Char-Broil Charcoal M review: the small-garden BBQ that thinks bigger than its footprint
Compact enough for a patio, capable enough for a proper cook. The Char-Broil Charcoal M proves that downsizing your outdoor space doesn’t mean downsizing your ambitions at the grill
If your garden is more courtyard than countryside estate, the barbecue category can feel like it wasn’t designed for you. Most serious charcoal grills assume you have a large patio, a wide perimeter fence, and neighbours too far away to catch smoke. The Char-Broil Charcoal M doesn’t make that assumption. It’s a mid-sized barrel grill with a primary cooking area of 2,624 sq cm, enough for four to six people, built with a feature set that would look at home on a grill twice the price. A crank-operated height-adjustable charcoal tray. Porcelain-enamelled cast-iron grates. Dual-zone capability. And, if you ever want to go further, the option to attach a Charcoal 2Go unit and convert the whole thing into a functioning offset smoker.
That’s a lot of grill for a compact footprint. I’ve been testing it in a smaller urban garden to find out whether the spec sheet holds up in practice.
Quick specs
| Price | £206.99 to £239.99 |
| Primary cooking area | 2,624 sq cm (530mm x 495mm) |
| Grate material | Porcelain-enamelled cast iron |
| Lid thermometer | Built-in |
| Airflow control | Adjustable chimney smokestack + side damper |
| Fuel access | Front-loading door |
| Mobility | Two large heavy-duty wheels |
| Offset smoker compatible | Yes, via Charcoal 2Go accessory (sold separately) |
| Serves | 4 to 6 people |
Pros
- Crank-operated adjustable charcoal tray gives genuine, immediate heat control without guesswork
- Front-loading fuel door lets you add charcoal mid-cook without losing temperature
- Compatible with the Charcoal 2Go accessory, converting it into a proper offset smoker
Cons
- Deep barrel corners are awkward to clean after long cooks
- Offset smoker capability requires purchasing the Charcoal 2Go as a separate accessory
- No dedicated thermometer port for a probe, relying solely on the lid gauge
Price and availability
The Char-Broil Charcoal M £219, is available from Appliances Direct.
For the money, the spec sheet is strong. Adjustable charcoal trays are usually a feature reserved for more expensive barrel grills, and cast-iron grates at this price point tend to be thinner than Char-Broil’s porcelain-enamelled versions. You’re paying a modest premium over entry-level charcoal grills in the £100 to £150 range, but the gap in build quality and cooking flexibility is significant enough to justify it.
The Charcoal 2Go offset smoker accessory is sold separately and adds to the total cost if that’s where you’re headed. Worth factoring in from the start if you already know you want that capability.
Design and build
The Charcoal M is a traditional barrel grill in profile: cylindrical body, hinged lid, side shelf, legs with wheels. In a smaller garden or on a patio, it occupies a sensible footprint. It’s not a kettle grill, so it takes up more lateral space than something like the Weber Original Kettle, but the trade-off is meaningfully more cooking surface and a far more feature-rich setup.
Build quality is solid. The unit feels stable once positioned, and the cast-iron grates have real weight to them: thick enough to retain heat properly and resist the warping that cheaper steel grates suffer over time. The porcelain enamel coating is smooth and easy to brush down between cooks. For a garden that doesn’t want a grill that looks tired after a single season, this one holds up.
The headline design feature is the crank-operated charcoal tray. Turn it one way and the coals rise toward the food for high-heat searing. Turn it the other and they drop down for slower, gentler cooking or to kill a flare-up before it chars your sausages. It sounds like a minor detail, but in practice it changes how you interact with the grill entirely. You’re no longer just opening and closing vents and hoping for the best: you have a direct, immediate physical lever on your cooking temperature.
Airflow control is handled by two adjustable points: the chimney smokestack on the lid and a side damper. Running both together gives you a surprisingly precise way to hold a stable temperature, which beginner grillers often find much easier than the single-vent systems on simpler kettles.
Convenience details land well throughout. The front-loading charcoal door is one of the better quality-of-life features on any grill at this price: it lets you add fresh charcoal or wood chips mid-cook without lifting the lid, which means no lost heat, no disrupted smoke environment, and no juggling the lid while simultaneously managing tongs and a bag of charcoal. There’s a built-in bottle opener, tool hooks on the side shelf, a front-mounted spice rack, and a lower shelf for charcoal storage. It’s a thoughtful setup for anyone cooking outside regularly rather than just for occasional summer appearances.
The two large wheels make repositioning easy on paving or grass. For a courtyard grill that might need to move out of the way after use, that’s worth more than it sounds.
Performance and cooking
The Char-Broil Charcoal M is genuinely capable of two distinct cooking modes, and the transition between them is straightforward. For high-heat direct grilling: load the coals, crank the tray up, let the cast iron come up to temperature. The grates retain heat well enough that you get a proper sear on steaks or chops without needing to constantly manage the fire. On a cold or breezy day, cast iron holds temperature where thinner steel grates drop off quickly, which matters more in the UK than the marketing copy typically acknowledges.
The dual-zone setup is simple to achieve: bank the coals to one side and you have a direct zone and an indirect zone side by side. Thick cuts like bone-in chicken pieces or pork shoulder benefit from starting over indirect heat and finishing directly on the sear. The adjustable tray makes this more precise than most barrel grills at the price, because you can modulate the direct zone’s intensity without having to redistribute the coals.
The built-in lid thermometer is useful for a rough read on internal temperature, though it’s measuring air temperature at lid level rather than at the grate surface, which can be 50 to 80 degrees hotter. For anything where precision matters, a separate probe thermometer is the sensible addition: the Meater Plus or ThermoPro TP20 both work well alongside this setup.
The offset smoker compatibility via the Charcoal 2Go attachment is a genuine differentiator at this price. Most people buying a compact garden grill don’t expect to have a credible low-and-slow smoking option in the same unit. The Charcoal 2Go turns the main barrel into the cooking chamber and provides a separate firebox for the smoke source, which is the correct architecture for offset smoking rather than the chip-box-over-the-coals workaround that some grills use. If you want to try brisket or pulled pork at home without buying a dedicated offset smoker in the £400 to £600 range, this route is considerably more economical.
Cleanup is the one area where patience is required. The ash pan handles the bulk of post-cook clearing without much effort, but the deep corners of the barrel are awkward to reach after a long smoke session. A long-handled grill brush helps, but it’s not as clean a process as a kettle grill with a simpler interior geometry.
Verdict
If you have a smaller garden and you’ve been told you need to choose between a capable grill and one that actually fits your space, the Char-Broil Charcoal M makes a reasonable case that you don’t. The adjustable charcoal tray is a genuinely useful feature that improves everyday cooking rather than just looking good on the spec sheet. The cast-iron grates perform above their price bracket. The front-loading fuel door is one of those things you don’t know you needed until you’ve used it, and then you can’t imagine doing without it.
The offset smoker compatibility is the kind of upgrade path that rewards you over time. Buy it as a capable garden grill for summer barbecues now, add the Charcoal 2Go when curiosity or ambition grows, and you have a meaningfully different piece of equipment without buying another grill.
The cleanup situation is the only real friction point in regular use. Deep barrel corners take effort after extended cooks, and it’s the kind of thing that gets skipped more often than it should be in a busy household. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s a known cost of ownership.
At £219 the Char-Broil Charcoal M sits in the sweet spot between entry-level and premium. It outperforms its price in build quality and cooking flexibility, and it does it in a footprint that works for gardens that aren’t enormous. Buy it.
