Weber Original Kettle 22 vs Original Kettle Premium 22
Same 363 sq in grate, same 22 in bowl, same 10-year cover. The Premium's $229 against $149 adds a hinged grate, a lid thermometer and an enclosed ash catcher.
No single winner. Here is how to choose.
It turns on how long you cook. For burgers, sausages and chops that finish on one load of coals, the Original at $149.00 cooks identically and keeps $80 in your pocket. Take a pork shoulder or ribs into the third hour, and the Premium earns its $229.00. Fresh fuel goes in beside the meat, not under a lifted grate, and the dial tells you when it is due.
What actually differs
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Refuelling without unloading dinner
The Premium's grate has a flap either side that lifts to drop briquettes onto the bank. On the plain kettle, adding fuel means lifting the whole hot, loaded grate. So long cooks there get planned around one load.
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A dial, or your palm
The Original names no thermometer anywhere in its specification. The Premium's lid dial reads the dome, not the grate, so treat it as a trend line: rising, steady or falling. A probe still does the meat.
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Two inches of depth for a closed bucket
Both sweep ash with the One-Touch blades. The Premium drops it into a lidded catcher, which is why it runs 27 in deep against 25. On a windy deck, that means less grey dust.
How they score, category by category
The Weber Original Kettle 22 scores higher in 2 categories, the Original Kettle Premium 22 in 3 categories. One is level.
Level overall: within a tenth of each other.
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Heat Performance
Counts for 25% of the scoreWeber Original Kettle 22 8.7Original Kettle Premium 22 8.8 Better by 0.1Why the Original Kettle Premium 22 scores 8.8The plain kettle's 22 in bowl and dampers, so the same fire, but the hinged grate lets you feed it mid-cook.
Why the Weber Original Kettle 22 scores 8.7
Lid and bowl dampers over 363 sq in run two zones well, but feeding a long cook means lifting the loaded, fixed grate.
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Long-term Reliability
Counts for 20% of the scoreWeber Original Kettle 22 8.6 Better by 0.2Original Kettle Premium 22 8.4Why the Weber Original Kettle 22 scores 8.6Ten years of rust-through cover sits on bowl and lid, where kettles die; One-Touch gets five, and the grate, dampers and wheels two.
Why the Original Kettle Premium 22 scores 8.4
Bowl and lid carry 10 years against rust-through, but the hinged grate, the dial and the wheels sit under the 2-year term.
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Build Quality
Counts for 18% of the scoreWeber Original Kettle 22 8.3Original Kettle Premium 22 8.3Level: within a tenth of each other.
Why the Weber Original Kettle 22 scores 8.3Porcelain enamel on both halves, aluminium dampers and nylon handles, over a plated-steel grate and no published steel gauge.
Why the Original Kettle Premium 22 scores 8.3Fused enamel, aluminium legs and dampers, and nylon handles are sound; Weber states no steel gauge and contradicts itself on area and damper count.
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Ease of Use
Counts for 15% of the scoreWeber Original Kettle 22 7.3Original Kettle Premium 22 8.6 Better by 1.3Why the Original Kettle Premium 22 scores 8.6A lid dial, a lid hook and flip-up grate sections remove the three chores that slow a plain kettle on a long cook.
Why the Weber Original Kettle 22 scores 7.3
The lid hook and tool hooks help, but no thermometer is listed and refuelling means lifting the whole grate off the coals.
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Value
Counts for 12% of the scoreWeber Original Kettle 22 9.3 Better by 2.1Original Kettle Premium 22 7.2Why the Weber Original Kettle 22 scores 9.3Leads Weber's 22 in kettles on price: $149.00 buys the same 363 sq in fire the dearer models sell with extras attached.
Why the Original Kettle Premium 22 scores 7.2
$229.00 at Weber buys the $149.00 Original's cooking plus three convenience parts; a burgers-only cook pays $80 for little.
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Maintenance
Counts for 10% of the scoreWeber Original Kettle 22 8.4Original Kettle Premium 22 8.9 Better by 0.5Why the Original Kettle Premium 22 scores 8.9One-Touch blades push ash into an enclosed catcher, warranted five years, so emptying it is one lift and no grey drift on the patio.
Why the Weber Original Kettle 22 scores 8.4
One-Touch sweeps ash into a catcher warranted five years, but Weber never calls it enclosed, as it does the dearer kettles' buckets.
See all six scores in one table
| Category | Weber Original Kettle 22 | Original Kettle Premium 22 |
|---|---|---|
| Heat Performance (25%) | 8.7 | 8.8 Better |
| Long-term Reliability (20%) | 8.6 Better | 8.4 |
| Build Quality (18%) | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Ease of Use (15%) | 7.3 | 8.6 Better |
| Value (12%) | 9.3 Better | 7.2 |
| Maintenance (10%) | 8.4 | 8.9 Better |
| Avid Griller Score | 8.4 | 8.4 |
Both reviews are scored on the same six weighted categories, on the same 0 to 10 scale, and each reason is the one that review gave. A category is marked better only where the two differ by a tenth or more. How we score →
Where the spec sheets differ
Quoted from each maker's own specifications, as each review records them. Figures the two products publish identically are left out, so only the differences are listed.
Which one is for you
You grill fast weeknight food, want to learn the fire by eye, and would rather put $80 toward a chimney and Char-Baskets.
Check price →You are moving into low-and-slow and want to top up the coals without lifting dinner off the fire.
Check price →More head-to-heads
Every score and figure on this page comes from our own reviews of these two products, linked above. We have not tested them side by side in one place; the comparison is between two full reviews, each built from the maker's published specifications and documentation. Prices move, and the ones quoted are the ones each review checked on its own date.