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Fire pits are typically fueled by wood logs or propane tanks, and they come in a variety of designs to match your outdoor setting. To help you host outdoor gatherings throughout the year, the This Old House Reviews Team researched the best fire pits on Amazon. Here are our top four selections.
Top 4 Fire Pits
Most Portable: UCO Flatpack Portable Stainless Steel Grill and Fire Pit
This fire pit can be set up in just 30 seconds, offering campers an easy-to-use fire for grilling food or providing warmth. Once you’re done using it, it folds into a compact shape and fits into an included bag for easing transportation back to your car.
Key Features
- Wood fuel source
- Made of metal
- 3.3 pounds
- Lifetime warranty
- Carrying bag included
What Customers Are Saying
Customers were impressed with how many items this grill could cook at one time. Many reviews said that it worked well for camping because of how lightweight and easy to assemble it was. Negative reviews noted that it was challenging to fit this grill in the included canvas bag and that its parts sometimes snapped off.
Best Glass Pit: Endless Summer Outdoor Glass Top Fire Pit
This propane-fueled fire pit holds 12 pounds of fire glass in the center of its table. When the fire is ignited, it looks like the glass is burning. Around the center are reflective tempered glass side pieces that can hold drinks and other items. When you aren’t burning a fire, you can add the included glass cover to the center to make it a fully functioning table.
Key Features
- Propane fuel source
- Made of metal and glass
- 80 pounds
- One-year warranty
- Glass beads, center insert, and cover included
What Customers Are Saying
Many customers noted that this propane fire pit was beautiful. In addition to this, many said that it was sturdy, a great value for the money, and easy to assemble. On the other hand, unhappy customers pointed out that it wasn’t well-packaged, as the parts sometimes arrived scuffed or not at all.
Best Traditional Pit: BALI OUTDOORS Wood-Burning Fire Pit
This versatile fire pit is equipped with a height-adjustable and rotating metal grill that can be positioned over the fire for grilling food or off to the side for an open flame. In addition, the BALI OUTDOORS Wood-Burning Fire Pit comes with a log rack that holds logs for better ventilation and a poker that tends to the fire.
Key Features
- Wood fuel source
- Made of metal
- 27 pounds
- Grill, log rack, and poker included
What Customers Are Saying
Customers said that this wood-burning pit was great for camping and backyard activities. Many noted that it was lightweight and easy to assemble and maneuver. Negative reviews pointed out that the metal felt cheap and that pit arrived with missing parts.
Best Multipurpose Pit: YAHEETECH Outdoor Metal Fire Pit
This fire pit is capable of burning a fire to warm guests or grill food and holding ice to store drinks. Additionally, the included waterproof cover helps to protect this outdoor metal fire pit from rust when it’s not in use.
Key Features
- Wood fuel source
- Made of metal
- 22.8 pounds
- Screen, cover, fire bowl, log rack, and poker included
What Customers Are Saying
Amazon customers praised this outdoor fire pit’s high-quality protective cover. Additionally, reviews brought up that this outdoor fire pit was lightweight, maneuverable, and easy to assemble. Unsatisfied customers criticized this product for not coming with a grill grate, being made from cheap, thin metal, and rusting quickly.
Buyer’s Guide
When purchasing a fire pit, it’s important to consider the factors that impact each model’s performance and user experience. Here are three factors to keep in mind.
Size
When deciding on what size fire pit to purchase, consider how many people are going to use it and what your intended use is. For example, if you plan on having gatherings around your fire pit, consider a larger model that emits enough heat to warm a crowd. If you want a fire pit for grilling food or warming a few people, a small model, such as the UCO Flatpack Portable Stainless Steel Grill and Fire Pit, should do.
Fuel Source
Fuel source determines the amount of maintenance your fire pit requires. A wood-burning fire pit needs regular stoking to keep the wood lit at a constant temperature. However, propane fire pits depend on a tank to fuel its flame and can run at a constant temperature until the tank is empty.
Accessories
Some fire pits come with accessories that help protect the fire pit from the elements or assist in starting or maintaining a flame. Common accessories include rain covers to prevent rusting, fire pokers to move logs, and mesh lids to prevent ash and embers from spitting out of the fire.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far should a fire pit be from my house?
Keep your fire pit 20 feet away from your house and any surrounding structures.
Should I put sand in the bottom of my fire pit?
If you own a wood-burning fire pit, layering the bottom with sand can be an effective way of preserving the metal bottom and evenly distributing heat.
Can I leave a fire pit burning overnight?
No. A fire pit’s lingering embers, no matter how dull, have the ability to spark the dwindling wood and create an unattended fire. To prevent an accidental fire, let the fire burn out, spread the ashes throughout the pit, and extinguish the embers with water. Once the embers are extinguished, dispose of them in a fireproof ash bucket.
Why Trust The This Old House Reviews Team
This Old House has empowered homeowners for more than four decades with top-notch home improvement content in the form of television programs, print media, and digital content on its website and social media platforms. The This Old House Reviews Team focuses on creating in-depth product and service review content to help inform your purchasing decision for just about any item or resource that you might need for your home. The This Old House Reviews Team has written over 1,000 reviews on products in the home space, from cordless drills to kitchen trash cans, lawn mowers, and dining room decorations.
We recommend products in each review using an intensive research process, spending hours combing through the best available models on Amazon. For a product to make our list of top picks, it must hold a solid sales record on Amazon, have consistently positive customer reviews, and offer unique features, among other factors. After narrowing down our list of recommendations, we conduct additional research and sometimes in-person testing to ensure that the products meet our standards. Once we conclude the research phase, we craft a well-rounded, user-friendly article that includes our recommended products and additional information to help homeowners like you make the right purchase.
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