The Cuisinart Black Kettle Grill is one of the smallest we tested with its 18-inch kettle. It’s similar in size to the Weber Original Kettle Charcoal Grill, though unlike that grill, it comes with an ash pan and a thermometer. However, a major downside to this grill was that the built-in thermometer barely worked. The Cuisinart was also the only grill with which we experienced grease flare-ups when cooking.
This Weber grill features a porcelain-enameled lid and bowl for optimal heat retention, and the cooking grate can hold up to 13 burgers at once. Our reviewer tested this model by cooking everything from pork to pineapple and found that it’s consistently a great choice for beginners and seasoned pros. The Weber Original Kettle 22″ Charcoal Grill has 363 square inches of cooking surface and sells for around $100. It is the basic unadorned low price Kettle, and a perfectly fine cooking tool just the same. Ash is swept through the vent holes in the bottom under the grill by a lever beneath the bowl and it drops into an aluminum pan.
If you want to spend a little less, you can downsize to Weber’s 18-Inch Kettle Grill and still experience the brand’s quality. When you make rubs at home we recommend you add salt first them the herbs and spices because salt penetrates deep and the other stuff remains on the surface. We put salt in these bottled rubs because all commercial rubs have salt and consumers expect it. You can still use these as a dry brine, just sprinkle the rub on well in advance to give the salt time to penetrate. For very thick cuts of meat, we recommend adding a bit more salt.
This grill ran red-hot and was nearly impossible to slow down the temperature on no matter what we did to make airflow adjustments. The Char-Griller has a noticeably deeper kettle — the deepest of the entire pool we tested. Despite the distance from the heat, meat still seared well on this grill because it ran so hot. It took over an hour to get this grill from 400 degrees Fahrenheit to the 300-degree range. The Napoleon Freestanding Charcoal Kettle Grill took the longest to set up, clocking in at an hour and five minutes of build time.
With inbuilt ash catchers and temperature gauges, these grills are easy and convenient to use. You can smoke meat with the dedicated smoker feature so that it adds to the taste of your finished dishes. Charcoal grills often have porcelain-coated plates or porcelain-enameled burners so that the grill will last long and cook your veggies as intended for longer. Look at kettle grills, portable grills and more to find one that is perfect for your style of cooking and grilling. An outdoor charcoal grill is great since the cooking space is larger giving you the freedom to use it as you want. Browse through Target.com to select the next charcoal grill for your home.
The 22-inch Weber Original Premium Kettle Grill lives up to Weber’s storied history. The Weber charcoal grill has been around for nearly 70 years and, while the design of the kettle has barely changed, it’s easy to see why. Shop for your favorite Weber grill online, or head to your local Ace to view a range of grills, smokers and other Weber grilling essentials in-person.
While this grill does come with an included cart, which added to setup time, we also found the instructions hard to follow, and the amount of hardware included felt a bit overwhelming. If you’re going to purchase this grill, then we’d advise looking into having your local hardware store build and deliver it to you. We measured the temperature of the grill surface, as well as the internal temperature of the chicken, with an external thermometer to ensure that any built-in temperate gauges were accurate. For the most part, the built-in thermometers were accurate, with the exception of the Cuisinart gauge, which barely registered any temperature throughout our testing process.
This model has a wide variety of useful features that any grill master would love, including things like a Touch-N-Go gas ignition system and work table for food prep. We rarely recommend products we haven’t tested and we never recommend products that we don’t love. Often, but not always, if you purchase a product weber genesis 2 after clicking a link on our site we get a finder’s fee. These fees do not add to the price of purchase but they do help keep this site alive. Built around SnS Grill’s patented Slow ‘N Sear charcoal kettle accessory, this 22-inch kamado is a premium ceramic grill that brings true 2-zone cooking to a kamado.
Although the name changed from 22.5′ to 22″, Weber specs declare the grate is still 22.5″ diameter with the same 363 square inch capacity. Once you’ve found the perfect Weber grill, shop top-rated Weber grill tools and accessories to help make the grilling process even easier. Browse charcoal, smoking chips, grilling tools, grill covers and more from our collection of top-rated Weber products. Nicholas McClelland is an expert on all the topics that will help you have a great summer, from grills to whiskey to golf. He graduated from The Missouri School of Journalism and has been testing products and writing for The Spruce Eats since April 2019.