Stok SCC0140MX Tower Charcoal Grill

I was a bit apprehensive buying a grill not made in America with times being what they are and all. What won me over though was the design of the grill and the addition of the tower to store utensils. That in addition to the heating element not requiring lighter fluid and the thermometer on the lid made the decision even easier.The grill comes with a pizza stone and insert removal tool. I purchased an additional removal tool to have and I'm happy I did. When removing one insert in favor of another, it's helpful to not have to put one down and disconnect the tool so you can use the same tool to put in another insert.Assembly was pretty easy if you can follow ikea-like instructions and there was a bit of a learning curve figuring out the fire chamber since I had no experience lighting such a grill in the past. So far everything has been delicious. I literally have no complaints.

We've had it about 10 days and have grilled pizza, rib eyes, chicken, filets and vegetables (more than once). It was all great. The grills are easy to clean and the flat upper surface means your veggies, even asparagus and carrots, are less likely to roll in an unpredictable fashion and drop through the openings to be lost forever. Our old Weber went to the curb after the first cook on this grill.Yes, the pizza stone was broken when it arrived. I contacted Amazon and they gave me the phone number for a Stok rep who promptly shipped out a replacement. Btw, he also said the next packaging run is going to put that pizza stone in a much more protected location, deep inside the box. I don't care if they dropped it 17 ways in testing and the stone was fine, our delivery guys have at least 17 more ways to drop it that will break that sucker.This grill does require assembly, but it is not that hard as long as you follow the instructions. Watch the video. The finished product is sturdy and performs very well. It is worth the effort, so take your time and get it done right. Mostly, be careful to get those tabs inserted in the slots when putting the side panels on.Another reviewer here mentioned that some mods will be needed for cooking low and slow. We have found that a long strip of heavy duty aluminum foil wrapped around the bottom intake vent area lets you get really low temps and helps with precise temp control. Need more air? Just loosen the foil a little bit.One last point, the newspaper basket works great for starting the coals in place. For those of us who don't like lifting cans of hot coals and pouring them out, maybe in the right place, maybe on my foot, this is a wonderful innovation. Much safer, and the charcoal lights every time, no smelly lighter fluid needed.For this amount of money, I don't think you can find a better grill anywhere.

Grill is challenging but not too difficult to mount because instructions and a video on the producer web site, but takes time, about 1.5 hours and patience. Quality is good but the lid barely hangs to the sides with small hooks so when you clean the grid or change the center you have to put it down and when you flip meat you end up holding it. There are no hooks to hang tools. Starter with paper is slow and sometimes the bottom part gets stuck and takes patience to remove. Impossible to close completely to set fire off, so reusing expensive charcoal is hard... Grate holding charcoal is too thin so small pieces of expensive south american charcoal pass through and go to waste. Placing the lid in the aforementioned hooks is the worst think, it barely hangs and I have 2 glass windows on both sizes in my balcony (that's why I had to buy a small one) so afraid sometimes it might fall and break them. Pizza accessory too little. Very little room to cook, good only for 2/3 people. So you need to precook stuff if you want to cook veggies and meat the right way. You have to work very hard to get best results, e.g. to put a container with wood chips and one with water to keep meat moist, there is little room. If exceed with wood because you have guests or need to slow cook something you are in trouble, becomes very uncomfortable to handle. Round shape is not the best, you loose a lot of room. Had fantastic results but because I worked really hard with great quality charcoal, wood chips, and meat, but that sucks out part of the joy of grilling having to work so hard is such a small place. And if I had more room I would never buy such small thing. If you not into grilling/barbecuing seriously and just have to grill 3 steaks or a salmon, then it's very good. If you have family and guests look at something bigger.

We bought the Stok Island grill and it is awesome. It's designed very intuitively and I can't think of anything I would change about it. That takes me to the Tower....Amazon was awesome, great price, fast shipping, this is where I would buy it if you do. The only problem that I have with the grill is that the hooks on the inside of the cover barely hang onto the edge. I believe another reviewer mentioned this but I just wanted to confirm that as it's absolutely true. If you accidentally bump the grill the cover will hit the ground potentially damaging the thermometer. I contacted their CS about this and quite honestly they really don't care what you think. (note I know they could send replacement hooks as the ones on the island are just fine).Lights awesome, the grill grates are phenomenal...it's a great grill. I wish their customer service was just up to the same level of quality as this would be on every patio across america. *I told them i would be leaving this semi-negative review...Stok CS, consider that promise kept.Replaced my weber and this is a great alternative.

i love this grill. I bought it because it was a good price and it came with a cast iron grill. i absolutely love cooking with this grill. great area to cook for a group of 10+ people. taste and temperature is everything when grilling and this grills scores high on both.