Green Egg Grill

by J Frey
(Prescott AZ)

Hi,

My neighbors don't have a computer so they asked me to search for the big green egg grill. They had one years ago and want another one.

I have a number of questions (Paul says "and I'll answer them as you ask")

Is the Grill Dome made by the same company? - No it's not. The Green Egg is made in Mexico whereas the Grill Dome is made in India.

Can you get a Grill Dome in a smaller than 'Large" size? - Yes, there is a medium and a small but then a large is the ideal size for 2 people right up to a small party. I cook on an large and frankly it's so economic on charcoal that the size of the grill is irrelevant. When a large is sited in its cradle, it's the perfect ergonomic height, there's no bending down to cook. The other negative is that smaller models don't come complete with an auto hinge.

How would you compare the two? - Cooking wise, there's very little between them, it's down to the quality of components. That said, the Grill Dome appears to have a slightly different shape to its dome and this creates a slightly bigger space for cooking.
The other visible difference is that the Grill Dome has a smooth glazed surface whereas the Big Green Egg has a dimpled surface. The argument for the dimpled surface is that it is more forgiving toward the thermal expansion of the ceramic and therefore there is less chance of the glaze cracking.

There are other manufacturers out there too including Primo, Monolith and Kamado Joe and you might want to check out my full review on the main players on this page.

If they want some kind of cart, which one would be less expensive in the long run? - Both the Egg and Grill Dome have a "nest" or cradle and at $79.95 the Grill Dome is the cheaper of the two. That said, for my money (and design stability) the Monolith cart is the best.

I would certainly recommend the cart for getting the cooking grate to a reasonable height for cooking.


Is there anywhere I can get a catalogue? You can get a catalogue for the Egg by contacting the manufacturer but it doesn't tell you any more than if you printed the pages from their website. I'm assuming that you can do the same for Grill Dome.

The manufacturer's sites are

http://www.grilldome.com/

and

http://www.biggreenegg.com/

I cook on a Monolith so I can fully understand why your neighbors want another kamado, they are fantastic to cook on but I have to admit that if I were weighing up the best value for money I would go with Big Green Egg.

Big Green Egg vigorously protect their distribution channel and will not sell direct on the internet. This allows them to control distributor competition and artificially keep the price high, hence the Grill Dome is significantly cheaper.

See Also:-
Kamado Recipes