Kamado Joe versus Big Green Egg

A graduation gift for my son. He is not sure which to go for, any thoughts?

Mark, my perspective is that of someone who is going through the same thing as you and your son - trying to decide which to buy. I’ve done a ton of reading and research and have asked friends who have both.

Where I’ve landed is that from a pure performance perspective it seems like a bit of a coin flip. However I’m favoring the Kamado Joe primarily for the ease of lid opening, removable ash drawer, and the split grill system they’ve developed. Those features seemed to tip the scales in terms of convenience.

Is size an issue? I don’t want to recommend something that is different than you asked but when I went down this path, I ended up with a Primo for the grill space and the split fire box. I did have the bottom on my original Primo crack and they sent a replacement for the entire unit but of course I had to pay the freight. Not sure what to do with a second top since i only needed a bottom. The original bottom makes a great planter for herbs.

Primo user since 2007. Great grill. Split fire box is excellent for smaller cooks. and the color is dark gray, not green

2 Likes

The Naked Whiz did a great review of the Kamado Joe. Review of the Kamado Joe Classic Cooker -- Naked Whiz Ceramic Charcoal Cooking
I own the BGE and their product reviews have been valuabe.

BGE, mine is green like the trees and lawn instead of gloomy gray. [wink.gif]

I’m a BGE owner and love it. I’ve had it for nearly 10 years and use it probably 3 times per week.

BUT, I think KJ is a great alternative and you don’t have to buy a ton of aftermarket equipment to make it very versatile. Costco roadshows offer great deals on them as packages and the total cost with accessories is considerably less than BGE.

If I was buying new today, I would choose KJ from one of those roadshows.

Both have similar warranties. That was one of the features touted about the BGE, but my experience has been that warranty claims often require some hoop jumping and many others have had the same experience. The warranty claims are usually directly proportional to the quality of your BGE dealer. And remember, dealers change loyalties and go in and out of business all the time and you might be moving around too. Therefore, I consider the KJ warranty to be at least equal or better than the BGE and wouldn’t make a buying decision based on the claims of the greatness of the BGE warranty.

KJ over BGE .

I won’t give an opinion, except to say that I’m a BGE owner for about 10 years, and I love it. But I want to make one point: is your son in a stable, relatively long term living environment (only asking because “graduation” sounds like he might be moving around a bit)? Moving these isn’t a simple task, and there is a lot of breakage risk. It absolutely can be done, but if your son is in a situation where he might be moving around for the next few years, might be something you want to hold off.

I have the top Pro-S model Vision kamado so I will tell you what my issue was. The top vent did not seal properly. I had to take it apart and manually hammer the cast metal part to match the sliding closure. I only bring this up because even the whiz reviews mention that some venting is not well sealed on other models. From what I read the Kamado Joe is solid. But if your ceramic vessel is quality and cooking surface fire bowl are well aligned , the only difference is the performance of those vents. Mine sucked but it was luck that there was a way to rectify. That being said, both your choices appear to have solid vents. After that it is only a matter of accessories.

I hated my BGE medium. It was a gift to replace my Weber Performer. It didn’t fit our needs at all. The biggest problem was it was too small for pizzas and for roasting a chcken. A 4 lb chicken barely fit and had to be lying down instead of my favorite standing position because the BGE was just too small. Also the pizza stone was around 8 inches which meant personal size pies only.

Buy him a Performer and give him the left over $1000 to buy meat from Bryan’s.

I wouldn’t like the medium at all, way too small. I love the large, but with a family would now prefer and XL. I think it really comes down to style and accessories. Both are just ceramic cooking vessels, not much technology to them at all.

I have had the large BGE for over 10 years and love it. I am smoking a pork shoulder right now. After 8 hours, I pulled the pork, opened everything up to get things real hot fast, grilled three burgers, shut everything down to very little oxygen and put the pork back on. The medium would be unacceptable. I would have bought the XL from the start but the cover was so heavy my wife could barely open it. I should have told her that barely was good enough and gotten the XL. I have nothing bad to say about any of the others - I have never used one. The Kamado with the double grill that I have seen at Costco looks really nice.

We have a Lg BGE and a Performer. Wouldn’t have it any other way.

Mine is a medium. Yes, it’s a bit small for some things, but it does a whole pork shoulder just fine, as well as whole brisket. Baby backs are a little bit of a problem, but I stack them and move them around to make it work. And it’s fine for a hot grill, on those rare occasions when I use it for that. I’d love to have the Large, which is what I’ll get if my Med ever dies. But I picked it up at Costco for $500 about 10 years ago, and have loved it ever since. Large is definitely way to go (unless you really need something huge, than XXL).

Have had a large BGE for ten years now. Love it. No other amateur- back-yard whole brisket comes close to what I’ve done on my BGE. I’ll take some credit for that, but I think the egg is definitely part of it. Overnight smoke at 235 for 10 hours without concern. Maybe the KJ does this effectively, I don’t know, but the egg sure does.

Thanks for that. My son originally asked for a medium, but thanks to you all, looks like he is getting a large, and we are going to be a few hundred dollars poorer. Thanks a lot guys, this board has cost me a fortune flirtysmile

I think he has decided on the large Kamoto Joe, but it has been an interesting discussion.

Actually, it was seeing yours in action which made me suggest it as a graduation gift.

Are the Kamado Joe and BGE the same exterior shape and size (for equivalent cooking area)? We’re just getting ready to completely wipe out and re-build our back yard, and part of what I’m planning is a spot in my BBQ island for a BGE or similar. The current design is based on a large BGE, but now this thread has me second-guessing. And I’m wondering if I need to finalize exactly which one I’m going to use right now, or if I have the flexibility to build the island now, and figure out what goes into it a bit later…

FYI amazon has the Kamado joe classic one on sale for 695 including shipping currently

Is there a relationship between Kamado Joe and Komodo Kamado?