Tom's Guide Verdict
An excellent grill for entertaining guests, the Breeo Live-Fire Grill offers convenience and ease of use for cooking over the flames. It’s solidly built, attractive, and versatile — as long as you purchase the additional accessories that let you use the grill to its full potential.
Pros
- +
Versatile cooking setup
- +
Lots of storage underneath grill
- +
Firepit is removable
- +
Solidly built and stable
- +
Looks grat
Cons
- -
Grill attachments not included
- -
An expensive choice
- -
No lid included with the basic package
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Price: $849
Weight: 125 pounds
Fire tray dimensions: 27.5 x 7 inches
Grill Stand dimensions: 27 x 27 x 33.75 inches
Whenever it’s possible, I prefer grilling over live fire. It imparts more flavor into the food, and it’s a more engaging experience than cooking over a propane setup. But live-fire cooking is more time-intensive, not to mention more of a commitment: you need to constantly monitor the fire to ensure you’re getting the ideal temperature for your food.
The Breeo Live-Fire Grill makes a lot of the difficulties of live-fire cooking much simpler. It’s a cleverly designed setup that allows you to tailor the fire easily, move your food around to find the ideal position, and even cook different types of foods on different types of surfaces that suit them.
I really think this is one of the best grills you can buy, and one of the best fire pits to boot. The only downfall is that you need to buy additional accessories to get the most out of it.
Breeo Live-Fire review: Price and availability
The Breeo Live-Fire Grill costs $849 and includes the grill firepit, grill stand, and a Skillet Rest. The Outpost grill and other accessories are not included.
To really get the most out of the Live-Fire Grill, you’ll need to purchase accessories that truly make it functional. The absolute most basic setup you’ll need is the Outpost Grill, which costs $220 and includes the grilling grate as well as the arm to which it attaches. But you can also get the Live-Fire Grilling Bundle, which includes the grill and the Outpost grill attachments for a total of $999, which makes a lot more sense.
There’s also the Live-Fire Searing Bundle, which includes the grill and the Flat Top 24 searing attachment. If you’re interested in making pizzas, you can get the Live-Fire Pizza Bundle for $1,599.
To truly get the best experience out of your Live-Fire Grill, the Live-Fire Firemaster Bundle is your best bet. For $1,599, you get the Live-Fire Grill, Skillet Rest, Outpost 25 Grill, Flat Top 24 searing plate, Kettle Hook 24, 1.5 Gallon Kettle, X-Series 24 Lid, and the Outrig Tri-Hook. This is my recommendation for getting the most out of your grill. While you can purchase any of these accessories individually, the bundles offer the best value.
One accessory that was not included in the bundle sent to me, but ended up being very key to successful cooking, was a digital infrared thermometer. As I mentioned, you need to monitor fire temperature pretty constantly to get the best results, so be sure you invest in a thermometer.
Breeo Live-Fire review: Assembly
It took me about an hour to assemble the Breeo LiveFire Grill. The instructions are clear and easy to follow, and the build process isn’t any more complicated than tightening (a lot of) bolts. It should be a simple process, even if you’re not savvy with tools.
The assembly process does require a fair bit of space, so be sure to clear out a good work area. And since many of the parts can scratch easily, it’s best to lay down a blanket or some cardboard to prevent damage.
Breeo Live-Fire review: Design
The Live-Fire Grill looks like a simple setup at first glance, but it hides a lot of nifty features. For starters, it’s made from stainless steel, while the shelves and side panels are made from powder-coated steel. You'll find that alternatives such as the Weber Spirit II E-310 feature a lot of plastic, which is good for portability but not necessarily for durability. The side trades are made of durable plastic and can fold down for storage.
The fire pit comes with a removable ash pan that makes cleaning much easier. And the airflow through the fire pit is adjustable using the small levers mounted at the front and rear of the fire pit.
The grill stand comes with plenty of storage on its two shelves. I packed mine full of firewood, though you can also store the many accessories you’ll need to really get the most out of your Live-Fire Grill. The grill is compatible with all of Breeo’s X24 Smokeless Fire Pit accessories.
The entire unit weighs 125 pounds, so be sure to pick a location you want this to live before you start building. That's heavy, but it's what you'd expect for a quality grill. The Kamado Joe Classic 1, for example, is 188 pounds. It will be difficult to move once it’s built, especially without a friend to help you. The fire pit is removable, however, so that does make it a bit easier to move around.
Once in place, you can use the adjusters at the bottom of each foot to make sure the entire unit sits level. This is important not only for ease of cooking, but also for safety. You don’t want hot pots, pans, and food sliding off while you’re cooking.
There’s an included skillet rest that comes with the Live-Fire grill, and it slides into place easily along the lip of the fire pit. Finally, you can use either charcoal or wood in the Live-Fire Grill. There’s no lid included with the basic package, so you’ll need to monitor your fire until it’s completely out.
Breeo Live-Fire review: Performance
My Live-Fire Grill arrived with none of the accessories Breeo offers, so there wasn’t much I could do with it except light a fire. I waited until Breeo sent me its Firemaster Bundle, which will set you back a massive $1,599 and includes all the goodies you’ll need to get the most out of your Live-Fire grill.
Once those accessories arrived, I was excited to get going because there are so many options. Searing plates, grill grates, skillet rests, a big kettle and kettle hook…it had me researching recipes immediately.
The downside is storing and maintaining all of those accessories. But I think that’s a fair trade-off for having a truly versatile outdoor kitchen at my disposal. And there’s storage on the shelves right below the fire pit, so if you’re really short on space elsewhere, you’ve got a place to tuck everything.
But it’s also important to understand that live-fire cooking in general requires lots of patience and attention. It’s an investment of time, and you probably won’t want to fire this up every night to feed the family. But when it’s time to entertain guests, or when you want to have a weekend cookout, the Live-Fire Grill is an excellent outdoor cooking station.
For my first cookout, I chose two big cowboy steaks, some marinated shrimp, vegetables, garlic, and a mixture of sweet potatoes and beets that I cooked in the kettle.
One of the big benefits of the Outpost Grill attachment is the ability to swing the grilling grate, which gives you the flexibility to position your food over the flame, over the coals, or off the fire pit altogether. You can also raise and lower the grilling grate easily (be sure to use fire gloves so you don’t get burned). This also makes it super convenient to stoke the fire if necessary.
The kettle and kettle hook work the same way. You can adjust it up and down, or off the flames. That made it easy to tailor cooking temperatures. Pro tip: Be sure to season the cast-iron kettle before you use it so food doesn’t stick to the insides.
The Flat Top 24 griddle accessory ended up being one of my favorites. It’s ideal for searing steaks, stir-frying vegetables, or even cooking eggs and pancakes. It slides onto the fire pit and pops into place solidly. There’s a grease opening on the back end so you can keep everything clean easily.
I was less enthused with the Outpost Sear Disc. It’s a nifty idea: it slides onto the Outpost Rod and uses friction against the rod to stay in place. You can sear steaks or smaller bits of meat on it, then just rotate it out of the way. The problem is, if you happen to bump it, the disc moves and can even fall. That happened to me more than once, so I ended up taking it off. If I was only using the sear disc without any other accessories, I’d probably trust it a bit more.
Aside from that, my only real complaint with the Breeo Live-Fire Grill is that it does not include the Outpost Grill at the base price. Without that attachment, the Live-Fire Grill is really just a fire pit at a convenient height. And while it's a great idea to combine a fire pit and a grill, this is by far not the only option available to you. The Solo Stove does this for $545, with all of the essentials included in its Solo Stove Bonfire Cookout Kit.
Breeo Live-Fire Grill review: Verdict
If you’re a fan of cooking over a live fire, you’re going to love Breeo’s Live-Fire Grill. It’s solidly built, attractive, and convenient. When it’s complemented by the Firemaster Bundle, you’ve got everything you need to cook just about anything you can dream up.
I do wish the very basic Outpost grill, with its grilling grate and post, was included in the base price of the Live-Fire Grill. Without that, the Live-Fire Grill isn’t exactly a grill; it’s an elevated fire pit. But once you’ve got the attachments that complement your cooking goals, the Live-Fire Grill is a flat-out excellent setup.
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