Best buys · 8 picks

The grill and the backyard

Cooking outside rewards buying once. Everything here has been made to roughly the same design for years, because the design was right the first time.

The grill

Weber Original Kettle 22"

Decades of the same design because it works. It grills hot and fast, smokes low and slow with a snake of charcoal, and spare parts are sold everywhere.

Buy it for
Anyone learning to cook on charcoal, and most people who already can.
Skip it if
You want to cook on a weeknight in ten minutes. That is a gas grill's job.
What to look for, the cheaper option and the step up →
The thermometer

ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE

Reads in about a second, which is the difference between checking the meat and guessing at it. Expensive for a thermometer, cheap next to a ruined brisket.

Buy it for
Anyone who cooks meat for other people.
Skip it if
You want to leave a probe in for hours. Get a leave-in probe thermometer instead.
What to look for, the cheaper option and the step up →
The pan

Lodge 12" cast iron skillet

Costs less than a takeout order, lasts longer than you, and goes from the stovetop to the oven to the fire without caring. It gets better the more it is used.

Buy it for
Steak, cornbread, eggs over a campfire.
Skip it if
You will not dry it after washing. It will rust.
What to look for, the cheaper option and the step up →
The cooler

YETI Tundra 45

Expensive, and the reason is that ice lasts days rather than an afternoon. If you camp, fish or tailgate more than a few times a year, it is the cooler you do not replace.

Buy it for
Weekends away, boats, anyone who has thrown out warm food.
Skip it if
It goes to the beach once a summer. A cheaper cooler does that job.
What to look for, the cheaper option and the step up →
The griddle

Blackstone 36" griddle

A flat-top big enough for breakfast for ten, smash burgers, fried rice and cheesesteaks at once. The easiest way to feed a crowd outside, and the cleanup is a scraper and some oil.

Buy it for
Big families, block parties, anyone who cooks breakfast outside.
Skip it if
You want smoke flavor. That is the kettle's job.
What to look for, the cheaper option and the step up →
The pizza oven

Ooni Koda 16

Gets hot enough to cook a pizza in about a minute, which a kitchen oven never manages, and runs on propane, so there is no fire to tend. Friday night becomes an event.

Buy it for
Families, parties, anyone who has paid for a pizza and thought they could do better.
Skip it if
You will use it twice a summer. A pizza steel in the kitchen oven gets most of the way.
What to look for, the cheaper option and the step up →
The leave-in thermometer

MEATER wireless thermometer

A probe with no wire, so it goes into the smoker, the oven or the rotisserie and reports to your phone. It pairs with the Thermapen: one lives in the meat, the other checks it.

Buy it for
Long cooks: brisket, pork shoulder, the Thanksgiving turkey.
Skip it if
You only grill steaks and burgers. The Thermapen alone is quicker.
What to look for, the cheaper option and the step up →
The fire pit

Solo Stove Bonfire

A double-walled steel fire pit that burns off much of the smoke, so people sit around it instead of dodging the wind. No assembly, and it lives on the patio all year.

Buy it for
Backyards, patios, evenings that should not end at sunset.
Skip it if
Your town restricts wood fires. Look at a propane fire table.
What to look for, the cheaper option and the step up →