Coal & Char

Char-Griller Akorn Kamado Review

Triple-walled insulated steel at a third of ceramic money, over a full 20-inch cooking diameter. What the steel shortcut buys you, and exactly what it costs.

By Stephen V.Last updated How we pick

The kamado pitch is genuinely good: thick insulated walls hold heat so well that a small charcoal load runs for hours, temperature is stable enough to cook overnight, and the same body sears a steak and smokes a pork butt. The problem has always been the price — real ceramic starts at four figures and needs two people to move.

The Akorn is Char-Griller’s answer: swap ceramic for triple-walled insulated steel, keep the shape and the airflow, drop the weight from over 200 pounds to 97, and drop the price to something a budget buyer can actually reach. This review is about how much of the kamado benefit survives that substitution — and it is most, but not all.

How this is funded:we earn a commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which grill we recommend, and we’ll tell you when we’d skip one. Full disclosure.

#1Best budget kamado at full size

Char-Griller AKORN Kamado Charcoal Grill (E16620)

The full-size budget kamado, and the honest alternative to spending four figures on ceramic. Triple-walled insulated steel gives you most of the fuel efficiency and heat retention people buy kamados for, at a fraction of the weight and a third of the price. It won't hold heat quite like thick ceramic overnight, and steel dents where ceramic cracks — pick your failure mode.

What’s good

  • 445 sq in over a 20-inch cooking diameter — Char-Griller rates it at 27 burgers
  • Triple-walled insulated steel: real fuel efficiency at a third of ceramic's price
  • Cast-iron grates, indexed dual dampers and a lid thermometer
  • 97 lb rather than a ceramic kamado's 200+, on locking caster wheels

Trade-offs

  • Steel insulation loses to thick ceramic on very long overnight holds
  • 1-year repair-or-replace warranty; ceramic makers warranty their shells for life
  • The heat deflector stone for indirect cooking is sold separately
TypeCharcoal (insulated steel kamado)
Cooking area445 sq in
Primary materialTriple-walled insulated steel
Ease for beginnersModerate

Specs read from the product listing, on August 11, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

What triple-walled steel actually does

The Akorn’s body is two steel shells with an insulating layer between them. It works on the same principle as a vacuum flask: the heat inside is slowed on its way out, so the fire only has to replace what leaves through the vents you deliberately opened rather than what bleeds through the entire surface of the cooker.

The consequences are the reason to buy one:

  • Fuel use drops sharply. A thin-walled barrel grill can want a top-up of charcoal every hour or two on a long cook. An insulated body will run most of a day on one load. Over a season of weekly cooking, that is bags of charcoal.
  • Temperature holds itself.Once the mass of the cooker is up to temperature, it acts as a flywheel — small changes in airflow produce small, slow changes in temperature rather than immediate swings. This is what makes long cooks possible without constant attention.
  • Cold weather stops mattering. A thin-steel grill in November spends most of its fuel fighting the ambient temperature. An insulated one barely notices.
  • The temperature range is enormous.The same body will hold a stable 250°F for a pork shoulder and run hot enough to sear properly, because the walls are not constantly bleeding energy at either end of the range.

The size question: 445 square inches, 20-inch diameter

Char-Griller states 445 square inches over a 20-inch cooking diameter and rates it at 27 burgers. That is more than a 22-inch kettle’s 363 square inches, in a smaller footprint, which surprises people.

The reason is shape. A kamado is deep, so the cooking surface sits inside a tall chamber rather than under a shallow dome, and the usable diameter is close to the outside diameter. In practice 445 square inches over 20 inches is a comfortable family cooker with room for a couple of extra guests — two pork butts, a whole chicken plus vegetables, or a full grate of burgers.

Where it runs out is a whole packer brisket, which wants either a bigger cooker or a fold. If briskets are the plan, look at our brisket smoker picks instead.

The three things the price leaves out

1. The heat deflector is sold separately.This matters more than it sounds. Indirect cooking on a kamado — which is most of what makes a kamado worth owning — requires a stone or plate between the fire and the food. Budget for it as part of the purchase, not as an afterthought, or your first low-and-slow attempt will be a very hot roast.

2. Steel dents where ceramic cracks. Pick your failure mode. A ceramic kamado is essentially permanent unless something hits it, in which case it is finished. Insulated steel absorbs knocks but can dent, and the outer shell is painted, so a deep scratch left untreated in a wet climate is a rust site. A cover is not optional here.

3. The warranty is one year, repair or replace. Ceramic makers warranty their shells for life; Char-Griller states one year on this. That is the single clearest expression of the trade you are making. The counter-argument is equally clear: you could buy several Akorns for the price of one lifetime-warrantied ceramic kamado.

How it compares to real ceramic

Insulated steel gets you most of the way, not all of it. Thick ceramic has more thermal mass, so it holds a very long overnight burn more steadily and recovers faster after the lid is opened. If you routinely cook 14-hour overnight briskets, ceramic is measurably better at it.

For everything shorter — which is almost everything most people cook — the difference is small and the price difference is not. The practical advantages run the other way: 97 pounds against 200-plus means the Akorn moves on its casters, and dropping a ceramic lid is a much more expensive mistake.

If you want to compare against genuine ceramic at a budget price, our Kamado Joe Jr review covers the small-but-real option, and kamados under $500 ranks them together.

Living with one

  • Creep up on your target temperature. The single most common kamado mistake is overshooting. All that insulation that makes the cooker so stable also makes it very slow to come down. Set the vents for the temperature you want while the fire is still small, and let it climb into place — do not open everything up and then try to correct. Full method in how to use a kamado grill.
  • Use lump, not briquettes. Lump burns cleaner and leaves far less ash, which matters in a cooker with a small, deep firebox that you are trying to run for hours without disturbing. See best lump charcoal.
  • Shut both vents to put it out.Starve the fire and the remaining charcoal is reusable next time — on an efficient cooker that is a meaningful saving.
  • Do not open the lid to check. Every look costs you heat and stability. Use a leave-in probe instead; USDA guidance is clear that a food thermometer, not time or appearance, is the only reliable doneness measure.

Who should buy it

Buy the Akorn if you want the widest useful temperature range from one cooker, if you cook often enough for the fuel saving to matter, or if you want to smoke without owning a second machine. It is the best answer to “I want kamado cooking and I am not spending four figures.”

Don’t buy it if you mostly cook four burgers on a Tuesday — a kettle lights faster, cools faster and costs less, and you would be paying for insulation you never use. Don’t buy it if you want a lifetime object; that is what ceramic is for. And don’t buy it expecting the heat deflector in the box.

Still weighing kamado against the classic kettle? That comparison is the whole of kamado vs kettle, and are kamado grills worth it answers the broader question.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Char-Griller Akorn a real kamado?

It's a real kamado in shape, airflow and behavior, but the walls are triple-walled insulated steel rather than thick ceramic. Functionally you get most of what people buy a kamado for — low fuel use, stable temperature, a wide cooking range — at a third of the price and half the weight. Where it gives ground to ceramic is very long overnight holds and lid-open recovery.

How big is the Char-Griller Akorn?

Char-Griller states 445 square inches of cooking area over a 20-inch cooking diameter, and rates it at 27 burgers. That's more usable grate than a 22-inch kettle's 363 square inches, in a smaller footprint, because the kamado shape puts the cooking surface inside a deep chamber rather than under a shallow dome. It weighs 97 pounds and rolls on locking casters.

Does the Akorn come with a heat deflector?

No — the heat deflector stone for indirect cooking is sold separately, and you should budget for it as part of the purchase. Without it you can only cook directly over the fire, which rules out most of the low-and-slow cooking that makes a kamado worth owning in the first place.

Akorn or a ceramic kamado?

Ceramic is better at very long overnight cooks and comes with a lifetime shell warranty; insulated steel is a third of the price, weighs half as much, and dents rather than cracks if you knock it. For cooks under about eight hours the practical difference is small. Char-Griller states a one-year repair-or-replace warranty on the Akorn, which is the clearest summary of the trade.

How much charcoal does the Akorn use?

Far less than a comparable thin-walled grill — that's the main reason to own one. The insulated body means the fire only replaces heat leaving through the vents you opened, rather than bleeding through the whole surface, so a single load can run most of a day at low temperatures. Lump charcoal is the right fuel: it burns cleaner and leaves much less ash in a deep firebox.

Can you smoke on a Char-Griller Akorn?

Yes, and it's one of the better things it does. With the heat deflector in place and a couple of wood chunks on the fire, the insulated body will hold 225-275°F — the range USDA recommends for smoking — for many hours on one charcoal load. It comfortably handles two pork butts; a whole packer brisket is where you run out of room.

Sources

  • USDA FSIS — Smoking Meat and Poultry — USDA guidance to keep a smoker between 225°F and 300°F, use two thermometers (food + pit), and refrigerate within 2 hours (accessed July 21, 2026)
  • USDA FSIS — Food Thermometers — USDA on why a food thermometer is the only reliable way to know food has reached a safe temperature, and how to place the probe (accessed July 21, 2026)
  • USDA FSIS — Grilling Food Safely — USDA on safe handling at the grill, using a food thermometer, and the difference between grilling and slower cooking (accessed July 21, 2026)

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