Simply put, kits (should) contain all the ingredients of what others believe is a fair representative of a (cloned or style of) beer.
The major problem with RECIPES is that there may or may not have been a lot of brewing experimentation to come to these ingredients and amounts and types of grain. With a "cloned kit" chances are many batches were probably brewed to test out the results.
Also, when reading a particular recipe (on the net, in a book, even from us on the forum...) always go for the recipe with the most complete notes, like: time and temperature of the fermentation, number of days fermenting, etc.
There are tons of recipes out there without any follow-on notes. They may look good and get terrible results.
I can't express to you enough the importance of good note taking. These notes are good indicators as to what to expect every time you brew the recipe, a great tasting beer.
Comments/testimonials from others as to their results for a particular recipe also goes a long way for credibility of a recipe.
I have found that even recipes that have won medals (per some recipe books I have) do not always end in great results, drinkable, yes...great, no.
A brewers notes go a long way in my decision to follow a recipe or not.