Everdure by Heston Blumenthal 4K

Fundamental flaws overwhelm the delicious food produced – To potential buyers, the manufacturer and retailers of the Everdure 4K by Heston B. I recently received a full refund, including the cost of the cover for my 4K. A BIG THANK YOU TO HARVEY NORMAN for being empathetic, efficient, and responsive! I purchased the unit in early 2019. I probably used it 30 -40 times to Aug 20, including direct and… Read more

indirect cooking and as a smoker. I always used the HB mangrove charcoal and always cleaned it after use (you must). If you can master it the 4K cooks very well, but: • The electric heating element failed causing an RCB to trip. I was assured by Everdure that through a service technician the fix was easy. I advised Everdure and Harvey Norman that having a barbecue was not my idea of a lucky dip every time – let alone when hungry visitors arrive and all preparations had been made. • The electric start works very well but it is located in the same recess that catches the ash and inevitably fat. This is a serious problem and a fundamentally bad design. The element must be flipped at an angle to remove ash and drippings. This is not simple and requires removal of the internal bucket and charcoal tray. I suspect this problem causes electrical short. • There is advertising on the Everdure web site that points to the small drawer at the bottom of the unit suggesting this is some form of “easy cleaning / ash removal” system. This is a complete fallacy and at best misleading. The drawer is purely for storage. There is no way to easily remove ash – certainly when compared to a kettle barbecue. • The air vent system is poorly positioned and does not allow the ease of control suggested. • The cooking area is minimal and relatively inflexible for anything but small amounts of food – regardless of the stacking possibilities. Moving / spreading the lit charcoal around is often needed but very difficult to do when there is food and heat to manage. • The unit is not a one-man lift yet it has no wheels. If you like a fixed unit that’s fine but be warned it’s a problem if you don’t. • The phone app is at best flaky. I upgraded to the lastest version. It looks good but is unstable, dropping out unless you are on it constantly. That’s probably enough - this has been my hands-on experience.

Poor Build Quality - 2 complete failures in 3 months! – I purchased the 4k in January 2019 with great expectations. I so much wanted to love this BBQ. Firstly the associated app needs lot of work and doesn't work as advertised. After a few cooks I stopped using it. Its Bluetooth range is poor at best. It offers very little value as an app. This was not a deal breaker and the BBQ does give very… Read more

good results.

Failures.... On cook number 5 the button to open the hood melted and looked terrible. After cook 7 or 8 the power when out and the 4k had a power overload. The after sales services was great and a technician came and changed the faulty element and replaced my button, this time with a metal one. I was back up again but after the 5th or 6th cook a complete failure again. Rather than replace the unit or refund my money as requested, they are now choosing to change the element again. I guess it will be another 1/2 day off work.

My brother in law also bought a 4K at the same time and his was completely replaced after the same complete power failure.

Also the meat probe cable after 2 uses has frayed at plug point. Obviously poor quality as well.

Great BBQ when it works, but poor build quality and clearly faulty elements make this a frustrating $2700 purchase. For a luxury brand like this, I believe the service should be much better. After only 12 uses and now 2 repairs this is not what I was hoping for.