Outdoor grill, Home Smart

least once a week. The top three reasons: the food tastes so good, the process requires little cleanup and it is fun to do outside what we do inside most of the year, according to surveys by the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association (HPBA) in Arlington, Virginia.

Grills are available in five basic designs: charcoal, gas, electric, dual-fuel hybrids and smokers—each with a wide range of prices and features, including exotics with granite inserts, wok attachments and other bells and whistles.

Back-Yard Fire PitsYou don’t have to rough it in the wild to enjoy a campfire. Back-yard fires can blaze in chimeneas, masonry enclosures, metal bowls, stainless-steel troughs, copper kettles, cast iron pots—you name it. But the most basic and popular is called a fire pit. There are many configurations, even some that contain a circle of controllable gas flames in the center of an outdoor table. Sure, you could just dig a hole and line it with firebrick to make your own. But the quintessential and more versatile fire pit is basically a huge bowl supported on short legs that’s portable and fueled with logs if you want to chop and split, or with natural or LP gas that eliminates cleanup and ashes.