Show #24/6811. Cooking In The Garden

It’s Getting Cooler - A Great Time To Think Fire Pit

When the weather starts to change, we get that itch to crank up the fire pit. From simple to elaborate a live fire is just mesmerizing. Eric next meets Alison, from Solo Stove. Much of this show is devoted to elevating your outdoor space, Eric thinks there's nothing more mesmerizing than a fire. He loves fire pits in the garden. This stove is amazing. When thinking about what fire pits have been historically, traditionally there haven't been a whole lot of updates in the world of fire pits until now. And, many of those changes are unbelievable, Alison would say they're magical. It burns so clean and so efficiently. When it goes into the secondary burn it looks like magic.

This is a very small space. We added an outdoor kitchen here with a garden that surrounds it. So there wasn't a whole lot of space to build one of the more conventional stack stone fireplaces or big fire rings. What Eric loves about this little bonfire is that it's super portable yet it puts out tons of heat. Looking at it one might think it's really, really small, will it work for a party of six or eight people? It absolutely does, it's wonderful. They're standing by it now and Alison is actually getting extremely toasty. And, it's versatile for this type of space - keep it outside or put it away. Use it today then go camping with it tomorrow, it is a perfect fire pit for, really, everybody's needs.

Eric would like to talk about the design and what makes this different. This unit is made with stainless steel. It's going to get a really lovely patina after you burn in it several times and that provides a lot of charm. The airflow is such that it recycles the air and the secondary burn allows for a really clean, efficient burn. One thing that none of us like when sitting around a campfire is being the one person that's downwind.

Then you're getting billows of smoke the whole night long. With the Solo Stove there's very little of that. Unless there's a super aggressive wind, it's a very clean burn, almost smoke free and the heat just rises straight up. It's amazing. As they're standing here Alison is getting pretty toasty, there is a lot of heat being put out, and with much less smoke. Which means that even as close as they’re standing to the fire pit they won't go home smelling like a campfire. And, there a very few sparks which is very important from a stand point of inadvertently starting a fire in your yard or while you're out camping. Eric wonders why that is? Alison thinks it's because of how clean and efficiently it burns. If worried about that, they do sell a shield that goes over the top so if any big embers were to pop up it would catch them. It really just comes down to your comfort level, but they’re very close to the fire and nothing's popping out. It's also super affordable and requires almost no effort from a standpoint of installation. One can install it anywhere and can store it anywhere which is really important for homes of all sizes. If you have a place to keep it out all year long, that's fabulous, keep it out. If you want to build a ring around it, or an enclosure, you can do that too, or keep it out for a burn and then put it away when you're done. It adds so much to this space. And depending upon whatever size group, whatever's going on, move it around, configure it however you want. It adds so much. It's beautiful, you want to sit around and enjoy this fire pit.