Review: Kamado Joe BBQ deal finally convinced me to upgrade from my smoker – and I’m blown away (aff)

For years I’d been perfectly happy with my trusty ProQ smoker. It turned out brilliant pulled pork, smoky ribs and enough barbecue food to build a reputation among friends and family for “those Texas-style ribs”. But there was always a nagging feeling that I wanted to level things up.

The problem was temperature control.

Once you start reading seriously about low-and-slow barbecue, you quickly end up in the world of ceramic kamado grills. That’s where names like Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe start appearing over and over again in videos, forums and recipe guides.

I’d spent literally years watching YouTube barbecue channels and reading forums about ceramic grills before preparing to make the jump myself.

I’d already narrowed my shortlist down quite heavily. The smaller “junior” versions looked brilliant for couples or quick cooks, but I knew they wouldn’t cut it once the family descended for a full barbecue session. Cooking space matters when you’re juggling racks of ribs, wings, sausages and sides all at once.

I also ruled out the pricier Kamado Joe Classic 2 and 3 models. Yes, they come with upgraded hinges, fancier vents and extra accessories, but for me the Classic 1 felt like the sweet spot. Same core ceramic cooking system. Same reputation for heat retention. Same ability to tackle brisket, pork shoulder, fish and poultry with serious precision.

The sticking point was always the cost.

At around £899 on Amazon for the Kamado Joe Classic Joe KJ23RH, this is not an impulse purchase. I’d watched the price for months and while it occasionally dipped lower, those reductions seemed to disappear almost instantly.

Then I stumbled across a deal that finally tipped me over the edge.

Appliance Centre’s Kamado Joe deal already matched the £899 Amazon pricing, but adding the SALE10 code cuts another 10% off, bringing the ceramic grill down to under £810.

That would already have been enough to get my attention, but then I noticed they were also including a free Kamado Joe grill cover and a bag of KJ Char lump charcoal.

Separately, the official cover costs around £63 and the charcoal is roughly another £25. Suddenly this stopped looking like a luxury splurge and started looking like one of those rare “buy once properly” purchases.

So I went for it.

I’ll save the full long-term ownership experience for another article, but after cooking on it for the first time I completely understand why people become obsessed with kamado grilling.

The temperature control is the biggest revelation. Once dialled in, the Kamado Joe just sits there rock solid for hours with barely any intervention. Coming from traditional smokers where airflow tweaks can become a constant battle, it honestly feels almost unfair.

The heat retention is equally impressive. You use less charcoal than you’d expect, the ceramic body holds temperature brilliantly and the food quality has been outstanding so far.

Chicken has come out juicier. Pork shoulder develops an incredible bark. Beef short ribs have gone from “pretty good” to restaurant-level territory. Even more delicate cooks like fish suddenly feel manageable rather than stressful.

And crucially, the Classic Joe still feels approachable enough for someone stepping up into more serious barbecue cooking for the first time.

The specs help explain why this model has such a following among barbecue fans. It has an 18-inch ceramic cooking surface with around 250 square inches of cooking space, cast iron top vent control, stainless steel grates, folding side shelves and Kamado Joe’s Divide & Conquer multi-level cooking system.

There’s also a lifetime warranty on ceramic components, which helps soften the sting of the upfront cost.

For me, though, this wasn’t really about specs on a product page. It was about finally finding a deal that made the jump into “proper” ceramic barbecue cooking feel justifiable.

And after the first few cooks, I’m very glad I did.

See the Kamado Joe deal at Appliance Centre here