When it comes to selecting your barbecue its very important to understand your style and flavor of cooking! What does this mean? Well for most Australian backyards the common stable is steaks and snags with some grilled vegetable, so in that case there will be no need for any specialized grills such as smokers, spits or charcoal barbecues. You will be able to stick with the traditional LPG/Natural Gas Barbecue.

Although if share the passion of the low and slow method of cooking your meats, then you’ll be wanting to consider buying a smoker and/or a charcoal barbecue with a hood.

But wait?! What if you want to be grilling 80% of the time but want to also want to smoke every now and then? Then buying a charcoal grill allows you the flexibility for increasing the heat to be able to grill your steaks but also, you’ll be able to lower the heat to slow smoke your brisket! A perfect go between product is The Big Green Egg!

Before you go to buy a barbecue its very important to consider your available area for your barbecue. As apartment living has become increasingly more common, it is not advisable to purchase a 5-6 Burner BBQ as getting the barbecue up to your floor will be a mission and a half and then the space available on your balcony may not allow for the barbecue to fit comfortably. In an apartment situation a product such as the Beefeater Bugg is perfect! Its small enough to not be a hassle to move around, and its large enough that it can easily cook for 6+ people without having to do multiple cooks. Otherwise if you own or rent a home with a sizeable backyard space availability may not be an issue.

Although you may have the space that DOES NOT mean you can have the barbecue in that space. This is for indoor/outdoor areas! It may seem to be a good idea to put a barbecue in your undercover area so you can entertain rain, hail or shine but you MUST HAVE the right ventilation!

Any enclosure in which the appliance is used shall comply with one of the following:

• An enclosure with walls on all sides, but at least one permanent opening at ground level and no overhead cover. (figure 1)
• Within a partial enclosure that includes an overhead enclosure and no more than two walls. (figure 2 and 3)
• Within a partial enclosure that includes an overhead cover and more than two walls, the following shall apply. (figures 4 and 5)
• At least 25% of the total wall area is completely open.
• At least 30% of the remaining wall area is open and unrestricted.
• In the case of balconies, at least 20% of the total of the side, back and front wall areas shall be and remain open and unrestricted.

When you are purchasing a barbecue there are some basic must have you should consider.

What kind of Stainless Steel is your barbecue made from? There are 3 main grades of Stainless Steel 406, 304 and 316. 406 is cheaper but will rust quickly if unkept, 304 can withstand corrosion from most oxidizing acids. That durability makes 304 easy to sanitize, and therefore ideal for kitchen and food applications. 316 is perfect more marine environments as it lacks iron in the steel making in even more resistant to rusting than 304 grades.

How does the barbecue deal with flair ups? A good deal reduces flair ups by redirecting grease away from the burners and into an easily cleanable grease tray or cup.

A poor design could cause fat fires inside your barbecue which can be extremely dangerous!

Bench Space preparation. Does the barbecue come with sufficient bench/side shelf space for your style of cooking? It is an often-overlooked aspect of a barbecue; you don’t notice it if you have the right amount but if you don’t it can be incredibly annoying!

Ease of Maintenance is extremely important as this is what will greatly impact the life span of the barbecue. You need to seriously consider how easily can you clean the grease try and