What's the best outdoor fireplace for cooking or pizza?
For real cooking, wood is the answer — a wood-burning outdoor fireplace with a proper masonry firebox gives you hardwood coals for grates and cast iron, something no gas log set is rated to do. For pizza specifically, a dedicated wood-fired oven built into an outdoor kitchen beats making a fireplace do double duty. Gas outdoor fireplaces are for ambiance and warmth, not dinner.
Why gas is off the cooking menu
We'll save you a disappointment: gas log sets, fire glass, and outdoor gas fireplaces are decorative and heating appliances, and their manufacturers don't rate them for cooking. Grease and drippings foul burners, ports, and media, and there's no honest way around that. If a salesperson tells you a gas fireplace will double as your grill, they're selling, not advising. Our stance is the same indoors and out — we'd rather steer you to the right appliance than the convenient story.
Wood coals do the work
A wood-burning outdoor fireplace with a real masonry firebox is the classic mountain answer, and it's still the best one. Burn hardwood down to a bed of coals and you've got everything from marshmallows to a grate of burgers to a Dutch oven going while the fire above keeps everyone warm. We build these with our mason partners — they handle the stone, we handle the technical side that makes fire and heat work safely. And because elevation keeps WNC evenings cool most of the year, an outdoor fireplace here isn't a two-month toy; it earns its keep from early spring through late fall.
If dinner is the real goal, build a kitchen
When cooking is the point rather than the bonus, think outdoor kitchen: a wood-fired pizza oven for the show, a hard-plumbed built-in grill for the weeknights. Steady Flame handles the gas and appliance side — the buried, outdoor-rated gas line, the grill connection, regulator and pressure test — while your builder or hardscaper does counters and stonework, and we coordinate the two. In North Carolina, that fuel line is licensed work, and we permit every one with your county and meet the inspector. Call (828) 545-0525 for a free assessment of your patio.
How we can help
Related questions
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Still deciding? Talk to a real installer.
Free assessments across Western North Carolina — no pressure, straight answers.