Dennis has always been totally transparent with me in all my dealings with him. I've never once, not once, ever heard him say a single disparaging word about other cookers. He even advised me against buying certain accessories at the time I ordered my first KK. He told me to wait, get to know my KK, and if I was still so inclined, go ahead and order the accessory at a later date.
Once you lay your hands on a KK, you understand in a instant why you don't read about any issues with bands, lids slamming shut, lids falling off, cracked fireboxes, etc. Those issues simply don't happen with the KK because of the deep thought that goes into the KK design.
The KK is experience is very tacit in nature. People ask why we pay the prices we do for our KKs. I've given up telling them that if they have to ask the question they'll never understand the answer. I've been called an elitist bastard and worse. But that's the truth. They won't understand. They try a reductionist approach to a KK. The KK isn't merely the sum of its parts. There is a synergy to the KK that's not apparent until you open the latch for the first time.
The KK is an entirly self-consistent system not merely an assembled assortment of pieces.