Fire Pit vs. Outdoor Fireplace: How We Can Help You Make the Best Decision for Your Hinsdale and Naperville, IL Backyard

The addition of a fire feature to your landscape is a great decision that enhances outdoor living and adds value to your home. When it comes down to fire pit vs. outdoor fireplace, we can help you make the best decision for your Hinsdale and Naperville, IL backyard.

Humans have gathered around the fire for millennia and we’re still enamored with fire, whether it’s a wood or natural gas fire.

Fire Pit

A fire pit is rudimentary, but not primitive. It’s not a fire ring made of random stones. Masonry fire pit kits are available. You can also build a custom masonry fire pit, or use a premade modern steel or concrete bowl-style fire pit.

Heat and light radiates outwards from a fire pit, allowing everyone to share equally in the experience.

Fire pits can be wood- or natural gas-fueled. If you burn wood, a fire pit can mean constantly shifting positions to keep the smoke out of the eyes. You’ll also need to store wood, remove ash from the fire pit, and clean up wood debris on the patio.

A gas fire pit won’t have the authentic wood-fire crackle and aroma, but it’s cleaner, more consistent, and safer.

You can cook over a wood fire pit: whatever a charcoal grill can do, a fire pit can do, with the addition of a grate and the right wood. We recommend not cooking on gas fire pits because decorative lava rock and fire pit glass are difficult to clean.

Outdoor Fireplace

The outdoor fireplace turns a patio into a cozy space with a distinct living room feel.

Since an outdoor fireplace has a chimney to disperse smoke, you’ll never have smoke getting in people’s eyes.

An outdoor fireplace is customizable. Fireplace kits are available, or you could go custom and incorporate a wood-fired pizza oven, a water feature, lighting, and decorative inlays and accents.

An outdoor fireplace creates a warmer space since it can be positioned to act as a wind block.

The design of most outdoor fireplaces limits the number of people who can sit in front of the fire.

An outdoor fireplace is a large structure that may be visually overwhelming depending on the patio design. If a fireplace feels too big, consider moving it to a corner so it’s not so prominent.

Wood or Gas?

Both fire pits and outdoor fireplaces can produce a large amount of heat when fueled by wood. Even a gas-fueled fire feature generates enough heat to make friends and family comfortable.

A wood fire needs to be tended constantly. Some people love tending the flames, and won’t be happy with a gas fire. On the other hand, gas is cleaner, doesn’t produce acrid smoke, and you never have splinters and ash to dirty the space.

A wood fire pit must be located in an open space away from combustible materials. An outdoor fireplace can be located almost anywhere since it contains the flames and prevents flying embers.

Gas-fueled fire features can be housed on a porch, under a pergola or pavilion, or even under trees.

Seating

Permanent masonry seating around a fire pit helps contain the heat, allows more people to sit together, and prevents patio clutter.

Seating at an outdoor fireplace usually involves cushioned living room furniture, since fewer people will be close to the fire box.