Kingsford 24″ Charcoal Grill Review

Kingsford is a trusted brand for charcoal, so it is natural that they would want to get mileage out of their name by attaching it to charcoal grills, even if they don’t build them.

The Kingsford 24″ Charcoal Grill is sold by Walmart and Sears. Made in China. it’s a lot of Grill for under $100. With 381 square inches of primary cooking space, it’s large enough to push the coals to one side and cook indirect on the other. There’s a crank-adjustable charcoal grate that brings it about an inch or two under the cooking grate, a foldable shelf with utensil hooks, a front charcoal door, an easy-to-remove ash pan, and even a bottle opener. The cooking grate is porcelain-coated wire. It has the obligatory built-in thermometer that doesn’t work well, too. As we suggest often, use your own, more accurate digital grill thermometer. Throw in a two-year warranty on manufacturer’s defects for all parts, and you have a bargain.

It’s pretty solid although the metal is a little thin and the assembled unit only weighs 67.3 pounds. Vents on the left and right of the charcoal chamber as well as on the hood should provide decent heat control. It’s compact. The side shelf is held sturdily with thick screws. In a nice touch, the handles are shiny steel. One part you can do without is the glue-on rubber feet for the lid: it makes a non-sealing lid worse. As always a grill cover, highly recommended.

All it needs for assembly is a flathead screwdriver, a phillips screwdriver, and an adjustable wrench. Wal-Mart will even assemble it for you; contact your local one for details. Owners have given it high marks. While they report assembly times of 2 to 3 hours as compared to the manufacturer’s estimate of one hour, they rate it highly for being easy to clean, for the adjustable charcoal grate, and for the spacious BBQ cooking surface. One owner reported paint melting off, and one wished it sealed well enough to extinguish the coals when closed. But for the money, most were pleased with their purchase.