Char-Griller AKORN Jr.

The Char-Griller Akorn is a budget kamado-style grill that uses triple-wall insulated steel instead of ceramic to deliver kamado-like efficiency at a fraction of the price. It's the popular gateway into kamado cooking.

The Akorn Auto-Kamado is the steel Akorn body with a digital controller and a fan that manages airflow automatically, plus Wi-Fi so the temperature can be set from a phone. It is the cheapest way to get set-and-forget charcoal control — the feature that otherwise means a $2,000 Konnected Joe or a third-party fan controller. Everything below the controller is the standard Akorn: triple-walled insulated steel rather than ceramic, cast iron grates, and an EasyDump ash pan. Char-Griller no longer lists the Auto-Kamado itself — only its cover remains on the maker's store — and the $449.99 that once bought it now buys the plain AKORN Kamado with the cart. It is still widely owned and still turns up at retail, which is why it stays here.

A Walmart-exclusive Char-Griller barrel grill that sits between the Patio Pro and the Classic Cart: 520 sq in primary and 785 sq in total for $180. It uses the adjustable charcoal tray and dual-damper layout from the rest of the line plus the EasyDump ash pan, and adds a side shelf, which the cheaper models do not have. Char-Griller sells it only through Walmart, so it is not on the same dealer shelves as the Classic.

The grill that made Char-Griller's name and still the cheapest way to get 850 sq in of charcoal cooking surface in the US. Cast iron grates, a crank-adjustable charcoal pan, dual dampers, an EasyDump ash pan and — the point of it — a pre-cut side-firebox port, so bolting on Char-Griller's $100 side fire box turns it into a working offset smoker. That upgrade path is why it outsells everything else at this price.

Char-Griller's answer to the Weber kettle: a 22-inch porcelain-coated bowl with adjustable top and bottom vents and a removable EasyDump ash pan, at $150 against Weber's $229 for the Original Kettle Premium. It weighs 23 lbs, about 10 lbs less than the Weber, which is a build-quality difference as much as a portability one.

The smallest barrel grill Char-Griller sells, now catalogued as model 1616 (it replaced the older E1515 SKU the same shape was sold under). 250 sq in of cast-iron grate on a two-wheel stand, with the same crank-adjustable charcoal pan and EasyDump ash pan as the full-size Classic. It is the apartment-balcony and small-patio version of the barrel grill, not a scaled-down smoker.