate where your money goes. Knowing what I know now, I would absolutely pay the asking price for a quality Kamado.

I had a camp chef pellet grill (pure junk). The lump charcoal (along with a few pieces of hickory, mesquite or pecan….taste so much better than pellets. This thing keeps a steady temperature and is extremely easy to use. Takes me about 10-15 minutes to start it with Rockwood (Missouri Ozarks) lump charcoal and a little fire starter wafer. It’s the best…nothing better. The optional rotisserie and rotisserie basket is an absolute must have.

I own more bbqs/grills than i probably should (weber propane grill that i seldom use, electric smoker for cold smoking salmon and chipotles, traeger pellet grill for burgers on a schedule, vision grills kamado for low and slow, piazza wood fired oven for pizza nights) - kamados are my favorite. Have had a Vision Grill professional series for around 10 years and really like it. Needed a second kamado for the lake house. Vision Grills is great but they have stopped shipping parts (their lack of inventory suggests they might not be in business anymore). Saw this Kamado Joe classic I on sale and got it for a great price. For me the improvements on the series II and III are nice but the incremental benefit just isnt worth the massive increase in price. The food tastes the same regardless of which model you get (the flavor comes from the smoke not the model version) and so you’re mainly paying for small conveniences. For example, the upper vent on the KJ series I changes position when you open the lid which is annoying at first but for low and slow you dont need to open the lid very often and its easy enough to reset the position (it also gets you more range on the airflow settings than the newer versions). I dont have a need for the slow roller (my take is that its mainly marketing hype and just more stuff to clean - see youtube for blind taste tests where there is no discernible improvements in the end food - if you want to adjust the amount of smoke you can do this with the amount and type of wood chips you mix in with your lump charcoal). Save your money and spend it on an accessory like the joetisserie instead (works with any version and is awesome - bone in leg of lamb and taco al pastor are great on the rotisserie). Get a rotisserie basket to go with it (best wings you’ll taste). For me, an overpriced/unreliable connected kamado kind of defeats the the purpose of kamado cooking (the beauty of kamado grills is that you get precise temperature control with the existing vents and there’s something primeval about being able to cook amazing food using just glowing charcoal, hickory smoke and a large ceramic clay pot). Once you get things dialed in you dont really need anything else (apart from maybe a wireless thermometer from a third party seller - get wireless probes so you dont need to mess with wires, no need to buy the most expensive ones, i personally like the govee wireless probes). Really glad KJ still provides the older versions and hopefully the sale of KJ to masterbuilt in 2018 and masterbuilt/KJ to Middleby in dec 2022 doesn’t change the focus of the company (paying more for a clay pot doesn’t necessarily mean the food you put in it will taste better :-) ).

This grill is a much better value than the same size (large) Big Green Eg (BGE). The ceramic vessel is nearly identical in size, shape, and thickness to the Big Green Egg. Therefore you can expect it to cook just as well. For this $1,000 Kamado Joe, you get the ceramic vessel, the heat diffuser plate, a multi-tier grill, the side-shelves, the rolling base, a poker, and a grill gripper. Furthermore, when I received this item it was completely assembled. All I had to do was put the vessel onto the stand. The same equipment, plus delivery, plus assembly for a local BGE dealer would have cost me $1,500 to $1,600. The Kamado Joe also has a better quality thermometer and a very convenient ash collection tray. I own a big green egg minimax and I have grilled with both Kamado Joe and BGE and I can attest that the grilling results are comparable. As a final touch, the Kamado Joe comes with a well written and concise instruction booklet with simple and comprehensible diagrams; whereas the last big green egg I bought came with some brochures to buy more accessories ... I was really torn over getting the large big green egg or this item. I read several online reviews that conclude the performance of the Kamado Joe is identical to the BGE, with some minor preference for the Kamado Joe because the steel bands holding the dome lid and the felt gasket materials are slightly better quality. I am glad I followed the guidance of the review (buy the cheaper grill). All the pros to the Kamado Joe I mentioned above have reassured me that I made the right choice. I am truly grateful to the Kamado Joe company staff for creating this product that gives me so much more value. I still feel dirty from my encounters with sleazy BGE retailers who don't even post the prices of the BGE grills on the floor of their stores. It seems like depending on the day, time, and even weather their price fluctuates up and down by plus or minus $60 with the total price coming in $500 higher than this Kamado Joe. Furthermore, the dealer disorients me with a barrage of all the add-ons: more money for the shelves, the poker, the grill gripper, the stand. Oh, and by the way, they are happy to sell me some of their own patio furniture for an extra thousand dollars. On the other hand, Kamado Joe, will sell you three simple ceramic feet pices for a nominal cost so you can simply set your grill on the ground or your existing patio equipment. I think the BGE is stuck in a 20th century mentality of screwing the consumer with "authorized retailer" markup. Finally, it is kind of nice how Kamado Joe is named after the original Japanese style Kamado ovens, giving credit to those who came before and made important contributions to the grilling craft. A few of practical points: 1. This is a very heavy package. It was packed in very durable heavy duty cardboard. Nevertheless my grill did move around inside its package. I carefully inspected the item and I could not find any damage or cracks. Ordering through Amazon, gave me confidence that I would be handled fairly if I receive an item damaged because of shipping. 2. The metal insert for the ash collection has a small lip that I needed to bend with pliers to get it to fit optimally in the base of my Kamado oven. 3. You will need two strong people to lift the vessel into its rolling cradle stand. It will be very difficult for one person to lift it, but it can be done by putting one of your hands in the base ash tray opening and carefully stabilizing the kamado with your other hand on the hinge. While holding the Kamado oven in this position one of the metal shelf supports will be dangerously close to your testicles.

Absolutely love this KJ! It's the first kamado I have owned and it's awesome. It's actually quite easy to control the temperature. I wasn't sure how it was going to be. I mainly use it as a smoker. Results are great. I did buy an ash basket and it's a great addition. I'm in my 60s and I was worried about the regular hinge. It's so easy that I don't even think about it anymore. Overall it's an awesome smoker which I hope will last a long time!

Holds the temperature very well. Easy to assemble. All around good quality.

Llegó en perfectas condiciones, es un placer asar, hornear. No he probado el ahumado todavía. Importante el buen carbón. Ideal para hacer varias comidas ya que el calor dura mucho.

Must have piece of kit for bbq enthusiasts! You can low and slow, high heat grills, hot smoke, even cold smoke. Amazing grill, just make sure you get proper restaurant style charcoal

Man braucht echt wenig Kohle