What Size Konro Grill Should I Buy? 31cm vs 54cm

Last updated: 29 August 2026

If you're looking at our Kinka Okunoto konro grills, you'll notice they come in two sizes — 31cm and 54cm. (We used to stock 69cm and 77cm models as well, but those are really built for commercial kitchens, so we no longer carry them for home use.)

The question we get asked more than any other: "Which size is right for me?"

The official answer

Here's the standard sizing reference:

That's a fair guide, and it's what most retailers will tell you. But after years of selling these — and hearing back from hundreds of customers about how they actually use them — we'd like to give you the honest, real-world answer too.

The real answer: watch how people actually grill

Here's what almost every customer tells us after their first few dinner parties.

No matter how many people are at the table, only one or two people actually do the grilling. Everyone else is chatting, pouring drinks, and eating whatever comes off the grill. And here's the thing — even with just two people manning a 31cm konro, the food comes off faster than the table can eat it. Skewer after skewer piles up, and the grillers end up telling everyone to slow down, we can't keep up... and then it's the guests who can't keep up.

A konro dinner isn't like an Aussie barbecue where one person cooks everything at once for the whole table. It's slow, social grilling — a few skewers at a time, eaten hot off the charcoal. That rhythm is the whole point, and it means the grill surface you need is much smaller than you'd think.

So when do you actually need the 54cm?

The big one earns its place in one specific situation: when everyone sits around the grill and cooks their own food — each person managing their own skewers, yakiniku-style. If that's how your family or friends like to eat, and you're regularly six or more people, the 54cm gives everyone room to reach in without fencing with chopsticks.

It's also the right choice if you regularly grill larger items — whole fish, big cuts — where the extra length genuinely matters.

Keep in mind the 54cm asks more of you in return: it burns through considerably more binchotan each session, takes longer to bring up to cooking heat, and is heavier to move and store.

Our honest recommendation

For most families, the 31cm is genuinely enough — even for parties bigger than the "2–6 people" on the box suggests. It heats up with less binchotan, it's easier to store, easier to move to the table, and it matches the way most people actually grill: one or two cooks, everyone else eating well.

Buy the 54cm if your table grills together, every person for themselves. Otherwise, start small — we think you'll be surprised how far it goes.

If neither size fits, the same logic applies across the rest of the range: Mikawa's 27cm portable is the smallest we carry, and the full konro range covers everything in between.

We have a helpful team at My Cookware Australia®

Still not sure? Drop into our Chatswood store or send us a message — we're always happy to talk you through it.

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