Kotulas Outdoor Cooking Steel Chiminea with Smoke Stack

I had to change this review. After being out in the rain one time it started rusting. We wiped it down making sure it was completely dry before we applied a rust sealer to the entire item. Now a few weeks later I noticed that there is a large rust spot on the back of the unit.It works great but I can't see it lasting more than 6 months before it rusts out.Unfortunately, it is not worth the money.So far we really like this chiminea. It didn't take my husband long to put together and was light enough for him to move to the backyard by himself. Throws off a lot of heat.We can't wait to use the BBQ grill shelf that was included. Will follow up after trying it.

We like the style. We use it just to sit by and watch the fire. We got it for Christmas and have used it maybe 8 times as we live in Florida. The item is no longer the black color, it is almost all rusted. We thought about sanding it and painting it with the paint you would use on a grill, but we are not sure what to do with it. It is sitting on our cement patio and of course, there are rust stains on the cement now. Bad purchase. Waste of money. Very unhappy. It started to rust as soon as we put it outside. It should have been sealed at the factory.

We wish to amend our earlier review from one star to 3 stars (see earlier review below).After drilling about 20 one inch holes below the front shelf of the stove for better located draft and stacking the burning firewood in a criss cross fashion, two sticks one way then two sticks on top at 90 degrees then two sticks on top of that. etc. to make a chimney effect, the smoking problem is much reduced. We also fashioned a cover for the front opening out of tempered glass from and old gas range oven door to cut down on smoke coming out the front, but we don't use that glass cover very much because it soon soots up to the point that you can't see the fire.Our earlier one star review:We do not recommend this stove. It smokes terribly out the front when burning wood, even after it has burned for a while and has given the chimney a chance to heat up. We believe the throat size of the chimney is far too small compared to the front opening. Very poorly engineered for proper draft!We plan to refabricate the chimney to give it a larger throat size and somehow, hopefully, produce more draft, or perhaps block off some of the front opening to achieve the same effect.We bought this stove to use in our back yard to replace an old chimenea that we enjoyed watching an open fire in. With all the smoke coming out of the front, we can't comfortably sit anywhere near this stove while it's burning without gagging on all the smoke.Best to look for another product.

Like it. BUT first time you fire it up the paint on the outside will start cooking off. Color doesn't change but fumes and smoke coming from the outside of the firebox. First time - lite it and get away.

The joining of the pieces is tough. Many parts don't line up well, are stripped, or bent. This is not the type to break down and bring anywhere.

Very pleases with this purchase. Easy to assemble. We did drill two hole in the side for needed airflow.

We purchased this item last 2018. By January 2019 it had started to rust. It is now March and the entire unit is covered with rust and will likely not make it through the year. Granted we did not have it in a covered area, but was listed as an outdoor fireplace with not mention of covering it. This was a complete waste of money.

These are nice once they are assembled, which is a little difficult.