Weber goes Kamado sorta with the Summit Grill
 

http://www.weber.com/weber-nation/bl...inally-arrived

Love this want bad but pricey but all still so cracking isn't an issue like the green egg. To be fair the egg has a lifetime warranty. Westlake is a official reseller in my area I'm tempted to stop and have a look.

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If I had money to burn, sure.

But it seems like that's little more than a replacement for a Performer and a WSM. Well I have both of those things and I'd imagine that anyone that would WANT that grill already does as well.

Seems like something that it will take them quite awhile to build a market for. I guess I'd consider it when both Performer and the WSM shit the bed, but you're talking 10 years down the road if you have a decent cover.

That price is too damn high

http://assets.bwbx.io/images/iwTUa_hUmFmA/v1/-1x-1.jpg

$2000? Wow!

Its a Weber and Q sites that have got demos are raving about it. But like I said I'm gonna look and that's it.

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I've got the WSM and Performer. Quite frankly, the WSM will be a better smoker than the Summit, I would imagine. This is simply because it was designed as such, and has more room, a water pan, and easier access through a side door for adding fuel or wood for smoke. The Performer should do just as well as a grill since you generally aren't grilling for super long periods of time.

In other words, I think I'll just keep the two I have and have two specialty tools that do what they do very well, rather than one replacement that does well, but perhaps not quite as good as the two alone. Some solid ideas though.

The double-wall design on this Summit should give it some pretty decided advantages with smoking, especially when you're looking at longer cooks. You should have to use much MUCH less fuel and less fuel means fewer re-loads. It should also be far less prone to external factors; wind, low temps, etc... All of that should give you far steadier temperatures and thus better cooks as the proteins don't have to take on the temperature spikes. They appear to have put quite a bit of engineering into the radiant heat plate as well; sure looks like they've got it dialed in for 225 pretty easily and at 24'' (vs. the big WSM at 22''), the capacity should be as good or even better.

As for the grilling aspect, the adjustable great should allow you a lot more flexibility in searing, etc...

I dunno...it almost looks to me like it would replace the Performer and the WSM while doing both jobs BETTER than the specialty item. It's counter-intuitive, but it's also a much better engineered piece of equipment than either of those.

Still more than I'm gonna spend because in the end, barbecue chicken is barbecue chicken, despite what Myron Mixon (and Stewie) will tell you. For 95% of the things I make, I don't expect this would make a difference.

But still, when some distant relative of mine dies and leaves me money that I had otherwise not expected, I'm buying one of these and I'll salute dear old Aunt Dorris (Ed. note: I do not have an Aunt Dorris) every time I fire it up...

Just chiming in to say I also have the Performer and WSM.

If your going to spend that much money, why not just buy a big green egg or komado joe? They're both superior products and will last a lifetime.

Because there's a pretty good chance that the BGE and Komodo Joe's aren't superior products.

The early adopters will tell the tale here, but if the double-walled steel can do heat retention as well as the ceramics, it would certainly bleed off heat better if you overshoot. At that point, it will have neutralized the only advantage that the ceramics would provide.

And with a larger surface area, gas starter, moveable coal base and ability to easily add barbecue controls, there's no reason why the Summit couldn't be a better product in a number of ways.

Pretty common setup.

Like I said, I think most people that would want this grill already have both of those products so Weber's going to have to wait patiently for them to eventually fail.

Unfortunately for Weber, they've spent 50 years perfecting that exterior coating and it can pretty much survive anything short of baseball sized hail at this point so Weber's going to be waiting awhile. It wasn't until I started taking my original one-touch out for every tailgate that it finally took enough of a beating to need replacing. I have to imagine that the performer will give me at least the 10 years that the one-touch did.

I have the Char-Griller Akorn Kamado and love the things I can do with it.
This Weber Summit looks awesome and I would love to have one, but there is no way I'd pay $2000 for it.

I'll stick with the $250 Akorn.

Yep its pricey but those are msrp and street price will be somewhat less and it may get deep discounted to get the word out as if Weber needs the marketing on quality of there stuff. I stopped at westlake near my house and they are eagerly awaiting the first shipment.

http://amazingribs.com/bbq_equipment...charcoal-grill

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x1Gw77OF1FE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.firecraft.com/sites/defau...301001-4_0.jpg

This is a type of ceramic, the differences are the porcelain enamel and the steel defuser plate. I would guess the finish may make it a bit more durable than a straight ceramic, but both the BGE and Kamado's come with lifetime warranties. It will be interesting to read about heat retention and fuel efficency benefits over the other two, but I can't imagine they'll be significant. The other difference is the steel diffuser plate, again it'll be interesting to see how much more beneficial that is than ceramic.

They may be onto something for the Weber loyalists who may be looking to upgrade or can provide some significant advantages to justify the price over other kamados. Hopefully its not a "we need to get into the kamado market, but need to come up with something a little different. I know! A double "steel" diffuser plate!" type of deal.

I found a GBE dealer in my area just a few weeks back, and I don't think a $2000 price tag for this thing is going to have me deciding not to get the egg.