Top 6 Tips For Choosing a Premium BBQ:
1. Consider your cuisine: What’s on the menu?
The right premium BBQ for your alfresco space will heavily depend on what you’re cooking. If you’re a masterchef and love to experiment, you’ll benefit from a BBQ such as the Kalamazoo Hybrid Fire Grill, which allows you to cook with four different fuel types. This level of versatility means that you can simultaneously cook using coal on one side of the BBQ, and wood or gas on the other side.
Pictured: Kalamazoo K750 Hybrid Fire Grill
If your cuisine is simpler and you don’t require that much flexibility, a Wolf or Capital BBQ will provide you excellent performance and delicious results.
While the BBQ itself gets the most attention, it’s worth keeping in mind the additional products that make up your outdoor kitchen.
For example, if you love to smoke food or pan fry sides with your main dish, a smoking cabinet or a seperate gas burner will give you the versatility to do both at once. In the premium end of the BBQ space, timing, power, and temperature control are everything. While cooking skills and an understanding of how best to prepare food can make a big difference when it comes to the end result, having the right tools and features can improve your overall results dramatically.
Brands such as Kalamazoo and Wolf feature precise temperature control and even distribution of heat, which means you’re getting a consistent cooking experience across the usable space of your BBQ.
2. Choose the right fuel type: Natural Gas or LPG
The right BBQ for your space will depend on the availability of different gas types in your alfresco area. If you have plumbed gas, a natural gas BBQ is suitable. If plumbed gas isn’t available, and you’re relying on gas bottles, an LPG BBQ would be better suited.
3. Pick the BBQ that suits your space: Built-in, freestanding or modular
When choosing a BBQ or other outdoor cooking appliances, it’s worth noting what your installation will look like.
Built-in BBQ: Seamless Integration
Pictured: WOLF Built-in Natural Gas BBQ
If you’re going for a sleek look, a built-in BBQ integrated into your alfresco bench creates a cohesive aesthetic. This not only provides a beautifully designed workspace, it also helps to streamline how you prep, cook, and entertain. By having a complete built-in solution, you can expand the living space of your home with a purpose-built area where you can master the art of cooking and entertaining.
Freestanding BBQ: Freedom with Flexibility
If a built-in solution is not practical for your outdoor area, or you need the flexibility to move your BBQ when not in use, a freestanding BBQ is better suited. All of our freestanding BBQs have castors on them so that they can be put away when not in use. You also have the freedom to adapt your grilling location to tailor your entertaining area. You can turn your BBQ into a centrepiece where guests can gather around, or move to a different spot for more intimate gatherings.
Modular BBQ: Stress-free Simplicity
If you’re looking to refresh your alfresco space, but without renovating, Artusi offers a range of drop-in alfresco kitchens that are designed to fit their range of BBQs. The beauty of this solution is in its simplicity. The drop-in design of Artusi’s alfresco kitchens makes installation totally painless, while still making a beautiful design statement in your alfresco area.
4. Consider your location: How to best protect your investment
Marine-grade solutions
Pictured: A Kalamazoo alfresco area in 316 marine-grade stainless steel
This is an often overlooked, but crucial consideration. Is your alfresco area near water? Australia’s beautiful-but-harsh climate can easily rust steel that’s not designed to be close to salt water. Thankfully, many of our premium BBQs are built using 316 marine-grade stainless steel, which fairs much better against corrosion and rust.
Protect your BBQ from the weather
Pictured: A Kalamazoo alfresco area in 316 marine-grade stainless steel
Whether your BBQ is located under direct sunlight or you live in an area with heavy rainfalls, it is always advised to protect your BBQ with a well-fitting cover when not in use. Not only will that keep your investment clean for your next use, but it will also protect it from the elements.
5. Size: How many burners do you need?
Pictured: A WOLF BBQs 10mm thick stainless steel grate, perfect for sear marks.
When it comes time to cook or entertain, how much you can cook at any given time depends on how many burners you have on your BBQ. If you’re exclusively cooking for one to two people, a two to three burner BBQ should do just fine. If you’re going to be entertaining and cooking for more people, you’re better suited with four-plus burners.
Having plenty of space to cook on means you’re prepared for any gathering and are always covered when there are unexpected guests. With more burners, you also have room to cook various ingredients at the same time with different heat levels, from thick cut steaks to quick-cook prawns.
6. Complimentary Cooking: Accessories that add the ‘Wow’ factor
Pictured: Kalamazoo Artisan Pizza Oven
While your BBQ will do the heavy lifting for the majority of your cooking, it’s worth considering what else you can add to your alfresco area to really entertain and delight. As an example, if you love pizza, a Kalamazoo Outdoor Pizza Oven is an interactive and reliable way to cook pizza in minutes. Whether you set up a space for people to choose their own toppings or you want to rapidly cook for a large number of people, the powerful burners of this pizza oven heat up the cooking area in 5-10 minutes, meaning you’re up and running in no time. Because it’s powered by gas, you can enjoy the same unmatched flavours of wood-fired pizzas but without the hassle.
If you’re really looking to impress, the Kalamazoo Gaucho Grill is power-incarnate. Featuring Kalamazoo's powerful brass dragon burners, a flywheel for height adjustment, and a powerful rotisserie spit, your cooking options are endless. The Gaucho grill is designed to cook with wood, charcoal or gas on its own. The grill experts at Kalamazoo understand the pain of getting a reliable wood or coal fire going, which is why the Gaucho features dragon burners below the firebox to to easily light your chosen fuel.
