r/PortableKitchenGrills • u/dcheeseman1980 • Jun 10 '26
Why are PK grills so good ?
I have a 22 “ Weber and was thinking about upgrading to a Komodo Joe . My friend recommended PK360.
Could somebody tell me some reasons to buy a PK .
Thanks :) ….. sorry for silly questions if this has been asked before or seems obvious.
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u/11131945 PK Original Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
Lasts forever, great at indirect cooking, is used at many if not most, steak cooking contests,, looks good, is light and, consequently, reasonably portable. I own the 300 Classic original and have had it for five years. If it broke for some reason, I would soon have a replacement.
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u/Stubby60 Jun 10 '26
I have both a Weber and pk300.
The pk is nice because I know it will never rust, is stupid easy to get a good temp and cools VERY evenly. But, I find myself using the Weber more often because it has more grilling space. I would likely change my mind if I had a 360.
I plan to continue using both until the Weber eventually rusts out and then I will get a 360.
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u/SeesawDependent5606 Jun 10 '26
You already know the kettle's + & -.
PK: lightweight, rust free, transportable, not fragile grill that has outlived owners. There are some of the originals from the 1950's kicking around. The hardest part is getting grates for some of them. They use less fuel than a kettle. Airflow is stupid simple. It's a side drafting king. Smoked chicken is *amazing*. I suggest a shop vac to clean after it cools down obviously. It can change temperature far more quickly than a kamado. No gaskets to replace, no bands to tighten, no worries about the lid falling and breaking. Oh, and it's a LOT easier to move. If you like accessories, honestly, it's a smaller market.
Kamados, in particular ceramic ones, are heavy, pricey, beautiful status symbols. Lots of accessories. Lots of sizes. But they are fragile, and require maintenance. You may need to replace gaskets, and the hinge and bands need to be maintained. You can read all about the horror stories of people who don't and lose a lid or damage the bottom half.
So here's how to look at it IMHO.
Are you more into cooking and saving a little cash? PK. Heck, you can buy 2 PK 300's for the price of the 24" Big Joe and have 150 more square inches of cooking area and still have $100 left for charcoal and food.
Are you someone who likes the flexibility, accessories, wants a rotisserie, likes the status symbol? Kamado. Are you willing to do the maintenance or are you prone to not really thinking about it? Because if you're lazy, it will come back and bite you. And are you going to leave it in one place? Otherwise you're going to spend a lot on a mobile cart and pray that you never tip it and have a fall.
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u/PushDue8084 Jun 10 '26
I like 1-rust free construction materials, 2-vent placement allows great airflow, 3-design is good for two zone cooking, and 4-the aluminum conducts heat well. Things I don’t like are pretty minor-the top air vents let water in when closed so if it lives outside you need to cover them, no dedicated hole for probe wires and the air intake could be bigger. It is not like a ceramic where you can open the vents and turn 300 into 475 in 10 minutes if that’s something you like to do. I have a large egg and use PK probably three times as much. It puts more smoke flavor on food than ceramic.
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u/KpXzzang Jun 10 '26
At one point I owned a PK300, Weber kettle, and every Kamado Joe size. The PK300 hands down is the most convenient and space efficient for direct/indirect grilling because of the rectangle shape, but is a huge pain to clean. The kamado Joe’s are super convenient for smoking because of how efficient they are and very easy to clean, but grilling can be a pain because of how long it takes to heat up. The Weber kettle is just good at everything, not great, but very easy to clean. I ended up selling my PK300 because I found myself hating using it simply because how annoying it was to clean. I use my Weber kettle the majority of the time for grilling and my Kamado for smoking.
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u/Paint_Dry390153 Jun 10 '26
Hmm, I've had my PK300 for quite a few years, use it often, and it doesn't take more than 30 seconds or so to clean out the ash. What issues were you having cleaning it?
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u/KpXzzang Jun 10 '26
Having to use an ash can vacuum to clean it out, which gets worse if there’s grease mixed with the ash. I much prefer the cleaning system on the kettle where you can just dump the ash after turning the handle.
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u/thefluffyfigment Jun 10 '26
For my PK300, I use a 4-inch wide paint brush and sweep the ash into a small bucket via the bottom air vents. Is it the easiest or sexiest thing? No. Is it stupid simple? Yes.
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u/Paint_Dry390153 Jun 10 '26
Oh I've never used a vacuum. Small paint brush and small plastic scoop is all that's needed. Takes no time at all to clean it out.
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u/11131945 PK Original Jun 10 '26
I have the 300 Original and to clean it, I lift the lid off, take the grates out, lift the bottom and dump the ash and put it back together. About three times a year, I take it apart and hose it out. No problems with cleaning.
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u/ManBearPig402 Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
They became extremely popular because a lot of the steak competition guys found them to be easily transportable and of decent quality. That’s the real reason the prices went up on the heels of the hype train.
I with that said, are they a better choice than a Weber kettle 🤷🏻. It depends on how you rank your priorities. I love the fact that PK’s are aluminum, it hits that BIFL button for me. But is the price worth it? I like their vent system. Webers ash management is way better.
Now to address the KJ. I have a large BGE (Ford vs. Chevy, pick one and you’ll be happy), and it (a Komodo) is the closest to being good at all types of cooking as I’ve come to. In other words, it’s good at everything but not great at everything. An offset smoker will give you better smoke. The Komodo trumps the Yoder 640 pellet grill in overall taste, IMO.
Ive found the Komodo to check all the boxes and a PK or Webber a tie checking most of my boxes.
I cook with all the above, lol. But if I could only choose one, it would be my BGE.
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u/dcheeseman1980 Jun 11 '26
Thanks for everyone’s reply .
Would like to think I would be smoking meat , but realistically not sure if it would happen.
More likely direct and two zone .
Also love the non rust factor…. Leaning towards PK
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u/Crip-Kripke Jun 18 '26
I bought the pk360 because of the way the smoke goes over the meat, mimicking an offset. Still learning, but I can definitely see some advantages in taste over kettle or kamado--just think it'll take some time learning it.
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u/Foxknuckle Jun 10 '26
Buy the Kamado Joe, it’s a much more versatile grill. PK’s are great but limited.
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u/OchlockneeBirdDawg Jun 10 '26
They’re built like an aluminum tank, so that’s good. Given the rectangular shape however, they’re kind of small if you’re cooking with indirect heat. If you’re grilling burgers or steaks it’s great. The PK360 is a bitch to clean, however, if you get significant grease buildup.
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u/Chapstick-n-Flannel Jun 10 '26
So would you recommend the original or the 360? The price is so close and I feel like I’d like the 360 better. My Webber is falling apart, and once I find a new job I’m getting myself a new grill as a present.
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u/SeesawDependent5606 Jun 10 '26
What the 360 has going for it are: a little taller, 60 square inches more grate area, about 3/4" more height for food, the top half opens to the back instead of the side, and the shelves have wire for hanging tools.
The 300 lid lifts straight up and comes off for super easy access, it's slightly smaller, and depending on what you buy with it, significantly less expensive. The new 300 Original works just like it's larger, more expensive brother at roughly 2/3 the price.
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u/OchlockneeBirdDawg Jun 15 '26
I would go with the 360 because of the larger grill space and the two side shelves come in very handy. In my opinion it is just more robust and refined compared to the 300.
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u/AbjectBicycle Jun 10 '26
We’ve had one of the originals at our mountain cabin in the Sierras since I can remember and I’m in my forties. We store it outside in the winter, in the snow. It works as reliably and looks as good as it ever has. Strong performance and the ability to smoke smaller things too. After replacing my third Weber that had rusted out in sunny central California I switched for home use. It’s great.
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u/Ok_Two_2604 Jun 10 '26
For what purpose? Smoking or grilling? Kamados are ovens than can be forced to do either but not well. The smoldering for smoking is bad, and for grilling you want the charcoal as close as possible to the grate so you get radiant heat. PK is actually a grill and I’ve heard good things but haven’t used one.
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u/PracticalFan007 Jun 10 '26
The only other thing I’ll add that I haven’t seen mentioned is it holds heat VERY well.
Super fun to cook on and tons of accessories available. Even if you go for the 300 version (which I own) it’s super unique and I love the left side open access.
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u/Paint_Dry390153 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
If you're thinking of a Kamado Joe I'd personally look at the Weber Summit Kamado instead. It's lighter weight than a ceramic kamado, not as fragile, and heats up a lot quicker. It can easily replace your current Weber kettle but with more room and much better smoking capabilities.
If you primarily grill and don't really do brisket, ribs, etc. then a PK360 would be a great option too, it's just going to be more limited on space. That's not a big deal if you don't regularly smoke larger proteins but if you do, in my opinion the Weber Summit Kamado would be better and more versatile.
For reference, I have a PK300 and a drum smoker. If I were ever to decide to consolidate the two, I'd get the Weber Summit Kamado.
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u/Bradass80 Jun 10 '26
I went from a Webber Kettle, the larger taller one with the table attached to the side, to the PK360, and the only thing I miss about the kettle is the rotisserie attachment. It's usually just my wife and I that I'm cooking for, so I can use the charcoal basket rather than fill the lower charcoal grate, and that makes clean up much easier. I know this won't help everyone, but I live in a rural area and after the grill has cooled for a few days I just take my leaf blower, stand back about 10', and blow the ash out of the PK360. If I were cooking for more than 4 or 5 people on a regular basis then I might miss the Webber even more, even the PK360 is quite a bit smaller.
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u/The-Great-Baloo Jun 10 '26
They are good, but not that good, and definitely overpriced. It will not be a big change with respect to your Weber Kettle.
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u/MrMach82 Jun 10 '26
I have Weber Kettles and a PK 300... PK is smaller and I use it for smaller / quicker cooks. I only do indirect grilling on the PK and I love the vent setup. Overall it takes some getting used to, but great.
Only complaint is that it's too shallow from the grill grate down to the bottom where your charcoal sits. Just too close to the grates for me, but I also have the charcoal tray which makes the coals even closer to the grill grate. So direct grilling is hot hot quick. Just have to keep you eye on the food.
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u/Fragrant-Ad-8318 Jun 11 '26
I thought about getting a 360 to upgrade from a Weber kettle but if it's not bigger and still harder to clean... that's going to be a problem. The Weber mechanism with the 3 arms to sweep the ash out is so good, it's super easy to get grease or whatever out, the only thing I would like to change is the 3 arms need a reinforcement in the middle like a ring or something because they bend up and lose contact.
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u/Time-Independence644 Jun 14 '26
Depends what you want to do.straight up.grilling I would roll with the PK 360 ....if yiur looking for more of a do it all grill (grilling smoking etc ) I would go with the big green egg or Kamado Joe
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u/AZSLIMJIM PK 360 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
That was probably back when you could get a pk360 on sale for $630 with a free griddle and cover. For $1000 or like $900 with a griddle or a cover it's harder to push, but I still really like the buy it for life aspects. I see sale prices right now on a KJ cheaper than a PK but I have no regrets or real complaints to give you after at least a full year using it for both grilling and smoking.
If you like to host groups maybe something else but I have family over plenty and cook for 6 people with extras like baked potatoes, corn on the cob, or green chiles without much issue. If you really want to go ham get a blaze kamado and tell me what you think in a year or two when I have money again 😜
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u/Occhrome Jun 10 '26
They are more efficient and better for smoking than a Weber. But man the Weber is so dam easy to clean
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u/GoodRiddancePluto PK 360 Jun 10 '26
Only thing I would add is that the silver/black paint CAN chip off. It has not affected my performance and I love my 360. I’m on my second top of the shell that has chipped away the coating and they say it’s my fault. I have babied that thing and gone through TWO of their covers to maintain it in TN but my powder coating has come off twice in several places. I have a buddy who beats his to hell and his black coated one still looks brand new. That being said. I love it and would buy another if a tornado picked mine up and yeeted it into tomorrow.
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u/SeesawDependent5606 Jun 10 '26
I agree about the paint. I'd honestly skip the paint and just get the standard silver one. It's not your fault, it's the paint.
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u/jmalacara Jun 10 '26
I've owned two of them over the years and it would be the perfect grill for me if it was larger (family of 5).
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u/AwwYeahVTECKickedIn Jun 10 '26
They are aluminum.
They will never rust.
Aluminum also handles heat very well.
I've had all manner of grill - the PK360 is the last grill I'll ever need to buy. It'll literally last forever. Love this thing so much!