Let me start this by saying I am not a grill snob at all. You can smoke by digging a hole in the ground. You can grill with a few cinderblocks and a grate. I have an $8 clearance grill that I still use. But I also have a $1250 Weber Summit Kamado. Both produce fantastic food but its a lot easier to cook on and maintain the Summit. It also fits a LOT more food!
Three years ago, in Spring of 2022 I was in the market for a new primary grill. I had a Big Green Egg (Medium size) and wanted something larger. I was initially between the BGE and the Kamado Joe. After some research, I was between the Weber Summit Kamado (which, spoiler, I eventually purchased) and the Kamado Joe. After cooking on the Summit for three years I am convinced that I made the right choice. If I was in the market again, I'd buy the Summit again, although I might consider a Primo XL for reasons I'll outline below. Here are the Big Green Egg Medium and the Weber Summit Kamado side by side:
It's worth noting that not all Ceramic Kamados are built the same. Here is the founder and owner of Primo Grills doing a factory walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1b_A0GdHoU . At around the five minute mark, he puts a bunch of competitor Kamados through the same kiln process that the Primo goes through. The Primo and the Big Green Egg are unscathed. The Kamado Joe has significant structural cracks, and the cheap Chinese Kamado has just melted into oblivion.
Up next, here's Amazing Ribs talking about the drawbacks of Ceramic Kamados (which really boils down to the inability to do multi-zone
grilling well):
https://amazingribs.com/ratings-reviews/grill-smoker-combos/kamado-ceramic/
And, there are a few things that ceramic cookers like the BGE or the Primo do better than the Summit:
Ceramic Pros:
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Temperature retention. Because they're so heavy (the Big Joe is nearly 500 lbs), there's a LOT of thermal mass there. Meaning when you get your temp dialed in perfectly, the temp swings are going to be a lot more gradual. This may make them better in extreme Winter climates, like Canada.
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Baking. Ceramic Kamados are essentially brick ovens you can open. Because the lid gets so hot, and holds that heat, it will radiate evenly down from the top, allowing for pizzas or even bread baking.
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Rustproof. Because they're ceramic, the body of the cooker won't rust. The cooking grates will rust, of course, as will the hinges and bands and doors, but those can be replaced easily. Having said that, most people don't have problems with Weber grills rusting unless they're in extremely salty, damp environments. This might be why Kamados are preferred in Hawaii and other island communities.
Weber Summit Pros:
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Versatility. This is the biggest reason I like the Summit. It can do any cook out there. I can sear a steak at 1000+ degrees or smoke a brisket at 225, within minutes of each other. I can set up half the grill for direct and half for indirect. I have a second rack, allowing for up close searing, and further away roasting. I can do a charcoal snake or a kamado-style indirect with covered coals in the base. I can use briquettes or natural lump or char-logs. I can smoke with chips or chunks or even split logs. BGE's really have two modes of cooking: direct and indirect, and you have to pick which one you want before the cook. Kamado Joes have a system that allows you to do half-and-half, but you can't really change it up mid-cook.
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Temperature Control. The Summit is a lot lighter and it has less thermal mass. If you overshoot or undershoot your temps during a cook, its really easy to recover and adjust.
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Durability. The Summit is made out of steel. Mine has fallen over and had a cantilevered umbrella fall on it, and there was no damage or scratches at all. Worse comes to worse, it MIGHT dent, which would be a minor blemish. A ceramic cooker will shatter. I had the inside portion of my egg crack after years of use. BGE replaced it on warranty with no questions asked but it still happened.
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Portability. Because the Summit is a lot lighter it can be pushed around with ease. I move mine around on the patio depending on whether its raining or where I feel like sitting that day. I move it into the grass to clean it. I would never move my egg except how you might move furniture. It was very heavy, fragile, and generally stationary.
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Ash management. The Summit has the Weber ash cleaning system which allows you to easily clean out ash, even in the middle of a cook. This is important because on the Egg I would run into issues where the ash would buildup so much it would impede airflow and temps would drop. Cleaning out the ash on the egg requires complete disassembly and simply isn't possible during a cook. The Kamado Joe is a little bit easier with its ash drawer, but you can still get ash buildup all around the edges that require disassembly to clean.
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Cleanability. You can wash it with a garden hose, inside and out, scrub it with soap and water, or organic cleaner, or whatever you like. Ceramic cookers are very porous and you're not supposed to use any cleaners or liquids on them. All you can do is burn them super hot to burn all the gunk away... which you can also do on the Summit.
If I were to buy a new cooker tomorrow, I'd buy the Summit all over again. If I were 100% invested in getting a Ceramic cooker, I'd get something that can do multiple zones, like the Primo.
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