Practicality and Ease of Use of Komodo Kamodo vs Gas Grill

[Siu]

Hi all,

My wife wants to get this crazy grill and I'm used to a gas grill.  I don't want more work and want to know how quickly and easy it is to light this grill vs. a gas grill.   How much maintenance is there? i.e. cleaning charcoal, overall cleaning?  How heavy is the lid on the 42"?  

i'm also considering getting a gas grill and a smaller komodo kamado?  Would you love your thoughts.

 

Thanks

[tekobo]

Welcome @Siu.  I always hate it when people start the answer to a question with - "I don't have the gadget that you are asking about but, in my opinion....".  Please forgive me but that is how I am about to answer your question.  

I have never had a gas grill and I do not have a 42 so I cannot talk about either.  What I have had is an Argentinian open grill alongside two KKs - a 21 and a 23.  Lighting the Argentinian grill takes more effort.  I use a fire starting chimney and then you need to build a decent bed of coals before starting to cook.  You may even want to burn wood down to embers for extra flavour.  Fun but not fast.  The KKs are fast.  I can get from lighting to cooking in 30 minutes for a steak or other such fast cooked item.  Not as fast as turning a knob on a gas grill but I am guessing tastier and more fun.

As for the lids?  The spring mechanism that works the lid makes it easy to open the lid with the flick of a couple of fingers.  I imagine it is the same on the 42  (with much bigger spring!!!) as it is on my 21 and 23.  Maintenance wise, sweeping out the coal dust at the bottom every few cooks is fine and I choose to wash my grates after every cook but others just brush or burn off the residue from previous cooks.

If you have the money and the space for the 42 I would get it.  Just for the hell of it.  You won't be disappointed.  

 

 

 

[Basher]

Siu if you want quick easy cooks then gas is your answer.
If you want better tasting and versatility in cooking numerous different styles of food.... and also a piece of artwork in your yard then get a KK.
Yes it’s a little extra effort to light a fire. The extra work is worth it for better food.

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[Siu]

My wife spoke to Dennis who said you can hit the charcoal against the side to break into smaller pieces and have a fire in 5 minutes to cook. Is that true?

[MacKenzie]

I think if you get the KK and just see how it improves the taste of the food over a gas grill you won't want a gas grill after that experience. I've had both. The KK takes the taste of whatever you cook to the next level. Once you get your KK to a set temp. it is going to hold that temperature for the entire cook. When done with the cook just shut the vents, the fire will go out and you'll have lump that you just need to top up for the next cook.

[Pequod]

You can be ready to cook with charcoal in a KK pretty quickly. Five minutes is faster than my experience. But 20-30 is my routine. Light it, go prep the food, it’s ready pretty quickly.

That said, nothing is easier than gas. KK’s are all about flavor and all around versatility. Grill, smoke, rotisserie, bake, pizza, etc. Gas is for fast grilling...and little more. But it’s very convenient for that.

[jonj]

For what it's worth to your decision, I have had a top of the line (for when it was made) 48" gas grill since the mid-1990s. Still have it. Even with a gas grill one shouldn't immediately begin cooking, although it is possible. With my high BTU gasser it would take at least 15 minutes to get the grates (3/8" porcelain over steel) to cooking temperature, which really is important for grill cooking. Otherwise, it is similar to plopping a steak into a cold pan and expecting a sear. It just isn't going to happen. 

In 2016, I bought my first KK. I haven't used my gas grill for cooking since. It has been demoted to seasonally roasting chili peppers. 

A final thought. Work flow is important in cooking anything, whether indoors or out. Simply start your process by lighting the grill, then proceed with getting the rest of the cook together. Unless you had completely prepped the food earlier in the day, the KK will be ready before you are. 

[tony b]

Piling on here - I'm 64 years old and I've NEVER owned a gas grill. With a charcoal chimney, you could get  up and going in 10 -15 minutes for basic grilling. (I've switched over to a MAPP gas torch and air blower to start mine for a bit more control.) I just plan for about 30 minutes lead time to do my prep work in the kitchen and the KK is usually ready (or close enough for government work), depending upon target dome temperature. The notable exception is pizza - which takes hours to heat soak the KK and pizza stone to 450F. But, a gasser can't cook a pizza like a wood-fired oven - the KK IS a wood-fired oven.

Cleaning out the ash is not a biggie. If I'm ambitious, I'll haul out the shop vac (with drywall filter) and can be done in 30 secs - easy, peasy. If I'm lazy (usually!), I'll just clean it out with a metal scoop. Takes maybe 3 minutes. 

@tekobo - the 42" KK actually has TWO springs for the lid! Dennis overengineering things again!

3 hours ago, jonj said:

In 2016, I bought my first KK. I haven't used my gas grill for cooking since. It has been demoted to seasonally roasting chili peppers.

You know, the KK makes a great chili pepper roaster, too! I just fabricated a cage with wire fabric (1/4") and insert it into the rotisserie basket. Key - use the half-moon of the rotisserie basket to your advantage and leave the ends of wire cage half open to make loading and unloading the peppers easy. Been using this thing for years now. Oh, the other trick - cut the stems off so that they don't get caught in the wire mesh. 

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by tony b

[LK BBQ]

I am a KK fan, of course.  You would just never do low and slow salmon, smoked turkey, prime ribs, whole chickens, and pork shoulders on a gas grill the same way.  Similarly, you would not be able to achieve beautiful Napoletana pizza and breads on a gas grill.  That said, if you mainly cook hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken drumsticks, by all means get a separate gas grill for convenience. 

 

[MacKenzie]

Personally I'd only do hamburgers and chicken drumsticks on the KK because they will taste sooo much better. 

Save the gazzer for hotdogs.  

 

[tony b]

19 hours ago, MacKenzie said:

Save the gazzer for hotdogs.  

What do you have against hotdogs? I cook all kinds of snags on the KK, including hotdogs. 😄

[MacKenzie]

3 hours ago, tony b said:

What do you have against hotdogs? I cook all kinds of snags on the KK, including hotdogs. 😄

I cook my sausages on the KK but I just never cook hotdogs, for some strange reason they don't agree with me. ????

[tony b]

21 hours ago, MacKenzie said:

or some strange reason they don't agree with me. ????

😢

[DennisLinkletter]

On 11/8/2020 at 9:42 PM, Siu said:

My wife spoke to Dennis who said you can hit the charcoal against the side to break into smaller pieces and have a fire in 5 minutes to cook. Is that true?

Heylo Slu.. You left out lots of my information.. I told your wife that I break a fresh piece of charcoal and make a pile of the small pieces in the middle on top. I then light it with my Looft Lighter.  The small pieces come to ignition temperature very quickly because of their small volume. I then use my lithium powered Milwaukee shop blower to make it glow madly. In less than 5 minutes of this airflow you will have plenty of charcoal raging and the grates above the charcoal at grilling temps..
For grilling you do not need to pre-heat the body for convection heat only the SS grates directly above the charcoal.  So if you want to just light it and walk away yes 20 min is correct. If you  are impatient you can greatly expedite things with a blower.. If you have ever used a bellows on a fireplace you get the idea..

[cruzmisl]

Lighting the KK quickly is all about technique and fuel used. If your using say BGE large chunk charcoal to get up to temp quickly, no way. Great for low and slows but for grilling, too much mass. You want small chunks of coal for a very fast burn as Dennis suggested. Secondly, a torch and some type of forced air is essential to light quickly. I use a Bison lighter and it's worth every cent. Ultimately, as other have suggested, gas is easier but you still have to wait for the grates to heat soak.

Before I even start dinner the first thing I do it light the cooker. I'm NEVER coming home and dropping a slab of meat on the grill in five minutes even if the grill was ready. There's other stuff to prepare first before the meat goes on.

NOTHING can beat coal or this cooker!! FWIW I used to own a very high end gas grill. Sold it to my brother in law who didn't know better lol

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[Paul]

6 hours ago, cruzmisl said:

Before I even start dinner the first thing I do it light the cooker.

I think this is true regardless of the cooker, BBQ, smoker brand or style. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Paul

[EGGARY]

First of all you have a very smart wife.  She knows a good thing when she sees it.  Remember, she married you.  Is there "work" involved ?  Why look at it as work ?!  Putting Charcoal in the Charcoal basket can't be that hard.  Then lighting it with what a lot of use is a MAPP Torch, opening the Bottom and Top Vents.  Yes your hands will get dirty from the Charcoal but washing hands is all it takes.  We enjoy cooking on our KK's.  The color of your Gas Grill is probably the color of Aluminum.  Where as the KK's come if various colored Tiles.  So every time you light up your KK, you also enjoy looking at it as well.  The KK is a very sufficient.  It keeps its set temp.  

You will be making a wise choice. 

[BOC]

Piling on here - I'm 64 years old and I've NEVER owned a gas grill. With a charcoal chimney, you could get  up and going in 10 -15 minutes for basic grilling. (I've switched over to a MAPP gas torch and air blower to start mine for a bit more control.) I just plan for about 30 minutes lead time to do my prep work in the kitchen and the KK is usually ready (or close enough for government work), depending upon target dome temperature. The notable exception is pizza - which takes hours to heat soak the KK and pizza stone to 450F. But, a gasser can't cook a pizza like a wood-fired oven - the KK IS a wood-fired oven.
Cleaning out the ash is not a biggie. If I'm ambitious, I'll haul out the shop vac (with drywall filter) and can be done in 30 secs - easy, peasy. If I'm lazy (usually!), I'll just clean it out with a metal scoop. Takes maybe 3 minutes. 
[mention=3070]tekobo[/mention] - the 42" KK actually has TWO springs for the lid! Dennis overengineering things again!
You know, the KK makes a great chili pepper roaster, too! I just fabricated a cage with wire fabric (1/4") and insert it into the rotisserie basket. Key - use the half-moon of the rotisserie basket to your advantage and leave the ends of wire cage half open to make loading and unloading the peppers easy. Been using this thing for years now. Oh, the other trick - cut the stems off so that they don't get caught in the wire mesh. 

 

@Tony b, really like the basket move. Have any pointers to recreate? Assume it is just stainless 1/4” wire mesh?


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[tony b]

14 hours ago, BOC said:

@Tony b, really like the basket move. Have any pointers to recreate? Assume it is just stainless 1/4” wire mesh?


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Pretty simple. Yep, 1/4" SS wire fabric. Like I posted, the "trick" is to do "half moons" on each end. That way you don't have to take it apart to fill and unload it. When putting it in the basket, just make sure that the open ends are covered by the basket ends. Another trick is to cut the stems off the peppers, as they will hang up in the mesh. Don't cut the entire tops off, just the stems even with the pepper flesh.