8 best fire pits for entertaining in the garden, from rattan to ceramic styles

There’s much to love about this striking fire pit: its globular shaping makes it an instant hit on the patio, to be admired from every angle, while its slatted form ensures light and heat emanate evenly from all over. The fire ball is crafted from a powder-coated steel and boasts a wide mouth for easy filling. Thanks to its non-solid design, you can watch the wood logs burn in all their mesmerising beauty – a quality you just don’t get with trough, or bucket-like designs. This one’s also elegantly elevated off the ground with tripod legs, giving you direct warmth where you’re seated.

We do love a fire pit that gives aesthetic appeal whether it’s lit or not. With its industrial chic concrete-like finish and its smooth curves, Gardenline’s offering is a sculptural patio centrepiece. It’s actually made of stainless steel and features lava rocks that glow red when they’re heated up.

As a gas fire pit, this one proves incredibly easy to use with its simple, hidden controls and cleverly concealed inner workings. It also gives you warming flames in a matter of seconds, which is handy for those early summer evenings when the temperature plummets but you want to prolong the party.

Fashionably noir with glamorous metallic accents, the orion fire pit is as stylish as it is practical. Unusually square in design, it features a cube shaped steel pit in matte black that’s simply held snug within the sturdy, antique gold coloured frame – a pleasing contrast. This wood-burning fire pit is satisfyingly deep, too, giving you plenty of burn time without the hassle of continuously loading up the logs. And thanks to its shaping, it can easily double up as a makeshift barbecue with a rectangular grill plate. The orion also boasts frost resistant properties and is UV stable, both of which promise to prolong its life.

Doubling up as a low-sitting barbecue, this multifunctional fire pit features a removable grill plate as well as a handy mesh cover to prevent it from spitting hot embers. Elegantly elevated with tubular legs, the matte black pit is crafted from solid steel and boasts attractive copper accents, bringing warmth in more ways than one. This one’s generously sized with a good depth, yet it’s also compact enough to move around the patio to ensure you find the perfect spot for both heat and light. It also proves reliably sturdy, is well-made, and at under £70, it is surprisingly affordable.

Sometimes the simplest designs are the best. This chalice-like pit from Homescapes is crafted from cast iron and boasts a fuss-free, but wholly elegant, form. The low-down wood burner can also double as a nifty barbecue if you buy the brand’s circular fire grill to go with it.

Thanks to its low-sitting design, the fire bowl is naturally sturdy with a sense that it is firmly rooted to the ground – extra security when it comes to fire safety. And thanks to the natural material, we can expect this one to adopt an attractive patina over time with exposure to the elements. Utilitarian yet stylish.

With its mosaic pattern ceramic top and its curved metal legs, this decorative fire pit brings a laid-back Mediterranean vibe to the garden party. It boasts 4-in-1 functionality: a fire pit, a barbecue, an ice bucket cooler and even a handy side table when you cover the void with the inner ceramic tabletop. As a compact and relatively shallow fire pit, it’s suitable for either logs or charcoal, scoring points on versatility. It also comes with handy extras, namely a protective weather cover, a poker, and a safety mesh. All that’s needed is the Mediterranean-like weather to match.

Dobbies’ raised fire dish boasts a generous diameter, allowing you to create a substantial, but safely contained fire that’ll last as long as the party does. Simple and contemporary in design, the steel fire pit features angled tubular tripod legs, which give it a decent bit of height, along with loop handles for easy manoeuvring. It’s important to remember to allow these to cool down completely before you start shifting. The clean-lined piece can be used with wood, coal or charcoal, and suited to larger patio spaces, covers far-reaching warmth, without the need to huddle ‘round.

Designed to complement your wider rattan furniture collection, this woven number proves a great focal point in any patio set-up. Plinth-like in design, the gas fire pit features a tempered glass top and wind guard, attractive lava rocks, discreet controls underneath the tabletop, and a nifty opening that conceals a 5kg or 6kg gas cylinder, which needs to be bought separately. This one’s ideal if you want fuss-free flames in an instant, without getting your hands dirty. At 62cm in height, it’s also best matched with taller, more civilised patio seating.