The grill kit for the large Kelly is not quite the same as the Thermette's cook on top aspect.

After you remove the Kelly from the fire pan you can place the grill and then use the residual coals to grill something or possibly place a small mug on it. The main issue is the size of the firepan....only a small pot can be set upon the grill or the coals will be smothered. I think the primary utility of the grill kit is to toast a sandwich or grill a kabob or something along that line.

The Thermette cook top can support a reasonably sized pot...say of soup while the water is coming to a boil.

The main problem as I see it is feeding the Thermette. It is possible to poke sticks through the large oval entry in the fire base, but otherwise the cook pot would have to be removed from the top quite often to drop stick into the cone.

Both are nice options...grill kit and cooktop for the respective devices but both present functional issues.

I have not bought the grill kit for my large Kelly, and likely will not.

I will likely add a 1.5 quart pot to my Thermette kit to prepare soup etc on the cooktop.

As to being made in China....well I have to admit I was a bit dissapointed as I thought it was made in New Zealand. However there is certainly nothing wrong with the device and that fact would not affect my decision to purchase a Thermette for my intended use.

Garrett Wade is a nice catalog eh? Both Lee Valley and Garrett Wade have nice tools and excellent service. There is another kettle available in the Lehman catalog. They call it a Storm Kettle made my Eydon. It is very similar to the Kelly's with slightly different sizes. I do not have any Eydon's.

I really think that one of these type kettles ought to be in just about anyone's emergency kit. In any natural disaster scenario the ability to boil nearly endless supplies of water using wood....low quality wood, damp wood, paper, cones, bark, really just about anything that will burn is just a superb option. A small gas fired stove or even the larger Coleman type burners are superb for ease of use and multi use, but for rapidly boiling water with found fuels these Kelly type kettles excel.