Best Kamado Grills for 2024

Top Rated Kamado Grills

Want one charcoal grill for everything? Consider the kamado, a modern spin on a centuries-old Asian cooking style. Kamados grill, smoke, and bake — effectively, they’re three outdoor kitchen appliances in one. Their insulating properties and ovoid shape rewrite the book on heat retention while encouraging delicious smoky flavors… but not all kamados are created equal! Over two decades of in-house testing by our experts support these hand-picked superstars based on their quality, performance, and features.

• Quality - When judging kamado grills, our experts look for thick ceramic insulation, or some equivalent material. Kamados need mastery of heat absorption, retention, and radiation for that excellent indirect heating. Kamados are built to last — we don’t accept weak cart construction or short warranties. Every component should be of utmost quality.

• Performance - A kamado grill should produce, and hold, a very wide range of chamber temperatures — and provide relative ease in adjusting them. Performance is where lesser kamados are weeded out, as there’s no clean-cut secret to ceramic grilling success. This is why we eagerly examine each new improvement.

• Features - Nothing breaks up a neck-and-neck competition like quality-of-life changes. Kamado lids are heavy, so an easy-lift hinge should be standard. Rainproof airflow control towers are major plusses. But, from our personal wish list, we want easy fire access for adding fuel or subtracting ash on every single kamado grill.