GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ review: A brilliant way to bake, grill, sear and smoke outdoors

T3’s GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ review in a sentence: A brilliant budget option that’s super versatile and cooks all sorts without fuss.

I’ve often fancied trying the Big Green Egg, which is a kamado-style barbecue that’s a real hit with hardcore BBQ aficionados and frequently rides high in best barbecue guides. Being more of a casual outdoor cooking type, I could never really justify the high cost of a genuine Big Green Egg. So, for cheapskates like me, there is this, the GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ from B&Q. At £500 it’s a snip compared to the more premium rival, and also others like it, so I was certainly sold on the price tag.

Better still, the GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ looks almost as good as its pricier counterpart and, based on what I’d read about it, had the potential to be a great performer too. The GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ can be used to bake, grill, sear and smoke with an excellent level of control that lets you fine-tune its capabilities to suit a variety of cooking ingredients. It’ll run on cheap and easy bags or charcoal (I used a £10 bag of Instant Light charcoal from B&Q) or on more premium fuel depending on your preference and level of fussiness.

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It comes as a complete package too, with all of the gubbins inside to start cooking and a pair of handy wooden prep shelves on each side too. The other bonus with a ceramic BBQ like this is that it is very durable. The body of the unit itself should stand the test of time brilliantly, although I’d suggest getting a cover for it as components such as the integrate thermometer and a supporting frame that’s made of metal might fare less well in our changeable climate. Curiously, however, B&Q doesn’t appear to sell one…

GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ review: Price and availability

The GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ is available to buy from B&Q now, although my review sample took a little while to come through as apparently demand was high. It currently costs a nice round £500 and can be ordered from the B&Q website.

This item can’t be picked up from a store, presumably because it is exceedingly heavy. Mine was delivered by two chaps armed with a proper trolley to offload the package, which arrived on a proper wooden palette.

GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ review: Unboxing and set up

As mentioned, the GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ is a big and heavy barbecue that will be delivered to your door in large carboard box and sitting on a wooden palette. After the two guys had left, it took me a while to unpack the barbecue, which needs to assembly in order to get up and running. Usefully, all the tools and fixings needed to do this come included. Charcoal needs to be purchased separately though.

I was quite pleased with the decent instruction leaflet, which explained the steps involved. While there didn’t seem like there was much to do, the assembly did take me a whole simply due to the weight involved. The ceramic barbecue, with everything inside when it was on the palette, weighed a lot. Overall, the package was 72kg, so ideally it is best assembled with at least two people.

First up, the supporting metal frame had to be assembled, which was easy enough, and the rubber castors added. Two of these have brake pedals on them so they can be locked in position. A good thing for something this bulky I thought. After that, I had to remove the contents of the egg, like the ceramic inner lining, cast iron grill bits and chrome-plated top grill cover. From there, the manual instructed me to lift and lower the ceramic egg section into the supporting frame.

I managed to do this on my own, by putting the frame on its side then lifting the whole lot up onto the wheels. This is not the recommended way do it though, so please follow the manual to avoid any injury or breakages. Once in place, the final steps involved placing everything back inside the egg and adding a supplied bamboo-style lid handle to the front of the unit and those two wooden prep shelves either side of the main unit.

Once assembled, all that was needed was to add the charcoal, which as I said, was a £10 bag of Diall Instant Light charcoal. It got great reviews for ease of use and reliability, so seemed liked a good choice.

GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ review: Design and features

The GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ is, I think, a good-looking thing that’s a bit better on the eye on some standard-issue, bog-standard black units on the market. It’s the sort of thing that looks nice even if it’s not being used, so if you’ve got a garden or patio you’re proud of then the GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ is an ideal addition.

A big part of the appeal is the ceramic construction of the main ‘egg’ bit. This is bright orange and covered in attractive dimples, giving it a stylish look, topped with a temperature gauge and complimentary cast iron vent on the top. Down at the bottom, there’s a brushed steel vent. The whole thing sits in a steel cradle, which needed to be assembled first, and this feels of a good quality although I have read reports of the brakes on the wheels being a bit flimsy. So far, so good with mine. The wheels are essential too if this thing needs to be moved anywhere.

With dimensions of 130cm deep, 122cm high and 73cm wide, with a diameter of 54.5cm, the GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ is a sizable thing that needs space and a solid location to use safely. I’d certainly avoid putting it on decking as the weight might be too much. Solid concrete or a tiled area is the way to go with this model. Once assembled though, the features are practical and durable. The liftable lid acts as home for charcoal and the stainless steel grill offers a good-sized cooking area.

Preparation is made all the more easier thanks to twin bamboo-style wooden prep shelves each side of the cooking area. These can be folded up when not in use, although I found they blew down quite easily, so tying them up for storage or using a cover might be a good idea. The GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ is suitable for feeding up to eight people and comes with a 5-year guarantee, so considering the price tag, I’d say this looks like a solid proposition prior to trying it out.

GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ review: Performance

I loved the simplicity of the GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ, which will be a big part of the appeal if you’re not a mad-keen outdoors cooking type. The great thing about getting ready to go was the way I simply needed to add a portion of the charcoal into the bowl, light it and then leave it. As always, things got easier the more I did it as there was a bit of a knack with getting the vent settings right.

With practice though, it was possible to get quite precise control using the air in vent at the bottom and air out vent at the tip, although gloves are obviously necessary for this due to the hot temperatures. My first attempt at doing a bit of a mixed bag barbecue was a bit patchy, with my lack of confidence with the vent controls resulting in some scorched baked potatoes and a couple of chicken legs that had to have their skin removed before eating.

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However, practice improved my fortunes and after a couple of goes I found the GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ to be hugely versatile. The heat it can generate is genuinely impressive and those vents really do help control just how hot things get. Smoking food with the lid down was straightforward enough, though unsurprisingly did require more time to get results. I loved the overall versatility of this BBQ though.

While the circular cooking area might be a bit limiting for some, it suited my needs perfectly. That said, the stainless-steel grill was a pain to clean as it was too big for my sink so I resorted to using steel wool and elbow grease out in the back garden. Aside from that though, it does bake, grill, sear and smoke to great effect and at a fraction of the cost of a Big Green Egg.

GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ review: Verdict

I was very impressed by the GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ. It did a great job at baking potatoes, which are a personal fave, but equally it did a brilliant job of BBQ staples like chicken and burgers. With practice, I reckon it would be possible to cook just about anything on this beauty although the obvious downside is that it’s quite big and bulky so isn’t going to be suited to everybody.

I’d imagine it’s relatively cheap to run too. After all, I bought the £10 bag of charcoal, which kept me going over a long bank holiday of barbecuing. The design burns efficiently but it was also mercifully easy to set up and operate. Indeed, considering I was only using the vent system and the lid to cook things as I wanted the, the level of heat control here was very impressive. Plus, from a cosmetic point of view, it looks a real treat.

GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ review: Alternatives to consider

There are a few alternatives to the GoodHome Sagami Orange Charcoal Egg BBQ, which makes a lot of sense if you like the look of the Big Green Egg but can’t stretch to its high price tag. However, there are also more conventionally styled BBQ options that the T3 team have tested and approved.

Check out the Masterbuilt Gravity Series 560, which was a huge hit but has since been superseded by the Masterbuilt Gravity Series 600. And, for anyone keen on smoking alongside more standard fare barbecuing, then check out the Traeger Ironwood 650 review and Weber Smokefire EX4 vs Traeger Ironwood 650 model too, for a couple of excellent alternative options.