Kamado Bono Minimo 15 inch

Is the Kamado Bono Minimo 15 inch worth buying?

Yes, the Kamado Bono Minimo 15 inch is worth buying at £399 if you cook for up to five people on a terrace or in a small garden and want a ceramic shell rather than a steel one. You get 1,257 cm² of grid, a heat deflector, an ash remover and a cover in the box, and 51 owners rate it 4.3.

It is the wrong grill for two kinds of buyer. Anyone cooking for ten will run out of grate, and anyone who wants to load a kamado into a car boot should look at a 21 kg model instead, because this one weighs 46 kg once it is out of the packaging.

How big is the Kamado Bono Minimo 15 inch cooking area?

The Minimo gives 1,257 cm² of ceramic grid on a 40 cm grate, which is 299 cm² more cooking surface than the £339.99 Kamado Joe Joe Jr and 257 cm² more than the £169.99 Char-Griller AKORN Jr. Divide the £399 price by that area and you pay £31.75 per 100 cm², the lowest rate of any ceramic kamado in this range.

In practice 1,257 cm² feeds five people in one sitting, with a spatchcocked chicken in the middle of the grate and vegetables around it, or a longer indirect cook with the thick heat deflector sitting under the grid and the lid down. It is a single rack on one level, so everything on the grate sees the same heat, which suits batch cooking far more than it suits a mix of searing and resting at once.

What comes in the box with the Kamado Bono Minimo 15 inch?

The box holds the Minimo itself, the 40 cm grill, a fibreglass gasket seal, a thick heat deflector, an ash remover, a grill cover and a spatula, so a first cook needs nothing else on the shopping list. A fire poker and a grill grate gripper are separate purchases. The ceramics carry a lifetime warranty, which covers the shell and the firebox for as long as you own it.

The ceramic body is a 40 cm cube, and the complete unit takes up 64 x 34 x 54 cm of patio, roughly the floor space of a small side table. No assembly is required, which is unusual at this price, but 46 kg of clay and metal still wants two people to lift it off the pallet. Pick the spot before you unwrap it, because moving a 46 kg ceramic across gravel is a job in itself.

What are the downsides of the Kamado Bono Minimo 15 inch?

The 4.3 average from 51 owners is the lowest rating among the ceramic kamados here, so this is not the model with the longest record behind it. At 46 kg it is also 25 kg heavier than the 21 kg Alivio egg, which means the compact shape does not turn it into a grill you carry to a campsite.

A 40 cm grate caps the guest list at around five, and the single cooking level rules out a true two-zone setup, so a reverse sear means moving the food across the grid rather than banking coals on one side. Buy it for four or five people and one style of cook at a time.

Is the Kamado Bono Minimo 15 inch better than the Char-Griller AKORN Jr?

The Char-Griller AKORN Jr costs £169.99 for 1,000 cm², which is £229.01 less than the Minimo for 257 cm² less grid, and at 16.2 kg it is 29.8 kg lighter. Buy the AKORN Jr if the grill has to travel or the budget is tighter. Buy the Minimo if you want a ceramic shell, the lowest price per square centimetre of any ceramic here, and a lifetime warranty on the ceramics.

Against the 21-inch Kamado Bono Green at £849, the Minimo is £450 cheaper and gives up 1,005 cm² of grid, 2,262 cm² against 1,257 cm². That larger egg earns its money when you feed twelve at a time, while the Minimo is the better buy for a household of four or five that wants ceramic cooking without a 50 kg grill on the patio.