There is something enduringly magnetic about an open fire, and when that fire doubles as a place to cook it becomes inherently social — food cooked slowly over the embers, people drawn closer to the heat, and afternoons and evenings that linger.
It’s a way of cooking that feels particularly suited to the New Zealand lifestyle, where terraces, courtyards, and outdoor rooms have become increasingly considered extensions of the home. As these spaces continue to evolve, so too does what we expect from them. Heating and cooking no longer need to occupy separate corners; often, the greatest appeal lies in bringing the two together.
Warmington’s Nouveau BBQ does exactly that, combining an open wood fire with an integrated barbecue hotplate and grill in one architectural form. Designed and manufactured in New Zealand, it is Warmington’s original barbecue fire — and remains one of the company’s most popular fireplaces.
At the heart of its appeal is a certain simplicity. Light the fire and it becomes both the source of heat and the place around which dinner is prepared. The hotplate incorporates two cooking surfaces, while the grill brings food directly over the wood fire; optional rotisseries extend the possibilities from smaller cuts through to large roasts. When cooking is finished, the hotplate and grill can be stored within a dedicated cavity and the fireplace returns to its other role: an open hearth.
An outdoor kitchen traditionally places the cook behind a barbecue or bench, while everyone else gathers elsewhere. Cooking over an open fire changes that dynamic. The fire becomes both kitchen and gathering place; preparing a meal becomes part of the evening rather than something happening alongside it.
There is a more elemental pleasure to it, too. The smell of wood smoke, the movement and warmth of the flame, the sound of food hitting a hot grill; sensory experiences that conventional outdoor cooking cannot quite replicate. And when the meal is over, there is no reason to move on. Another log goes on and the same fire that cooked dinner carries the evening into cooler hours.
The fire is available in widths ranging from 900mm through to two metres, depending on the flue configuration, and is made to order with customisable flue-offset options, allowing it to be integrated into a wider architectural composition.
It can be robust and monolithic, surrounded in masonry or stone; or treated with greater restraint as part of a contemporary outdoor room. In either case, the effect is to give the exterior space a centre — something that visually anchors it even when the fire isn’t lit.
The Nouveau BBQ is part of a wider range of Warmington’s outdoor open fires, including the Nouveau Pizzeria — an extension of the former with an integrated pizza oven at the top of the firebox — the Nouveau Grill, designed for cooking meat to perfection, and the Kiwi Grill, an asada-type barbeque that provides the distinctive South American cooking style over hot coals and logs. All Warmington fires are individually made to order, bespoke, and highly customisable to suit any space.
