With this comparison article, I’m going to compare similarly priced products from Camp Chef and Cuisinart. Therefore, we are going to look at pellet grills under $1,000. Now, the price of Camp Chef products are pretty consistent across the web, including their own website. However, with Cuisinart they have some exclusive distribution deals in place with Walmart. Therefore, the lowest price for their products is often when sourced from Walmart, which I’ll reference more below. Both of these pellet grill brand’s products have different strengths/weaknesses, which I’ll discuss below in the comparison.
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Now Camp Chef currently has a much larger range of pellet grills/smokers compared to Cuisinart.
Therefore, its simpler to find Camp Chef products to compare against the two main Cuisinart products the Woodcreek and Twin Oaks.
There is also the recently released Cuisinart Clermont which is priced at just under $800.
However, as I discuss in my article on that grill, at that current price point for its features its not really competitive, and it would be an easy win for Camp Chef.
Camp Chef SmokePro DLX 24 vs The Cuisinart Woodcreek
So first, we are going to look at two pure pellet grills/smokers. Further down, we will discuss combo-pellet/grills from each brand.
The SmokePro range is the budget Camp Chef offering, which are missing a few features from their higher specification Woodwind range.
For Cuisinart, their entire pellet grill/smoker range is focused on the budget end of the market. Cuisinart also has a few cheaper models than the models discussed in this post.
However, those same grills are also branded as Z Grills products which I already do comparison articles on. Therefore, there is no point comparing essentially the same pellet grills/smokers twice just because they have a different name on the front.
In terms of price, the Camp Chef SmokePro DLX 24 typically comes in at $550. The Cuisinart Woodcreek is priced between $497 to $599, depending on whether Walmart is running a sale.
Therefore, for all intents and purposes, in terms of price point, these two pellet grills/smokers are directly comparable. Right then, let’s compare their key features.
Which Provides The Largest Cooking Area?
So as you can probably tell from the images above, the Cuisinart Woodcreek is the larger of these two pellet grills/smokers.
The Camp Chef SmokePro DLX 24 provides 429 square inches on the lower cooking rack, with an additional 141 square inches with an upper warming/smoking rack.
Therefore, that’s a total for the Camp Chef of 570 square inches.
The Cuisinart Woodcreek, on the other hand, provides 648 square inches on the main cooking grate, with another 214 square inches on a secondary upper rack. That comes in at significantly more 862 square inches in total.
The Cuisinart Woodcreek also features cast iron porcelain-coated cooking grates, whereas the Camp Chef just features porcelain-coated steel wire racks. The advantage is that the cast iron racks will hold onto their heat better.
Therefore, as neither of these pellet grills feature direct flame access, its likely that searing performance on the Cuisinart will be superior out of the box.
However, a set of GrillGrates would help the Camp Chef meet/exceed the searing performance of the Cuisinart.
Which Features The Superior Temperature Control Panel?
A pellet grill literally cannot function at all without its control panel. Therefore, the features (and reliability) of the control panel are key for any pellet cooking appliance.
In terms of temperature range, these two pellet grills are basically identical. Both can go as low as 160 degrees for smoking and can reach as high as 500 degrees for searing/grilling.
Neither offers WiFi functionality, though the Cuisinart does offer Bluetooth connectivity.
Therefore, does the Bluetooth connectivity of the Cuisinart give it the edge? Not really, because what the Camp Chef control panel features which the Cuisinart does not, is a PID algorithm.
You can read more about what that actually means in my linked article above.
In the simplest terms though a PID control panel is smarter, making constant adjustments to the auger/fan to maintain the correct temperature.
What it also means is the Camp Chef pellet grill can maintain an internal temperature within 5 degrees of the set temperature.
Whereas with the Cuisinart, there can be as much as a 25-degree float between the set temperature and the actual temperature inside the pellet grill.
Therefore, personally, I value the PID functionality of the Camp Chef control panel over the Bluetooth features of the Cuisinart.
Furthermore, now the Cuisinart Woodcreek has been on the market for a while, there are growing questions/concerns over the reliability of the control panels.
You only need to check out the Walmart reviews to scan the issues with regard to the control panel failures to determine if there could be an underlying issue with the quality of the components used.
Camp Chef Sear Box/SideKick vs Cuisinart Twin Oaks
Ok, so we are now going to look at the scenario of a combo pellet/gas grill. The general idea is you have a single grill that can cook with pellets on one side and gas on the other.
The pellet grill/smoker side can be used to add flavour, and the gas side can be used for quick/high-temperature cooking and searing.
For instance, you could start a cook with a steak on the pellet side to get some of that great wood flavour, and then finish the steak over a really hot gas griddle etc.
Well, Camp Chef and Cuisinart have come at this combo gas/pellet grill idea with two different approaches.
Camp Chef has gone down the route of a bolt-on pellet grill accessory, either the propane Sear Box or SideKick.
Cuisinart has produced a separate product called the Twin Oaks, which is a single unit. The Twin Oaks is essentially the same as the Woodcreek (same control panel etc), but the pellet grill is smaller to accommodate the gas grill side.
So what about prices? Well, the Camp Chef Sear Box/SideKick retails for around $270, but you obviously need a pellet grill to bolt it onto.
Therefore, if we take the example above of the SmokePro DLX 24 at $550, that’s a total cost of $820. The Cuisinart Twin Oaks retails for just under $600, hence the Camp Chef combo pellet/gas grill solution is several hundred dollars more.
However, it should be noted as the Camp Chef propane cooking solution is a bolt-on accessory, it can be purchased at a later date as and when needed.
In terms of cooking area, the Camp Chef solution, in this instance, would actually provide a larger pellet grilling/smoker area but a smaller propane cooking area than the Cuisinart Twin Oaks.
In terms of which pellet/gas cooking area split is better depends on your own specific needs.
As a ‘pellet man’ myself, while I do appreciate the benefits of a gas grill, I’m still looking for the largest cooking area to be using pellets as the source of fuel/flavour.
Conclusions On Camp Chef vs Cuisinart
So what have we learnt? Well, in terms of cooking area/price, the Cuisinart Woodcreek does provide more than an equivalently priced Camp Chef pellet grill.
However, as I’ve stated above, the core of a pellet grill is the control panel, and I think Camp Chef has the edge over Cuisinart.
The more accurate temperature control of the Camp Chef PID control panel will pay dividends. Yes, you would be producing smaller quantities of food on the Camp Chef grill.
However, that food could very well be cooked better than on the Cuisinart. Also as stated above in reference to the Walmart reviews on the Cuisinart, the reliability of the control panel is being put into question.
When it comes to the combo pellet/grill options, again on price, the Cuisinart offering the Twin Oaks is the cheaper option.
The Camp Chef pellet/gas cooking solution is a different approach, which in comparison, would offer a larger pellet cooking area, but for a higher total cost.
However, again the main difference comes down to the pellet grill control panels.
That’s it! Thanks for reading. I hope you found this Camp Chef vs Cuisinart comparison interesting/informative.
You can find more information about all these pellet grills and more through my Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker Guide. š
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