Outdoor Fireplace vs. Fire Pit Table: Which One Actually Extends Your Season (2026)

Here's the conversation I have every September. Somebody stands on their patio at 7pm, realizes it's suddenly too cold to sit out there, and decides they need a fire feature before they lose the whole fall. Then they get stuck: outdoor fireplace or fire pit table?

Most guides answer that with vibes — "a fireplace is a focal point, a fire table is social." Useless. Here's the thing that actually matters, and it's the first number people misread:

What Actually Separates Them

Four things. In order of how much they'll affect whether you're happy in November.

1. Which direction the heat goes. A fireplace is a firebox inside an enclosure — Cal Flame's is 34"W × 19"D × 18"H with a brick-pattern lining behind the flame. That geometry throws radiant heat outward, at chest height, at people sitting in front of it. A fire table's flame sits in an open pan facing the sky. Heat goes up. Same 90,000 BTU, and the fireplace warms a seating group while the fire table warms the ring of people close enough to reach it.

2. Wind. Nobody tells you this and it's the thing that decides it. An enclosed firebox with three sides keeps burning in a breeze. An open burner pan doesn't — the flame lies down, the heat scatters, and on a genuinely windy evening you're sitting around a lamp. If your yard is open and exposed, this one factor outranks everything else below.

3. What it is the other ten months. A fire table is a table. Cal Flame ships a stainless cover with storage hooks on all four of theirs, and the Mesa's top is 12" × 24" porcelain tile with a field and border — you put drinks on it in July. A fireplace is architecture. It looks good year-round and it holds nothing.

4. What you have to do to install it. This is where the two categories stop being comparable, and it's covered properly further down. Short version: one is a permit conversation, the other is a propane tank.

The Fireplaces — What We Actually Stock

All four of these carry the same 22-inch double burner at 90,000 BTU and the same 34" × 19" × 18" firebox. You're not buying more fire as you move up. You're buying height, width, depth and finish.

Model	Series	Overall (H × W × D)	Price
Cabo FRP901-1	Patio	59" × 46" × 28"	$4,846
Monterey CF-FRP901-2	Patio	59" × 48" × 41"	$5,255
Laredo FRP905-1	Platinum	79" × 46" × 28"	$5,719
Sahara CF-FRP901-3	Patio widebody	59" × 72"	$5,810

Prices as listed in our catalog at time of writing and subject to change. Sahara depth is not stated on its listing, so we've left it blank rather than guess.

Construction is the same story across the line: 16-gauge galvanized steel frame, Hardiebacker reinforcement panels, a 24-inch log set with black lava rocks, and one-piece construction with no field assembly. The Cabo and Laredo listings both put the built unit at 600 lb. Plan the placement before the truck shows up — this is not a two-person carry, and you're not sliding it three feet later because the couch ended up somewhere else.

All four are PFS-certified to CSA 2.26 and ANSI Z21.60 under report F23-191. That matters more than it sounds: it's the paperwork an inspector wants to see, and it's a real difference between these and an unlisted masonry build. They're built to order in Pomona, CA, with roughly 4–8 weeks of build time and 6–10 weeks door-to-door on the Cabo, Monterey and Laredo listings.

The Fire Tables — Three Tiers, Not One

"Fire pit table" covers a $849 concrete bowl and a $4,149 dining table. Lumping them together is how people overspend or underbuy. There are really three tiers.

Tier 1 — Modeno cast concrete, $849–$1,229. Handcrafted glass-fiber reinforced concrete, push-button spark ignition, CSA/CE/UKCA listed, one-year warranty. The York 27" bowl (OFG115) is 26.8" square × 14.2" tall, 40,000 BTU, 78 lb, at $849. Step up to the Roca 34" (OFG107) and you get 50,000 BTU on a 12"-diameter burner ring, 97 lb, 34.3" square × 14.6" tall, at $1,219 — with Venice, Aurora and Westport at $1,229 in the same 34" body. Modeno's own listings specify an 18-gauge 304 stainless burner ring and pan on these, and every one ships with 13.2 lb of lava rock, a PVC cover, a 10-ft hose and a touch-up kit. Natural gas and propane are the same price.

Tier 2 — Cal Flame stucco-and-tile, $2,395–$3,295. This is the tier that matches an outdoor kitchen, because it's the same porcelain tile top and stucco base language as the BBQ islands. Mesa (FPT-S201M) compact square at $2,395; Sedona (FPT-S301M) 48" × 48" at $2,795; Phoenix (FPT-RT501M) 38" × 60" at $2,995; Mojave (FPT-RT601M) 48" × 72" at $3,295, which its listing puts at seating for 8–10 around the fire. All four: 90,000 BTU stainless burner, LP standard with NG conversion, stainless cover, lava rocks, an 18" access door, one-year manufacturer warranty, 3–5 weeks build.

Tier 3 — Elementi Fire linear concrete, $2,299–$4,149. Long, low, architectural. The Andes 66" with hidden tank (OFG309DG) is 66" × 32" × 22"H, 60,000 BTU on a 30" 304 stainless linear burner, 255 lb, at $3,149 — and the propane tank hides inside the body, which solves the ugliest problem in this whole category. Granville 60" runs $2,299 and Hampton 56" $2,309–$2,379.

Install: The Part That Decides It For Most People

A fire table is, functionally, furniture. Modeno and Elementi ship with a 10-ft hose, you connect a propane tank, you're done the afternoon it lands. Freight comes off a single crated pallet and gets quoted at checkout — Modeno's listings put typical freight around $150–$400 depending on ZIP, Elementi's around $250–$550.

A fireplace is a gas project. Our Sahara listing states it plainly: most jurisdictions require a permit for the gas tie-in, and clearances follow NFPA 54. Add a 600 lb one-piece unit that has to be placed exactly where it's going to live, and 6–10 weeks of lead time. None of that is a reason not to buy one. It is a reason to start the conversation with your gas contractor now rather than the week it arrives — here's how to find one if you don't already have somebody.

Pick In Thirty Seconds

If this is you	Buy this
Open, windy yard and you want to genuinely sit out in October	Fireplace. The enclosure is the whole point. Monterey or Sahara.
Covered patio, lanai, or tight depth	28"-deep fireplace. Cabo at $4,846, or Laredo if you want the taller Platinum profile.
You already own the sectional and want fire in the middle of it	Fire table. Sedona or Phoenix if it sits near an outdoor kitchen; Andes 66" if you want the linear look and the tank hidden.
You eat outside more than you lounge outside	Fire dining table. Sonoma 83". Nobody else will tell you this.
No gas line, might move, testing the idea	Modeno bowl. York 27" at $849. It's a tank and an afternoon.
Big crowd, everyone facing each other	Mojave 48" × 72" at $3,295 — its listing puts it at 8–10 around the fire.

And if the honest answer is "both" — a fireplace against the wall and a fire table in the seating group — build it in that order, over two seasons. The fireplace is the one with the permit and the lead time, so it goes first while the weather still allows the gas work. The table can land any time. That's a sequence, not a package.

On Ordering In Late September

Everything in this post is built to order. Fire tables run 3–5 weeks; fireplaces run 6–10 weeks door-to-door. Order a fireplace this week and you're lighting it in late November — real use this season in most of the country, and you skip the spring queue entirely. Wait until March and you're competing with everyone who had the same idea on the first warm Saturday. Here's exactly how ordering works, and financing options are available at checkout if you'd rather spread it out.

We're an authorized dealer for every brand named in this post, which is why the warranty conversation above is one we can actually finish for you.

All specifications and pricing in this article were taken from our live product listings in September 2026 and are subject to change. Where our listings conflict, we've said so rather than resolve it in our own favor. Gas appliances require installation in accordance with local code; a permit is required for gas tie-in in most jurisdictions. Shipping terms are shown at checkout. California Proposition 65 warning may apply to gas-burning products.