There are plenty of portable grills out there that can collapse into a bag, allowing you to enjoy a proper barbecue at the campsite. Problem is, all they get you is a grill, with no work surface to do your food prep or a proper camping table to sit down for dinner. The AroundFire Portable Grill Table changes that.
You know those Korean barbecue restaurants where they put a grill in the middle of the dining table? Well, that’s sort of what you’re getting here, so you’re not just bringing a grill into a camp, you’re also getting a handy table you can use for all sorts of stuff. Even better, the whole thing can collapse into a pretty compact bag, making it extremely convenient to transport whether by car or by foot.
The AroundFire Portable Grill Table is, basically, a table with a rectangular hole in the middle designed to fit the included stainless steel fire mesh basket. You can use the mesh basket as an open fire pit, so you just lay down your fuel in there and light it up to enjoy a toasty fire during a cold night in the backcountry. For grilling, you just fill up the basket with your charcoal (or wood pellets) and light it, then plop down the included grates on top, so you can grill on it much like any other portable grill you’ve ever used.
They offer an optional windscreen that covers all four sides of the grilling surface, which you can put in during windy days to keep your fire from getting too big. That windscreen, by the way, is collapsible into a flat panel that you can use to cover the hole in the middle, essentially turning the whole thing into a regular table. They also offer gas burners, which can be installed on top of the folded windscreen and hooked up to a propane tank set down on the mesh basket below, in case you’d rather have a proper stove in the middle of the table out at camp.
The AroundFire Portable Grill Table comes in two variants: Lite and Grand. Lite has a tabletop measuring 42.5 x 31.8 inches , so it’s big enough to fit four to six individuals around the table, while Grand has a tabletop measuring 42.5 x 42.5 inches, allowing it to accommodate anywhere from eight to 10 people. When unfolded, it stands at just 15 inches tall, which would be great for use as a picnic table while everyone sits on blankets. If you’d rather sit on a chair like normal, though, it comes with extension legs that you can attach to raise the table height to 21.6 inches.
When collapsed, the Lite measures just 21.6 x 16.5 x 5.1 inches (width x height x thickness) and the Grand measures 21.6 x 21.6 x 5.1 inches, so either size should fit comfortably in the boot of a car. Both also come with a travel bag that has an adjustable shoulder strap for easily carrying to the camp site if you need to walk a bit.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the AroundFire Portable Grill Table. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $149.