What Kamado Grill should I buy?

Just my humble opinion - I purchased a Big Green Egg about 2 months ago. It is fantastic. I have made Ribs (2 times), Pork Chops, Boston Butt, Brisket, jalapeno Poppers, twice baked potatoes and pizza (2 times). Without exception, the food came out amazing. I will be posting some photos and information about a number of my smoking and grilling experiences. I have not met a single person yet that has regretted getting a Big Green Egg.

Big warning.....It is addicting.

As long as you buy a ceramic kamado at with more than an 1/2" thick wall, you will be more than satisfied. My California Kamado offers a great kamado with an 18" grill, baffler and bread stone at an affordable price.

To me there's nothing better than roasted meat and nothing does a better job than a kamado. I agree with Dan, it truly is addicting.

I'm a Primo Kamado Cooker Fan. Though there is definitely a cult of the Big Green Egg out there, the Dragon Fire Kamado Smoker and Grill - for instance does a fine job. It'll likely run you a bit less than a Green Egg as well.

The Big Green Egg is a good choice if you are just getting into slow cooking or have a limited budget. They do a great job and are readily available. The drawback to the BGE is that is does not operate at as low a temperature as some of the others (Kamado and Komodo). The Primo appears to be similar to the BGE though I have no expereince with them.

I "upgraded" to a Kamodo cooker and have had great success with it, even running it as low as 180 degrees for smoking salmon. Hard to get a BGE to run that low. However, I caution you to NOT buy a Kamodo cooker as the company does not operate faithfully any longer. The cookers are lower quality (now made in Indonesia) and the company will take your money and not send you yourcooker for many months, if at all. And do NOT order spare parts - I ordered $600 of spare parts in January of 2008 and still do not have them (July 2009). Emails and phone calls go unanswered. Many others have the same expereince - check out www.kamadofraudforum.org for the horror stories.

The Komodo Kamado looks like a superior (but expensive) product. As a avid Kamado cooker user, being intimately familiar with the construction flaws in their cooker, it appears that the Komodo product fixes each and every one of them. After about 7 years of use, my Kamado is failing (leaking smoke THROUGH the ceramic tiles!) I plan on replacing it with a Komodo brand.