First Impressions of the Cuisinart CCG-190
Out of the box this is a small black dome standing on three steel legs. The enamel is glossy and the badge is bright. The whole object comes up off the table with one hand.
Three latches ring the rim. They clamp the lid to the bowl, and the maker sells that as travel security. Their second job goes unlisted anywhere on Cuisinart’s page.
Take the lid off and it hangs from one of those latches. There is no shelf on this grill, and no ground anyone wants to use. A hooked lid is the only answer a 14.5 inch footprint allows.
Underneath sits a grey dish, carried on a round plate between the legs. The floor of the bowl opens into it. Ash falls through, the dish catches it, and the dish lifts away.
The first fire is the surprise. Coals sit close under the grate in a bowl this size. The bars get fierce fast. Burgers coloured quickly and the corn took its black edges in minutes.
Nothing about the object feels expensive. Most of what it does works anyway.
Key Features of the Cuisinart CCG-190
The feature list is short, which is the right length at this price. Every item on it does exactly one thing. None of it needs a battery, a cord or a cylinder. What follows is the whole of what Cuisinart puts on this grill.
- 196 square inches, counted as a square. The figure is fourteen times fourteen. The grate is a circle. The part you can load is smaller than the number suggests.
- Multiple vents and dampers. Cuisinart calls the arrangement a dual venting system and describes the vents as adjustable. One turning damper appears in its photography, on top of the lid.
- A chrome-plated cooking grate. The maker says the plating resists rust and makes cleaning quick. It is also the component that lives closest to burning fuel.
- An enamel-coated firebox. Cuisinart names the coating as the durability feature. Enamel over steel is the standard answer in this bracket.
- An ash base. The bowl floor opens into a dish resting on the leg plate. Emptying it is a lift and a tip, with no tools.
- Three lid locks. They hold the lid down for the drive. They then hold it up while you cook. No other part of this grill can.
- Three tubular legs with black feet. They carry a round plate, and that plate carries the ash dish. Nothing folds, slides or telescopes.
- A three-year warranty. That is a long term on a grill costing $39.99. It covers an object whose grate sits directly above burning coal.
Two of those bullets carry the grill. The latches are why it travels at all. The dish under the bowl is why cleaning takes a minute.
Charcoal, close to the food, under a lid, does one thing extremely well. It sears. Nothing on this grill can be set. No igniter, no gauge, no dial, only a fire you build.
Cuisinart describes the vents as adjustable and calls the management precise. Its own photography shows a single turning disc on the crown of the lid. Below, the bowl floor opens into the ash dish and stays open.
That matters more than it sounds. On any kettle the bottom vent is how a cook starves a fire. Here the exhaust adjusts and the intake appears fixed. The lid damper is left doing all the work.
The lid is tall and domed, which leaves smoke somewhere to sit above the food. It also carries the only adjustment this grill offers.
Expect a hot grate and a short useful window. 196 is a square number on a round grill. The circle you actually load is smaller again. Two zones exist in theory, not on this much grate.
So cook fast and cook direct. Burgers, dogs, chops, skewers, corn. Anything wanting an hour wants a bigger fire than this bowl holds.
Build, handling and durability
Two coatings hold this grill together and both of them sit over steel. Enamel on the firebox, chrome on the grate. A charcoal fire goes to work on coatings from the inside.
Chrome plating in direct contact with fuel is the known first casualty on cheap grills. When it lifts, the steel under it rusts. Nothing on the maker’s product page points at a replacement grate. The grate, then, is what times this grill out.
The stance is the other thing to look at. A 15 inch dome on three legs over a 14.5 inch base is tall. On grass, or on the lid of a cooler, it will want a steadying hand.
The ash dish is loose rather than clipped, which is why it empties so easily. It is also why a full one should never travel.
Then there is the weight, where Cuisinart disagrees with itself in one screen. The selling copy says 4 lbs. The specification block on that same page reads 4.20, with no unit attached.
Running costs, upkeep and value
Fuel is the only thing this grill will ever ask you to buy. Nothing here consumes gas, pellets or electricity. Nothing wears out on a schedule except the charcoal.
The price does not move. Cuisinart lists the CCG-190 at $39.99. It came up at $39.99 on Amazon when we checked in September. No discount channel exists to wait for, which makes the value question clean.
Cuisinart puts its free-shipping floor at $35. This grill clears that bar on its own. That is a small thing, and at this price small things count. Returns run 30 days.
The warranty is the genuine surprise. Three years on a charcoal grill costing $39.99 is long for the tier. Read it next to what the grill is made of.
A warranty does not stop a grate wearing out. Enamel and chrome are coatings rather than materials. Three years covers the early failures instead.
Those are a splayed leg, a latch that stops gripping, enamel chipped off the box. Any of them turns a cheap grill into a wasted forty dollars. All of them are covered.
Upkeep costs effort and nothing else. Wipe the bars, tip the dish, done. Grease trays do not exist on charcoal, so there is nothing to drain. Ash builds quickly in a bowl this small, so the dish wants emptying often.
Possible Cuisinart CCG-190 Complaints
- The headline number flatters the grate: 196 is fourteen squared, and this grill is a circle. Try putting a fourth burger down beside the corn and the gap shows. Nothing is wrong with the grill. The number is describing its footprint.
- One damper is doing all the work: Cuisinart describes the vents as adjustable and plural. The only one that turns in its photographs sits on the lid. Choking a fire down from below is guesswork. That bites on any cook longer than a burger.
