some of them have gaskets, don't they?? how do the gaskets hold up when one is cooking steaks and such. are replacement parts easy to obtain??
All BGE's have a gasket. There are two types. A standard gasket and a high temp nomex gasket which AFAIK is standard now. I burned up the first standard gasket in about a year with a lot of high temp (1,000 degree) burns for steaks. They are very easy to replace and cheap. A year seems to be about the norm for that type of gasket for those who use them a LOT. You can get parts for BGE on eBay and there are about a bazillion dealers. Be careful with other brands as some have very few dealers. I replaced my gasket with a Nomex one and after several months it still looks new. In the end how long a gasket will last is going to depend on how well you take care of it by keeping down flash backs and how many high temp burns you have.
OTOH some folks just take the gasket right out and never use one.
I know BYC put up that Kamado picture because it looks cool but that is a brand you need to avoid like the plague. AFAIK Kamado just means stove so don't confuse all Kamado style ceramic cookers with the Kamado brand. The Kamado brand product in that photo is an example of exactly what you don't want. They have been investigated for fraud, have a ton of problems (tiles pop off etc) and the company refuses warranty work. They even have a dedicated fraud form.
http://www.kamadofraudforum.org/They should not be confused the Komodo kamado with is an excellent cooker but about 3x as much as a BGE.
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/productreviews/komodokamado/kk.htm
