Kamado Joe Big Joe Series III 24-inch Ceramic Charcoal Grill and Smoker with Premium Cart, SloRoller Insert and 450 Cooking Square Inches in Red, Model KJ15041021

Been thrilled so far. A bit larger than I thought or needed, but maybe it's time to throw a large gathering.

This grill is HUGE, its hard to tell from photos the size of this thing. It is very pricey though so make sure this is what you want. I started off with a Chargriller Akorn and used that for around 2 years before deciding we wanted something bigger and longer lasting. The Akorn is a great grill and I still have it and I'm planning to move that to our cabin, but there is certainly big differences between the two but then you would hope so for a ~$2000 price difference. So far have made pulled pork, pork ribs, beef ribs, spatchcock chicken, and pizza on the new grill. The grill is able to handle everything we've thrown at it and the food all comes out great. The only complaint I have so far is not actually with the grill but with the Amazon "Expert Assembly" I got it because it was free at the time and this grill is so heavy. I tried to reach out several times to make sure they were aware this is a very big and very heavy grill and not a lightweight gas grill like they probably do a ton of. I had no luck getting through to anyone to understand my concern or make sure they're prepared with multiple attempts. As a result of course they sent one small guy to try to assemble my grill all by himself. Of course he couldn't do this solo and we even took a picture of him next to it (he barely stood higher than the crate) which he sent to his boss. Then the next guy to get scheduled was also alone, luckily he was able to get someone else to show up, but it's rather ridiculous that it was so disorganized. Once they had the right number of people they did a great job and I don't blame any of the technicians but the management and scheduling of the service needs to improve. When all the stats of what is being assembled are right there on the item page and I tried to warn them multiple times of the size and weight they should do a better job.

The grill I received had manufacturing defects, the ceramic under the bands had gouges and additional material so that the band could not stay seated, when you attach the lid and adjust the resistance the bottom band eventually slides down over the lip on the bottom and top band up over the lip on the lid. This happens no matter how much I tighten the bands. De-assembled and re-assembled multiple times getting everything PERFECTLY aligned. The band just cannot stay where it is designed to stay. The lid also ends up with a severe overr bite and side-bite due to the band displacement. This mis-alignement is so bad that the lid cannot be closed and latched without forcing the lid forward and sideways with a fair amount of muscle when closing it. This grill also came with poor pain job, the pain didn't go all the way to the bottom in some locations which is a huge eye sore, but I wouldn't have cared if it was at least fully functional (I only mention it because it shows what poor QA they have when assembling and sending stuff out the door). It also arrived with verry poor lid alignment and bands not properly seated - which is a two-fold problem: 1. They shouldn't have let it out the door like this and 2. If they had not let it out the door like this they would have taken the time to figure out why the lid and bands were not set properly and not sent me an un-fixable grill. That's not the worst of it. I opened a support ticket and listed my problems, 5 of them. I even made a video and posted it to youtube so they could visually see what I was describing. The support representative replied back with a copy/paste "To fix lid alignment issues take off the bands and hinge and reassemble, tighten each bolt slowly one at a time". They failed to acknowledge the other issues I listed, they failed to acknowledge that I've already done what they suggested twice, and thus left me with no path forward. They even didn't have enough respect to add any kind of greeting or signature to their response, it was literally "Take the stuff off, put it back on" and NOTHING else. Weirdest support response I've ever had in ANYTHING I've ever dealt with - and this is supposed to be a quality company. So I replied to the representative and said "I've done this three times now and it hasn't fixed anything, I've also mentioned other issues and you left me with no path forward on any of them" They did not respond for 2.5 weeks. I finally replied again and asked them to escalate my case. To which they replied by CLOSING MY CASE without saying or doing anything. What...The...Actual...Eff, KJ?! Is this how you treat people? I'm not even all that mad about it coming to me with issues, I'm more than willing to work toward a resolution, but I cannot get over the lack of respect this representative has - I wouldn't treat anyone this way, paid or not. It feels absolutely terrible. DO NOT buy Kamado Joe. It is far too expensive to be this risky of a purchase - sure you might get a good grill, but if you don't you are completely boned. If you are on the fence buy the green egg.

The assembly it’s easier than you may think, only two person needed, the quality on this unit it’s amazing, this Kamado Big Joe 3 worth every penny, I’m located in New England the day I did the first burn the temp was 23 degrees outside, added about one and half pound of charcoal, ignited the charcoal at 2:00 pm and at 11:00 pm was still going at 320 degrees. This grill it’s amazing

I had been considering the purchase of a Kamado Joe Big Joe for quite some time. I decided to take the plunge, made easier by the Amazon information saying shipping was free, assembly was free, and movement to desired location was free. I was impressed to receive from Amazon a text saying to expect my new smoker between 9 and Noon on a given day. The day arrived, I had cleared a path to my location --- and it went south from there. I got a call at 6:30 am saying my smoker would be there in 15 minutes. In 5 minutes, it arrived. Two surly, unprofessional and rude gents unloaded it. I was horrified to see the pallet was a shambles, a shipping strap was unattached, and little boxes were falling from the pallet as they moved it. I was picturing broken ceramics and missing pieces. I told them I needed to see the inside of the box to inspect for damage. I refused to sign for the shipment until I was satisfied. I didn't sign, but they left anyway, after rudely telling me that there was no assembly or transport to my patio. I went through parts and convinced myself that everything was there and the ceramics weren't damaged. I assembled the cart and had to call a moving company to move the ceramic to my patio. It weighs about 400 pounds and my wife and I can't move it. Naturally this was an unexpected cost for this move. I assembled the remainder and found all of the parts to my relief. I've done 5 burns so far and am having trouble getting temperature. Using Jealous Devil lump, with bottom and top open fully, I can only get 330 degrees Fahrenheit. So I'm working the problem. Suffice it to say, this was a bad experience for me and I would recommend purchasing from your local dealer or maybe a more knowledgeable mail order place online.