Charcoal Grills
Kettles, drums and barrels. The format most charcoal technique was written for.
Kamado Grills
Thick ceramic cookers that hold 120°C overnight on one load of lump and still hit 400°C for pizza.
Foukou and Cypriot Rotisserie
The Greek Cypriot souvla barbecue. A long charcoal trough and a motorised spit, built for slow-turning lamb and pork.
Rotisserie Grills
A motor, a spit and constant self-basting. The best skin on any bird comes off a rotisserie.
Smokers
Bullet, drum, offset and pellet. Four quite different ways to hold 120°C for twelve hours.
Pizza Ovens
400°C plus in fifteen to twenty minutes, and a Neapolitan pizza in sixty seconds.
Wood Fired Ovens
Not just pizza. A masonry oven roasts, bakes and holds heat for a day.
Gas Grills
Ten minutes from cold to cooking. What gas gives up in flavour it repays in midweek usage.
Electric Grills
For balconies, flats and anywhere live fire is not allowed.
Dual Fuel
Charcoal and gas in one cabinet, for people who refuse to choose.
Ninja Woodfire and Pellet Grills
Electric heat plus a handful of real wood pellets. Smoke flavour on a balcony where live fire is banned.
Portable and Suitcase Grills
Camping, tailgating, beaches and balconies.
Konro and Hibachi Grills
Japanese table-top grilling. Narrow, intense, and built around binchotan.
Hibachi Grills
Cast iron Japanese firebox grilling. Small, heavy, indestructible.
Korean Table Grills
Indoor and tabletop Korean barbecue, smokeless extraction included.
Asado Grills
Argentinian open-fire cooking. A grate over embers, adjustable by height rather than by vent.
Plancha Grills
A solid steel plate over fire. Everything a grate lets fall through, a plancha cooks.
Plancha Fire Pits
A fire pit with a steel cooking ring. Warmth and a griddle from one fire.
Tandoor Ovens
A clay cylinder running at 400°C plus. Breads on the wall, meat on vertical skewers.
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What to know before you buy
There is no single best barbecue, only a best barbecue for the way you actually cook. The question worth answering first is not charcoal or gas but how much attention you want to give it: a kamado and an offset smoker sit at opposite ends of that scale and produce similarly good food.
If you are buying your first, buy a 57cm charcoal kettle and spend the difference on a chimney starter and a thermometer. Almost everything on this site can be cooked on one.