Cuisinart 14 Portable Charcoal Grill Small Tabletop BBQ for Camping

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1. Dr. Paul Verified Buyer – 11 March 2024

   Okay, I decided to get my feet wet in charcoal grilling. I really want to get a huge barrel grill, but all my friends keep hammering me about gas grilling being better. The problem is I LOVE the taste of food on a charcoal grill, and simply don’t like gas grilling anywhere near as much. All that said, one of the most common complaints about any charcoal grilling is that its a lot more work. A point I would have to concede having done both gas and charcoal grilling at other people’s houses. So I have never really been tasked with the setup, prep, and cleanup. So I figured before I go into a huge barrel grill for the beginning of the 2020 season, why not buy a little cheap unit like this one to see if its for me. I know the taste of the food is, but buying this when I saw it on sale for the low price of $21.99 seemed like a great idea. The grill was pretty easy to assemble, took me all of about 10 minutes from start to finish. Now I want to address some of the complaints I read in other reviews, some of which almost made me pass on this grill. The first complaint I read on cuisinartoutlets.com was that the instructions weren’t good and that this made the grill hard to assemble. I can tell you that I am not particularly handy and I had no trouble at all. Everything was illustrated clearly, screws and other hardware all appropriately labeled, and I thought everything was quite straightforward. However, I can see how someone not experienced at products like this that come disassembled might get a little flustered. The illustrations can seem a little confusing at first. But if you take a step, slow down, and visualize what you are seeing on the page, it will all become clear. The second complaint I read on cuisinartoutlets.com was that the grill is flimsy and fragile. While I can see where people are coming from, as this is not a high end grill, I think that when you pay 1/3 the price for this grill you would for, say a Weber the same size, then I honestly believe reviews should be done grading on a curve. But that’s me. I paid just over $20.00 for this. Am I really going to ding it because it isn’t a $50.00 or $100.00 grill, when I didn’t pay for that higher quality? The third complaint I read on cuisinartoutlets.com is that the grill never got hot enough and the food did not cook. To be fair, I experienced the same problem my first time cooking on it. Rather than waste the burger, a couple of hot dogs, and veggies, I simply gave up on that cook, brought the semi-cooked food into the house, and finished it on the stove. On a side note, I still had that AWESOME charcoal flavor, so the grill did cook it. A little. I realized as I brought the food in that the problem is NOT the grill. It was the fact that I didn’t use enough charcoal. I made the mistake of only mostly covering the bottom grate to see how much charcoal to use, then transferred the unlit coals to a Weber chimney my Dad gave me. But when the coals turned white, and I poured them in, they had lost some of their volume, so they no longer really covered the bottom grate. Aha! There was my problem. By the way, using standard sized, Kingsford Briquettes for that first quasi-failed cooking attempt, I knew I was going to write this review, so I actually counted them. So that first cooking I only used 18 briquettes. As I said, it turns out, the problem was that wasn’t enough. So today I almost doubled it. I think I used 32 briquettes. In the end, that was fine. Using my thick, 3/4 pound burger as my acid test, it took the standard 3-4 minutes per side before the burger was a nice medium rare and seared perfectly on the outside. Hot dogs and veggies were likewise great. So the lesson to me, and ANYONE else having this problem is to MAKE SURE you use at least 30 briquettes. Maybe 36 would be even better. The final complaint I read turns out to be not only valid, but a real black mark on this grill. Not sure what Cuisinart was thinking, but the reviewers who complained that the top grill where the food sits on is too unstable are 100% right! See, the problem is twofold here: First, that top grate/grill really needs to be another 1/8″ in diameter to fit the circumference of the bottom of the grill more snugly. But even worse, the lip that goes around the bottom, that the grill sits on, is very small. So if you just look this thing too hard you’re going to end up with your food all dumped out on the coals, and ready for the garbage. This is a TERRIBLE design flaw of this grill. Honestly, its so bad, I took off two stars for it. After assembling it and seeing this absurd nightmare, which I will admit I was pre-warned about, having read several reviews on cuisinartoutlets.com, I was all set to just disassemble it, re-pack the thing back into the box, and ship it back off to cuisinartoutlets.com. But then I had an idea. See the pictures I posted so you know what I’m talking about. I am not particularly handy, but since I really like the design, weight, and even the aesthetics of the grill, and I love the price, I took a chance and came up with an idea to try and fix it. Beware that if you try the solution I came up with, you’re all-in with the grill since you will void not only your warranty from Cuisinart, but also cuisinartoutlets.com’s return policy. Anyway, what I did was I went to the hardware store and bought a little plastic pack of nut and bolt sets. The bolts have a Phillips head. I took out my drill and drilled four holes, all at 90 degrees to one another. I then I then put the screw from outside-to-inside, and tightened a nut on each one. The nut being on the inside of the grill and the screw head on the outside. The intent was to have the four bolts act like shims for the grill to rest on to hopefully make it a lot more stable while cooking. Again, see my pictures. Its very easy, and if you go this route, use 4 nut/bolt sets, all each at 90 degrees to one another. This fixed the problem beautifully. I enacted this before my first use on it, and I can tell you that before I did it, I could see that the slightest accidental, lateral pressure would flip the grate over, and dump my food all over the white coals. Now, I have to say that it is incredibly stable. On a side note, it seems really silly to me that I had to come up with this idea to make the grill serviceable for my use. When I had seen how unstable the top grill was, I knew that cooking on it would be a nightmare. But I can tell you that after a few dinners on this, I have never even come close to up-ending it. Whereas, before I did this, the grate was falling into the grill with the slightest pressure when I was sort of “rehearsing” using it with no coals, no food, and only kind of pantomiming cooking with the spatula. lol Kind of like playing air-guitar, only with the new grill. When I did, the damned grate kept tipping over. Anyway, problem solved, but it is absolutely indefensible that I had to be the one to solve this problem. Still, if this review or my pics help anyone else, then I am a very happy guy!

   

2. Miguel Angel Verified Buyer – 14 March 2024

   Excelente opción para uso casual, seria mejor si tuviera unas uñas que detuvieran la parrilla, pese a ello, es una excelente opción de compra para usar de vez en cuando para dos o tres personas.
   

3. NeverBob Verified Buyer – 27 March 2024

   I needed a small grill to replace a similarly-sized and priced model from wally world. It’s more than big enough for two big ribeyes, and you don’t waste a ton of charcoal using it. How does it compare to my older one? The lid snaps on and comes completely off – no precarious balancing act with a lid on a hinge. It has a bottom vent and an ash catcher, which is far better than side vents for keeping the coals hot. The (thicker and more solid) grill fits perfectly in an indentation – not haphazardly on some wingnuts. It also feels a lot more solid – not Weber solid, but you’re not paying for a Weber. The only advantage the cheapo from wally world has is folding legs – which is only important if you need it to travel a few inches shorter. Since I just use mine for quick backyard grilling, that isn’t an issue. This is a great personal/backup grill for the price.

   

4. Zynful Verified Buyer – 29 April 2024

   This little grill was sooo easy to assemble! I have to admit that I have the, “I am woman, hear me roar,” attitude & think I don’t need instructions, so I didn’t pay attention to putting the ash tray on the legs BEFORE attaching the legs, so had to remove legs & do over bc it won’t go through bottom pegs. USER ERROR. After that, it assembled, step by step, so easily, VOILÀ, IT’S AWESOME! I can’t wait to make some shish kabobs tomorrow. My 3 major wah wah wahhh was: I ordered it to be here on my day off then got update of delivery that it was gonna be the next day (which I had to work,) so now I have wait to use it cause I worked late & had to assemble at night & have to wait till tomorrow to use, & lastly, charcoal prices, after hurricane 🌀 Helene, are fricken OUTRAGEOUS! A store brand bag of instant charcoal, 5 lb bag is $13! Since when? I own an amazing Traeger smoker, but it didn’t do any good after a hurricane, bc it’s electric, so with no power, internet, cable or mobile, I was left without use of cooking grill food! Every store was sold out of charcoal, disposable ready to use grills, or even these little grills. I couldn’t get online to order one so as soon as I got internet, I ordered this, stat. The mountains here don’t ever get floods, mudslides or hurricanes as the one we just went through, EVER, but now I’m more prepared. How I longed for a good BBQ when we lost everything that gave us an ability to cook outdoors. (Thank GOD for a gas stove though!) Being this is portable is even more of a plus bc the locks on the lid help for transporting anywhere! If you live anywhere where natural disasters happen, I highly recommend it. Even if it doesn’t last forever, it sure will help when your food is spoiling & you don’t want to lose precious, pricey food.

   

5. Robert Verified Buyer – 9 May 2024

   Awesome grill for 2 or 3 people and it smokes food with wood pellets that I also bought from cuisinartoutlets.com I just throw a handful or 2 in the grill after the coals are lit and it smokes good with the lid on.
   

6. Kevin B. Verified Buyer – 18 May 2024

   Good little portable charcoal grill. Bought the like new and it was brand new never used. Great price only $15 .easy assembly and cooks well!!!

   

7. Armando A Serrano Garcia Verified Buyer – 10 October 2024

   Cuándo compré el producto tenia algunas dudas, en cuanto a durabilidad y funcionalidad, con el paso del tiempo puedo resumir que es producto que cumple cabalmente su propósito, ahora es mi asador favorito!
   

8. Alexandre Verified Buyer – 25 December 2024

   It was like I expected. Great quality and design.
   

9. Donald B. Verified Buyer – 2 May 2025

   This Cuisinart 14″ table top charcoal grill was a good deal for USED at $20.04. Some paint was chipped off in a couple of places, but i had black enamel paint to touch it up. No biggie, because charcoal grills don’t look pretty anymore after a few uses, and the paint starts to burn off and fade anyway.
   I had to use Locktite on the fasteners for the 2 vents, because the nuts kept loosening up when I turned the vents. Adding washers DIDN’T help. (Just don’t tighten the fasteners too much, because when the Locktite dries the vents won’t open!) I added Locktite to all 4 leg screws too, for some added piece of mind and extra holding power. The grill doesn’t wobble around at all, and is sturdy. I also put a little glue inside of each of the 4 black plastic protective leg caps, and reattached them, because they were too easy to take off, and I didn’t want to lose one or more of them, thus causing the grill to sit unevenly. They’re on there permanently now though, and they don’t spin around anymore. Better safe than sorry is my moto.
   

10. Ricardo Verified Buyer – 14 June 2025

    Muy buena y practicq