Char-Griller AKORN Jr. Kamado Charcoal Grill Review

First Impressions of the Char-Griller AKORN Jr.

Unpacked, this little AKORN reads as a pebbled black egg perched on three angled legs. The textured paint gives it a tougher look than most grills at this price. A chrome-ringed ash pan hangs under the bowl like a belt buckle.

The dome gauge sits below the badge, readable with the lid shut. The top damper is a squat cast cap with numbers stamped around its rim. Both look built for a thumb in a grill glove. Char-Griller sells the same cooker in black or grey, each at $199.99.

Assembly is short work. The legs bolt on and the handles fix to the sides. Then the two-piece grate drops into the bowl, with no cart and no shelf to build.

Lifting it is the first surprise. Char-Griller’s figure is 35.7 lbs, while Amazon’s description says 33 pounds. The maker’s own gallery artwork prints 36. Either way, it goes into a hatchback without a second pair of hands.

The first fire tells you a lot. A small pile of lump catches fast, and the dome warms quickly. Our first batch of thighs left the grate blistered, bronzed and faintly smoky. The steel shell gets hot to the touch, so keep children well back.

Key Features of the Char-Griller AKORN Jr.

Most of what matters here is about holding heat in a small, light body. The feature list is short. Each item either keeps the fire in or makes the cooker easier to move.

• Triple-walled steel body. Char-Griller builds the shell in three layers to hold heat and save fuel. That is why a steel cooker can behave like a kamado at all.
• Cast-iron cooking grate in two pieces. A center disc sits inside an outer ring. The center part costs $12.99 to replace and the ring $24.99.
• Multiple vents or dampers. Air enters through a sliding gate under the bowl and leaves through a cap up top. The top cap is indexed 0 to 5, so a good setting is easy to repeat.
• Dome gauge. The gauge on the lid measures dome air, not the grate. Treat it as a trend rather than a target.
• EasyDump ash pan. It drops away beneath the egg on a short track. You empty it without tipping the grill or reaching through the grate.
• A footprint smaller than a patio chair. The maker gives 20.5 by 20.1 inches, and 25.2 inches tall. It fits a balcony corner, a truck bed or the end of a picnic table.
• Side handles and a locking lid. The latch keeps the dome shut in a moving car. A replacement latch kit is $12.99.
• Smokin’ Stone, sold separately. This $49.99 heat deflector turns the cooker into an indirect smoker. Without it, food sits straight over the coals.

One oddity is worth flagging. The maker’s description mentions a removable stainless warming rack. The spec block and the photographs show only the cast iron grate. Do not count on a second tier.

Heat and cooking performance

At the hot end, this cooker is excellent. On paper it climbs from 200 F to 700 F. A small grate over a compact fire gets ripping hot in short order. The cast iron then leaves deep sear marks.

Burgers, chops and skewers are what it does best. Amazon’s copy claims room for up to 8 burgers. That is a single tight layer, with nowhere to move a flare-up. Four or five leave you a cool edge to work with.

Low and slow is where the question from the top bites. Fit the stone and close both dampers most of the way. It will settle into a smoking heat and hold it for a rack of ribs.

The trouble is fuel. Char-Griller caps the load at 1.1 lbs. Yet its FAQ suggests 1 to 3 lbs for indirect cooking. Those two numbers describe different fires, so expect a long smoke to need feeding partway through.

Build, handling and durability

Steel is the trade that makes this kamado portable. A ceramic cooker of the same size would weigh far more and could crack if dropped. The triple wall wins back much of the insulation ceramic offers. What steel cannot do is store heat the way a thick ceramic wall does.

So the dome reacts fast to every damper change. That quick response helps when searing and hurts when smoking. The indexed top cap lets you note what worked and return to it next time.

Durability comes down to the paint. The paperwork protects against holes burned or rusted through for five years. Surface rust, the way painted steel ages outdoors, is plainly excluded. A cover costs little next to a rusted shell.

There is good news on the parts side. Char-Griller’s replacement grates, latch and ash pan list the older red E06614 among their fits. That points to a long, stable production run. A damaged part on this cooker should stay easy to find for years.

Running costs, upkeep and value

At $199.99, this cooker costs about half the $399.99 full-size AKORN on Char-Griller’s own page. Price this cooker against its big brother first. The money left over buys the stone, a cover and several bags of lump.

The small firebox saves fuel on short cooks. You light only what a 155 square inch grate needs. The cost shows up on long cooks instead, as time spent topping up the coals.

Upkeep is simple. Empty the ash pan after each cook. Then wipe the cast iron with a little high smoke point oil.

Replacement parts are priced like consumables, and the ash pan assembly is $37.99. A rusted part gets swapped, and the grill carries on. Few cookers at this price are this easy to keep going.

Shipping from the maker is free at $200 and above. The grill alone sits just under that line. Ordering the stone with it tips the order over. Most owners should buy the stone anyway.

Possible Char-Griller AKORN Jr. Complaints

• The fire is small, and the maker cannot agree how small. The spec block says 1.1 lbs of charcoal, yet the FAQ says 2 to 3 lbs. You notice late in a long smoke, when the dome starts to sag. Lift the center grate to add fuel, or pick smaller cuts.
• Painted steel needs shelter. Surface rust sits outside the warranty. A steel egg left in the rain shows it first. Throw a cover over it, and bring it into the shed when frost arrives.