Cuisinart CPG-4000 Wood Pellet BBQ Grill & Smoker

I bought this CPG-4000 pellet grill in the fall of 2018. After researching the market we decided for just my wife and I this size would work for us. We couldn't find much info on this model but felt we could trust the Cuisinart name and liked the idea of an included cover. The assembly went smoothly with all fasteners neatly vacuum packed with included tools! After a break in trial run per instructions we grilled our first burgers. Weather was getting cold and we only grilled a couple more times, still learning. During the last session the temp jumped to 400 then up over temp and shut down. I blamed it on the weather, un plugged it, and restarted it to finish dinner. This spring remembering that I did a test run and it did the same thing in warm weather. I called the tech support number listed in the manual. Shawn answered quickly. I relayed the way it was performing and since it controlled temp normally in the lower range and only went wacky in the upper range we decided the temp probe was at fault. Shawn was very polite and assured me a new one would go out right away and I should have it in 4 or 5 days. That was a Thursday, I received the new one on Monday! Replacement was fairly easy with a Phillips screw driver and 12mm wrench I believe. Worked great! Problem fixed. Grilled burgers, veggys, and steaks. Perfect. Chicken this weekend. The only thing I would like to see different is the temp stability. It seems to range about 12 degrees below and about 30 degrees above the set temp. This doesn't seem to cause a problem. I installed an analog temp gauge in the lid to compare to the factory digital. It seems to be more stable but reads higher than the digital. I would buy this machine again. You can't beat the tech support. If this size works for you grab one.

Great product. I was looking for a good quality smoker and came across this little gem. I reviewed and considered all the big name smokers like Traeger, Pit Boss, etc and am glad to have come across the Cuisinart. Couple of reasons, the price point is beautiful and Cuisinart is well know and respected in the cooking/kitchen world. I really could not justify close to a grand for a smoker being just the backyard casual griller. This does not mean that I don't know how to grill or smoke. I just do not do it as much as in the past as my family eats way less meat. However on a special occasion or event, I like to break out the grill. So, cost vs. usage was definitely a factor in my decision. I figure to use my smoker once every few months. If I was going to use it much more frequently maybe I would have opted for something a bit more expensive and presumably heavy duty. So, the grill came in one box and was easy to put together, just basically adding the legs and attaching the wheels. All the tools that were need came in the box. As others have noted it took about an hour by myself. Once it was together I immediately seasoned it as per the instruction and fired it up. My first cook was of course a 16 lb Packer Brisket for our fight party. I started the brisket at 3am and on 190 degrees. At first I was a bit worried b/c the temp kept going up well above what i wanted but after about 10 mins, it adjusted itself and held steady for the remainder of the cook until 5pm. The brisket was delicious and cooked to perfection. I also smoked a few lbs of chicken wings and smoked sausages that after the brisket came off. The food was delicious. I've recently done a huge piece of salmon which had a great buttery texture and subtle smoky flavor. The grill has a small removable top shelf for larger items. The grill surface is not that large, so if you need to cook large amounts, it may require a couple of separate cooks. Its easy to clean, looks good and comes with a nice grill cover. I'm happy with this grill, complete five stars!

I've been an avid griller for years and have owned charcoal grills, gas grills, smokers, cast iron hibachis etc. I really enjoy grilling, I've had my eye on a Traeger pellet smoker for a while. Seems like a new and interesting way to grill (new adventures = awesome), but the price was a little prohibitive. The Cuisinart seemed like it would do the same stuff for a few hundred dollars less. I used to heat my house with pellets so I understood the advantages of using pellets for heat pretty well. Assembly took a little over an hour (pro-tip: cut the package on all sides and fold down and use that as a flat surface to keep everything on during assembly), pretty standard for grills and the hardware was clearly labelled attached to a sheet of cardboard. All the tools were included (the screwdriver was great quality (a rarity these days!) and the grill was pretty easy to get started on. I really liked the ability to switch between grilling mode and smoking mode. Its nice to be able to grill and then add some smoky flavor at the end with the turn of a knob. That way you get the best of both worlds. Over a couple of days I cooked ribs, fennel, corn, oyster mushrooms (that I picked) and even a skewer of tofu (seriously, try it). I got the crust I needed on everything with a little bit of the smoky flavor from the smoker setting to really put each one over the top. It would be nice to have had a couple recipes included but I can pretty much find similar online and I assume the more people buy and use this, the more recipes and videos will be online. This grill gives you a few different tricks under one hood, its fun to use. I'll try some pizza on it soon.

This was easy to set up. The only problem was the thermo coupler that sets the temp stopped working after the first use. I called the company directly, went through 2 assistance and finally found one who would actually help. We had to email a copy of the receipt to the company in order to get a replacement part mailed to us. Luckily my son-in-law looked over the mechanism and found a loose wire. He had it up and running again before I was off the phone. Great to use as a grill or a smoker and we use it all year round. 4 feet of snow and smoking some meat on the grill. No problem. Really nice in deer season with some fresh venison.

Assembly was not hard, but took some time.