Napoleon NK22K-LEG-2

The product photo shows a black kettle grill. A handle sits on top of the lid, a round thermometer at the front below it, a round ash catcher hangs under the bowl, and between the legs, at wheel height, there is a wire shelf. Amazon sells this device under the ASIN B072R4CCPQ, which our buy button leads to, for approx. €373 (as of September 2026).

Everything technical on this page applies to the grill behind this link. The details come from Napoleon’s manual N415-0443W (German section, May 2021 edition), from archived product pages and from the Napoleon main catalogue 2023. The other kettle grills whose data we compare are listed in the kettle grill overview.

Which Napoleon is behind the buy button?

According to the Amazon catalogue, the Napoleon NK22K-LEG-2. The title, part number and model field under the ASIN name this model, and the product description speaks of chrome-plated steel cooking grates. The PRO22K-LEG-2, after which this page is named, is a different grill with a cast iron grate.

Where Napoleon draws the line is stated on page 55 of the 2023 main catalogue. A cast iron grate is listed there for the PRO22K-LEG-2, the PRO22K-CART-2 on a grill cart and the PRO 605 CSS, and a lid with a corner hinge only for the two PRO22K models. The archived German page of the PRO22K-LEG-2 describes its grate as porcelain-enamelled WAVE cast iron, adjustable in height in three steps, with two fold-up side sections. In the catalogue it stands on four bolted stainless steel legs, two of them with large wheels with a rubber tread, and weighs 30 kg. In early October 2023 its recommended retail price was €369.

An earlier version of this page attributed exactly this cast iron grate to the Amazon listing. That was wrong. The photo also fits the NK22K-LEG-2: the parts list gives its wire shelf as a standard part. The word built-in grills in the Amazon title, on the other hand, fits neither of the two, because the photo shows a freestanding grill on legs.

Neither model appears in Napoleon’s current German range any more, and the old product page of the NK22K-LEG-2 is no longer publicly accessible. Its archived version from September 2023 showed a recommended retail price of €239. In September 2026, Napoleon’s charcoal PRO series includes the PRO22K-LEG-3 (recommended retail price €349), the PRO22MK-LEG-3 (recommended retail price €389) and the PRO22K-CART-3 (recommended retail price €449), and the Premium series includes the current NK22 model NK22K-LEG-3. According to the manual, the manufacturer is Wolf Steel Ltd. of Barrie, Ontario, Canada; the EU address in it belongs to Wolf Steel Europe BV in Tiel, the Netherlands.

Bowl, lid, grate and air control

Lid and bowl are porcelain-enamelled; both are listed under that name in the warranty terms. The Amazon listing text turns this into lid and bowl made of heavy, black porcelain that store the heat. Porcelain here means the enamel layer on bowl and lid. You should not think of a ceramic grill such as a kamado.

The cooking grate with part number N305-0078 is made of chrome-plated steel. It has a folding insert on the left and right, and the charcoal grate N305-0077 lies underneath. When you fold an insert up, you add charcoal without lifting off the grate with the food on it; according to the Amazon text, the same works with wood for smoking. When you add fuel, fresh air on the embers can trigger a sudden flare-up. Napoleon therefore requires a safe distance and tongs with long, heat-resistant handles.

For air control, Napoleon has a brand name, PRO Air Control, and the vents are made of stainless steel. The German product page promises more airflow and more precise temperatures, and the English-language page for Germany also promises that no water runs into the grill. Inside the bowl, according to the product page, a stainless steel heat spreader distributes the heat and channels spent charcoal into the ash pot. This container is removable and made of heavy steel, which Napoleon’s Canadian page from 2020 describes as corrosion resistant.

An ACCU-PROBE thermometer sits in the lid, along with a cool-touch handle. To set the lid aside, you hang it on a hanger on the bowl; according to the Amazon text, it then lies neither on the patio decking nor in the grass. The manual shows two ways of hanging it in pictures.

On one detail, Napoleon’s own documents contradict each other. The archived German page of the NK22K-LEG-2 counts a lid with an ergonomic corner hinge among the main features. The catalogue, however, assigns the corner hinge only to the PRO22K models, and in the manual’s parts list the NK22K-LEG-2 has only a lid holder. We go by the parts list, because it enumerates what is in the box.

Dimensions, weight, frame

The main cooking surface has a diameter of 57 cm. For the total cooking area, Napoleon states 2,356 cm² and calculates space for 22 burgers. Amazon gives 2,340 cm² or 365 square inches, and the manual’s charcoal table gives a grill diameter of 56 cm. For planning, the manufacturer’s figure is enough.

On the outside, according to the archived product page, the grill measures 112 cm in height, 59 cm in width and 70 cm in depth. The 2023 catalogue assigns the two base dimensions the other way round, overall length 70 cm and overall depth 59 cm; this changes nothing about the space you need. Napoleon lists them as overall dimensions. It does not say whether handles and lid holder are included; so allow a few centimetres of clearance.

There are three values for the weight. The 2023 catalogue gives 20 kg, the manufacturer’s only net figure, and we work with that. The product page lists only a packaging weight, 21.49 kg for a carton of 36.98 x 60.99 x 60.99 cm. Amazon reports 58 pounds, converted about 26.3 kg, at 24 x 24 x 14 inches. These inch dimensions roughly match the carton; the weight matches no Napoleon figure.

The bowl stands on four legs, and the two rear ones each carry a wheel. Napoleon describes the casters as sturdy and weatherproof. To move it, you lift the grill at the front and roll it on the wheels. It has no side shelf.

In detail: managing heat when the grate is fixed

On a kettle grill, four things determine how hot it gets at the food: how much charcoal is glowing, where it lies, how much air comes in and whether the lid is closed. A height-adjustable grate like that of the PRO22K-LEG-2 adds a fifth variable, the distance to the embers.

For the NK22K-LEG-2, no Napoleon source mentions such an adjustment, so for direct grilling you are missing one lever. The embers radiate heat, and its effect drops off markedly with increasing distance; that applies in principle to any radiant source. With a fixed grate, you are left with how you distribute the charcoal. For the direct method, the manual spreads it evenly over the whole grate, including the air deflector. We would deviate from that: one half with full embers for searing, the other with little or no charcoal so the food can move out of the way. How the two zones work together is explained in our guide to direct and indirect heat.

The charcoal quantities are given in a table. For direct cooking it shows the number 50, with no unit after it; the text on page 43 counts in charcoal briquettes. For indirect cooking it is 25 per side, and for every additional hour of cooking time 8 per side are added. All of this is a rough guide. Longer cooking times, cold and wind require more charcoal, according to Napoleon.

For indirect cooking, you remove the central air deflector, insert a drip pan and distribute the charcoal to the left and right of it, in charcoal baskets if you like. The baskets are not included. The parts list names a charcoal basket N590-0207 as an accessory.

For direct grilling, the air deflector may stay in, but it is not mandatory; the grill runs with and without it. With the deflector, temperatures become more even, and the charcoal in the middle of the grill burns down more slowly.

Napoleon does not quantify a temperature that could be held for hours with throttled air, not even for low and slow. With the lid closed, control is via the vents. Normally they are fully open, and you change the temperature by sliding them to the left or right. They only belong fully closed when the grill should cool down or a flame should go out. So you find the vent position for low temperatures yourself, using the lid thermometer as the display.

With the lid closed, the grill reaches higher, more even temperatures and shorter cooking times. Fish and vegetables, which need only a short time, can also lie uncovered. After lighting, the lid goes on, and after about 20 minutes the charcoal is covered with light grey ash. Before the very first grilling, the grill should burn for about 30 minutes on high with the lid open and the vents fully open. According to Napoleon, a slight smell is normal while paints and lubricants burn in.

A note on the grate material that applies to kettle grills in general. Cast iron has a lot of mass, stores heat and releases it to the food at the contact surfaces, hence the dark stripes. A grate made of chrome-plated steel rods usually has considerably less mass and loses temperature faster when cold meat is placed on it. In our assessment, the cast iron grate of the PRO22K-LEG-2 makes a difference mainly when searing steaks hard, and hardly any for sausages and vegetables.

Scope of delivery, accessories and warranty

The parts list on page 84 of the manual separates standard parts and accessories. Standard are the lid with handle and heat shield, temperature gauge, lid holder, cooking grate, air deflector, charcoal grate, bowl and bowl handle, the legs, two wheels, the ash and drip catcher with handle, an air ring, the wire shelf N590-0234 and the screws. Marked as accessories, besides the charcoal basket, are a cutlery hook holder (55100) and the cover 61910. In December 2023, the cover was listed on Napoleon’s English-language page for Germany as Kettle Grill Leg Model Cover for 22-inch models, recommended retail price €49.95.

The 2023 catalogue marks a warming rack as optional for this model. To the question about a rotisserie, the archived product page answers no; as an accessory, the catalogue lists the rotisserie 69222.

Napoleon graduates the warranty by component, as stated on page 38: porcelain-enamelled lid and bowl 10 years; air control 5 years full coverage, then up to year 10 minus 50%; chrome-plated cooking grates 3 years full coverage, then the same rule up to year 10; cooking grates made of porcelain-coated cast iron, which this model does not have, 5 years full coverage plus the same rule; all other parts 2 years. Minus 50% means that in this period the spare part costs you half of its regular selling price.

Only material and workmanship defects are covered, that is, parts that fail in normal private use as a result of a manufacturing defect. The manual counts as normal private use that a licensed, authorised service technician or contractor installed the device according to the enclosed installation instructions and all local and national building codes and fire protection regulations, that it was properly maintained and that it was used neither as a communal facility nor commercially. How Napoleon interprets the sentence about the service technician for a kettle grill that, according to the same manual, you screw together yourself, is something we would ask the dealer before buying.

Explicitly not counted as a failure: excessive heat generation; extinguished flames due to environmental conditions such as strong wind or insufficient air circulation; scratches; dents; rust formation; wear of applied paint and plating; discolouration from heat, abrasive or chemical cleaning agents or UV radiation; damage to porcelain-enamelled parts; also damage from improper use, accident, hail, grease fire, lack of maintenance, adverse environmental influences such as salt or chlorine, modification, negligence or installed parts from other manufacturers. If parts rust or burn through within the period to the point that you can no longer use them, Napoleon provides replacement parts.

The commitment applies to the original purchaser and only to products bought from an authorised Napoleon dealer. Napoleon bears only the replacement component, not assembly, labour, freight or consequential costs, may have any product or part inspected by an appointed representative, and requires the purchase contract or a copy of it as well as the serial and model number. Accessories and extra parts are excluded. Contacts are Napoleon customer service or an authorised Napoleon dealer, and everything comes in addition to your statutory rights.

Whether the seller behind the Amazon listing meets the dealer condition above is not stated in any manufacturer source. For a model that is no longer in the range, another sentence also weighs heavily: the warranty explicitly does not oblige Napoleon to keep individual parts in stock. A proportional credit toward a new product is possible instead, and after the first year Napoleon may refund the wholesale price of the part instead of supplying it.

Safety and cleaning according to the manual

Right at the front of the German section of the manual is a danger warning: risk of death from carbon monoxide poisoning if the grill is operated in closed or inhabitable spaces; buildings, tents, caravans, motorhomes and boats are listed. A second warning states that failing to follow the instructions can lead to fires with serious injury or death. In capital letters comes the instruction to use it only outdoors and well ventilated, and before lighting you are to read the lighting instructions section.

The general safety list on page 39 is long; we reproduce it organised by topic.

Beforehand: you read the manual completely before use, never alter or modify the grill structurally, and carefully follow all instructions when lighting.

On location: you store it only outdoors in a well-ventilated place, and never use it in a building, garage, conservatory, garden gazebo or other enclosed areas; it is not intended for installation in caravans, motorhomes or boats. You keep 1.5 m clearance on all sides from combustible materials; for vinyl cladding or large window panes, Napoleon recommends more. You do not use it on a combustible surface, with balconies or patios made of wood or other combustible building materials explicitly named. You neither set it up nor operate it under roofs, carports, awnings or roof overhangs, and never under an unprotected combustible structure. It always belongs on level ground and only in a place sheltered from wind, because strong wind impairs cooking performance.

On lighting: you never light the charcoal with the grill lid closed and you do not lean over the grill while doing so. No petrol, no alcohol and no other highly flammable liquids, only charcoal lighter; you remove accumulated lighter fluid before lighting, and you never pour liquid lighter onto hot or warm charcoal. You close the lighter container and keep it at least 8 m from the grill during lighting and operation.

During operation: you keep children and pets away from the hot grill, never leave it unattended and do not move it while it is hot or in use. The ventilation holes stay free of dirt and deposits, and the lid stays closed during the preheating time. The ash and grease catcher must be inserted and cleaned regularly, because grease build-up can lead to grease fires. You use long-handled, non-combustible utensils such as tongs, and wear grill gloves or heat- and fire-resistant oven gloves while grilling and when adjusting the vents.

On fire: you control flare-ups by slightly closing the ventilation; to extinguish completely, you close all vents and the lid. To put out flames or burning charcoal, you never use water, as it can damage the coating. You remove ash only when the charcoal has burned out completely and cooled, and you leave charcoal and ash in a non-combustible metal container for at least 24 hours before it goes in the bin.

This comes with a note under Californian law (Proposition 65): burning charcoal produces by-products, some of which are listed there as carcinogenic or harmful to reproduction, so you ensure sufficient ventilation. The remaining sentences of the list concern components this grill does not have.

The warning boxes on page 40 repeat some of this and additionally require a solid surface; the ash catcher must already be in place when lighting. For flare-ups, page 43 adds to take the food off the flame and leave the lid open. After grilling, you close the lid and all vents, let the grill cool down completely before touching it and never leave charcoal and ash unattended in the grill. To dispose of them, you put them into the metal container with a metal shovel and douse them there completely with water. So water reaches the embers only in the metal container, never in the grill.

The care page 44 begins with emptying: you empty the ash catcher and grease drip tray after every use. Before you remove any part, the grill and charcoal must have cooled down completely, maintenance never belongs on the hot device, and when cleaning you wear gloves and safety goggles. No pressure washer for the device or its parts, no oven cleaner, and grates or parts do not belong in a self-cleaning oven. Clean in a place where the solution does not damage the balcony, lawn or patio. Barbecue sauce and salt are corrosive and quickly attack the grill and components without regular cleaning.

You clean grates and warming surface best during preheating with a soft brass wire brush; for stubborn stains, steel wool is permitted here. Inside, you take the grates out, clean with a brass brush and scraper, sweep loose ash and dirt into the removable catcher, wash again with mild detergent if needed and rinse with clear water before wiping dry. You do not line the drip tray with aluminium foil, sand or other materials, but scrape it out with a spatula or scraper knife and collect loosened grease and dirt in a non-combustible metal container.

On the outside, you never clean painted, porcelain and stainless steel parts with abrasives and treat porcelain enamel with particular care, because the coating is like glass and chips easily on impact. You clean hand-warm surfaces with warm soapy water, stainless steel with a suitable non-abrasive product and always in the direction of the grain. Steel wool is taboo on these surfaces because it leaves scratch marks.

What Napoleon does not state about the NK22K-LEG-2

These details are missing in all the Napoleon sources named above:

• a maximum temperature or an achievable temperature range
• measuring range and accuracy of the ACCU-PROBE thermometer
• the sheet thickness of bowl and lid
• the material of the charcoal grate
• the material of the legs and the tread of the wheels (stainless steel legs and rubber tread appear in the catalogue only for the PRO22K-LEG-2)
• the height with the lid open
• a number of people; the up to 12 people in the catalogue apply to the PRO models
• the country of production
• charcoal consumption per hour in grams or kilograms
• an assembly time
• whether Weber inserts following the Gourmet BBQ System or other third-party accessories fit
• whether spare parts can still be ordered today for the discontinued model

Two assignments also remain open: whether the stainless steel heat spreader of the product page and the air deflector of the manual are the same component, and whether the charcoal basket N590-0207 from the accessory list means the optional charcoal baskets. Both seem likely, but we have not found a source that links the names.

What else is worth considering?

The prices come from our data sheets on the linked grills; for the Napoleon it is the Amazon price from September 2026. The rating is our editorial assessment based on manufacturer and catalogue data, not a measurement result, and the 9.5 for the Napoleon listing still comes from the earlier version with the wrongly attributed cast iron grate.

Who is the NK22K-LEG-2 right for, and who is it not?

If you want a cast iron grate with three height settings, you are ordering the wrong device here. In our catalogue, this combination is found on the Napoleon PRO22K-CART-2, which stands on a grill cart; at approx. €549 you pay €176 more than for this listing.

If you mainly grill directly for the family, you get the same basic shape cheaper with the Weber Original Kettle Premium 57. For it, Weber states 57 cm, a porcelain-enamelled surface, a built-in lid thermometer, two all-weather wheels and a folding coated steel grate with the Gourmet BBQ System; its One-Touch system sweeps the ash into an enclosed catcher, and according to Weber there is room for 6 to 8 people. At approx. €249 it costs €124 less than the Napoleon, and for this group it is the more sensible purchase in our comparison.

For long indirect cooking times, Weber has the Master-Touch GBS Premium E-5770 in its range. According to Weber’s German product page for article 17301004, it has a stainless steel diffuser plate and a porcelain-enamelled charcoal ring, explicitly for slow cooking at low heat, plus a hinged lid. In the Weber shop it costs €399 (as of 1 October 2026); we did not find an Amazon listing for exactly this article. Other Master-Touch models are offered under similar names, so check the article number before buying, just as with the Napoleon here.

In our assessment, what speaks for the NK22K-LEG-2 itself is mainly the air deflector that comes with it, because the Weber Original Kettle Premium 57 also has a folding grate. We would therefore buy the Napoleon only when it is near its old recommended retail price of €239 at the click, so not above the approx. €249 of the Weber. At approx. €373 we take the Weber.

If you can only grill on a balcony, this charcoal grill is in our assessment usually the wrong choice. The manual rules out a wooden balcony, as well as an awning or roof overhang above; whether your balcony leaves 1.5 m clear of combustibles all round is something you measure beforehand. What is permitted there instead is covered in our guide to grilling on a balcony, and the grill finder suggests suitable devices.