Short answer
Three things change when a kamado goes into an outdoor cabinet. The lid needs more clearance than a gas grill, the ceramic body radiates heat downward and outward rather than through a firebox, and the weight is carried on a small base ring rather than spread across a chassis.
Lid clearance is the first problem
A kamado lid is hinged at the back and swings up and back through a large arc — more than the 550 mm a typical gas grill lid needs. Under a pergola or a window this is the constraint that decides whether the unit can go there at all.
A cabinet cut-out does not change that. The kamado sits on a support within the opening and the lid swings above the counter, so the clearance is a room question, not a cabinet question.
Heat goes down, not just up
A gas grill's heat is mostly captured and vented through the fascia. A kamado's ceramic body radiates on all sides, including down. The base of the enclosure gets hot in a way a gas grill cabinet never does.
That means the support beneath the kamado and the base panel both need an air gap and a heat path. It is a different build, not the same cabinet with a bigger hole.
The weight is concentrated
A large ceramic kamado is heavy, and all of it lands on a base ring of a few hundred millimetres. Spread over a cabinet base that is fine; the load is not the issue. The issue is that the load is in one place and the cabinet has to be built so the base panel is supported directly under it.
On a run of modules, that means the kamado module carries its own base support rather than relying on its neighbours.
Where a kamado works well
On a straight run against a wall, in an open-fronted bay, with the counter at 900 mm and the lid arc measured against the overhead. That arrangement gives the ceramic body air on three sides and puts the hinge at the back where the swing is expected.
Where a kamado works badly: in a sealed cabinet under a low pergola, which is unfortunately the arrangement people picture first.
What a kamado changes about the module
The lid hinges up and back, not sideways
A kamado needs clear height behind the hinge and nothing above it. A wall or a low roof rules it out at that end of the run.
The exterior gets hot enough to matter
A kamado radiates from the whole body, not just the lid. Clearance to the cabinet sides is the manufacturer's figure, and it is larger than a gas grill's.
The weight sits in one ring
A ceramic body loads one small base circle. The bay needs a solid base under it, which is not the same as a shelf.
Fuel and ash live with it
Charcoal storage and an ash drawer want to be in the same bay or the one next to it. Carrying ash across a counter is how a finish gets ruined.
It is not a drop-in appliance
There is no aperture to cut. The bay is open, and the kamado stands in it — which makes the module choice different from a grill cabinet.
Questions we get about this
Can a kamado go in a standard grill cabinet?
Not the standard HW-04 arrangement. It needs an open or louvred front, a heat-shielded base and a support built for the base ring. Tell us the model and the diameter and we will build to it, but it is a different module.
How much clearance does a kamado lid need?
More than a gas grill. Measure the lid arc from the hinge with the lid fully open and add margin. If the number is close to your overhead, put the kamado at the end of the run instead.
Does the ceramic body crack in a cabinet?
Not from the cabinet. A kamado cracks from thermal shock and water ingress, and a correctly arranged bay protects it from both better than standing it out in the open.
Before you order anything
Send the grill model and the run length. You get the aperture, the module list and one itemised price back in writing — freight shown separately, valid 15 days.