How to choose the right chiminea?

As you can see from our site, we have a zillion chimineas to choose from. How do you choose the best one for your outdoor space? There’s plenty to think about. Here are our top tips for how to choose the right chiminea.

Find the perfect chimenea

How to choose the right chiminea – Size matters

First, consider the place you’re going to put the chiminea. These things chuck out enormous amounts of heat so if you have a small patio, buy a regular sized chiminea rather than a large or extra large model. Also bear in mind the space you need to leave around the chiminea. You need room all around it for people to be, whether standing or seated, without burning their knees or falling into the fire! And you don’t want to place it too close to plants and flowers. They’ll get singed.

How about the chiminea colour and style?

Cast iron and steel chimineas are usually dramatic black or a metallic shade like bronze. And that makes life easy because they tend to blend beautifully into the background. The neutral colour complements plants and flowers perfectly.

Plain or patterned? Like clay chiminea, metal ones come in everything from super-plain to richly decorated with patterns including vines and grapes. Some have a quirky Steampunk look, some are chunky and traditional, others are elegant and contemporary.

Clay chimineas can be glazed in every imaginable colour. They can also be painted with lovely patterns. How does a beautiful, calm grass green sound? Or cappucino, or even a stunning plain clay, pale and creamy. Black, caramel, red, we have chimineas in a fab collection of colours, along with patterns including suns, stars, moons, funky Celtic symbolism, dragons, and flowers.

Do you choose a clay or metal chiminea?

Cast iron or steel chimineas can burn any fuel. They take a large fire with ease and heat up super-fast. Because they’re metal there’s no risk of cracking through thermal shock. You can either keep rust at bay with special products or let yours rust. The rust itself forms a protective coating on the metal, preventing more corrosion. While the finer elements, like the grill over the mouth if there is one, can eventually rust through, the body of the chim should stay useable for many years. It can stay outdoors all year round if you like.

Clay chimineas need slightly more care. They only take a small fire but that’s fine, since the clay body quickly heats up to make a massive radiator. It gets quite hot enough without a big fire in its belly! Clay chimineas can also crack in the frost as well as in the heat of a fire, so you’ll need to either cover yours or bring it into the shed or garage for the winter. If the paint discolours you can repaint it. But if it’s glazed the actual glaze stays looking gorgeous – it doesn’t fade or change with heat.

Heat and cooking, or just heating?

So do you want to heat up the area, or heat and cook? Some of our chims are purpose built for cooking, others can be turned into BBQ cookers using an additional grill, bought separately. If you’re mad-keen on alfresco cuisine you could invest in a massive, handsome outdoor cooker or range, a monster of a gadget built for chefs and keen foodies, fine to stay outdoors all year and usually run on gas.

Which style, colour, and material will you choose? With nothing but top quality chimineas on sale, plus a large selection of gorgeous garden furniture, fire pits, cooking stuff and chiminea accessories, we’ve got everything you need.