Cosmogrill Duo

What’s the story?

When you can’t decide on a pizza topping, order one that’s half and half. The same’s true for this cut-and-shut barbie: it’s got a three-burner gas grill on the left and a charcoal grill on the right.

There’s also a gas ring on the far left and an offset charcoal smoker on the far right. The charcoal half of the main BBQ has a chimney and six coal height settings; the smoker connects to it, with air flowing in from the right-hand side and out through the chimney. But the two fuels are not combined: each half works independently and has its own hood, so you can use gas, charcoal or both. It’s like two barbecues bolted together.

The Cosmogrill Duo is affordable and offers both fuels, but it clearly misses a trick by not letting you mix them.

Is it any good?

Assembly was fine for this one but it feels flimsy – and the matt black finish attracts fingerprints, which are hard to avoid when you’re incinerating sausages.

It does the job fine, and it’s good value, but the fact that the two fuels can’t work together is disappointing. Surely the whole point of a hybrid is that you can choose the convenience of gas or the authenticity of charcoal, across the whole cooking surface, and use the former to light the latter? Maybe it could save a marriage where you each have a weirdly strong preference for a different fuel? Otherwise this is only a good buy if you like both gas and charcoal… and don’t mind the hassle of lighting the latter.

I used firelighter cubes and, after the effortless lighting of all the other options on test, it was a drag. I did like the fact that the coal height is adjustable, though. I didn’t mess with the smoker box but it’s there to add indirect smoke for stuff like ribs and briskets. A nice extra for a proper pitmaster, then.

On the gas side, you always have to light the middle burner first because that’s the only one with push-button ignition. That aside, both halves work fine as independent grills. Ultimately, though, avoid this one unless you love cooking with charcoal and just fancy the occasional gas-powered cheat.

£310 / go.stuff.tv/cosmoduo

Key specs

● 3 gas burners, 1 gas ring ● 86x42cm main cooking area ● 164x118x60cm, 47kg

STUFF SAYS Good value, but only worth it if you enjoy the old-school charcoal faff ★★★✩✩