The Hottest Outdoor Grills On the Market: These are Smokin!

Ahhhh, Fourth of July weekend. Time for outdoor BBQ's, pool parties and illegal fireworks. If you're thinking of grilling, how about firing up those steaks on a beautifully designed outdoor modern grill?

Viking, Dacor, Lynx, Weber, Vidalia and other professional cooking grills and barbeques are impressive but tend to be mammoth blocks of stainless steel. I wanted to find some that were a little more unusual in their design.

So, I scoured the web and found some beautiful freestanding outdoor barbeques and grills. Indeed there are several stunning portable bbqs /grills and built in kitchen island grills, but today I'm just featuring freestanding models of elegant and functional design.

1. Designer Piet Hein Eek's steel barbeque:



€ 1.054,00 Learn more or buy it here.

2. Jeppe Utzon's BBQ for Electrolux:



The Electrolux Jeppe Utzon barbeque features premium grade materials including ScotchBrite Stainless and Corian, a battery-operated spark mechanism for each burner, gas shut-off safety system, grill and hotplate areas and a lightweight fabric cover.



The Electrolux Jeppe Utzon barbeque was created by the grandson of the legendary Jorn Utzon and, like the Sydney Opera House, it's another bold statement in Australian design.
Learn more here.

3. Beltempo:
The Hotwater gas barbeque from Beltempo has a Stainless steel plate structure and details in solid tropical wood Cumaru. Includes grill, butcher's board and cast iron cooking plate.



Learn more about it here.

4. Kalamazoo Grills

Above: The Kalamazoo Edo grill shown closed

Above: Kalamazoo The Edo grill shown open
Kalamazoo Edo Grill Dimensions: 48.5"W (78"W open) x 31.5"D x 38.25"H
EDO Base Price: $7,495


above: Kalamazoo's Classic Sculpture grill

Kalamazoo Sculpture Grill Dimensions: 38.25"W x 24"D x 42"H
Sculpture Base Price: $6,495

Both Kalamazoo grills above are available with custom laser-cut stainless steel cooking surface combining your choice of grilling patterns optimized for meat, fish and vegetable grilling and customizable with your initials, logo or other artwork:


Above: #1 Dad and letter "B" custom stainless grilltops.


Learn more here.

5. Onafalos by Smartech Italia
The Onfalos Grill has the fun option to add colored Corian petals:




Made of Corian, the petals may be purchased in a range of six colours to customize Onfalos according to taste and setting. Petals are available in three sizes, one for each model.


Learn more about the Onfalos made by Smartech Italia, here.

6. Fuego grills


Fuego's 01 and 02 grills are so beautiful, I'd be tempted to put it in the livingroom!
Modern and streamlined, it comes in two sizes.




Fuego is also coming out with a modular outdoor kitchen designed by Robert Brunner:


Learn more about Fuego here.

7. Viteo outdoor
Viteo, who makes some of my favorite outdoor furniture has a minimal modular BBQ that can be a component of their outdoor kitchen or as a freestanding unit:


Learn more about it here.

8. Evo's flattop grills




Evo is a line of professional grills wih round flat grilltops. They have 6 models for the home chef. Learn more here.

9. Luxius grills

Luxius by Newtrend combine stainless with oak and granite for a line of beautiful outdoor grills.




Newtrend has commissioned De Bats architects to design two outdoor kitchens around the Luxius grills. Named the Boretti grills, they are made with stainless steel, oak and granite.
Learn more here.

10. The Grandhall T Grill, a contemporary compact grill, is as pretty on the eyes as it will be on your kabobs:


Learn more about it here.

11. Radius Design
Radius Design makes the following grills, all designed by Ralph Kraeuter.
The sleek Radius Edelstahl Gasgrill:

and their Blitz grills:

And their grilltisch, an outdoor table designed to seat four or six with an integrated grill:

learn more about Radius grills here.

12. Conmoto grills
The sleek and sexy Taurus grill for Conmoto was designed by Michael Seiger:


Made of blackened stainless steel with virtually invisible casters.

The Magic grill designed by Fried Ulber for Conmoto is a straight-lined fireplace and barbecue in one.

Learn more about Conmoto grills here.

13. Encompasso's Leiro outdoor grills:


The Leiro range of barbeques are created around clean modern design and highly practical features, which include; Leiro barbeques are made in high-grade stainless steel, which is weather proof and requires no maintenance. Massively solid construction; built for a lifetime of use.
Learn more here.

14. Artepuro grills


The HotTower, the Big Meal and the Big Boss are three unusual options for outdoor cooking from artepuro.


learn more here.

15. And of course, Eva Solo's Gastrononmical Barrel gas grill:


Learn more about it here.

Other grills worth noting:
Thüros Gas grills
Cook-n-dine grill tables
The Coro grill by Stefan Gallizioli
The Stanley grill by Serafini
Garpa Grills
Wittus outdoor grills
Scottsdale grills

Product Pick Of The Week: Bossini Lumiere Tondo and Quadro Showerheads

Not that most of us need an excuse to linger in a hot shower longer than we already do, but with Bossini's lumiere showerheads, you'll be hard pressed to ever get out.

The Tondo is a cylindrical model (300 mm in diameter) available with the floral, horizontal or vertical stripe. The showerheads have a semi transparent plastic cover and low voltage lighting. They illuminate and come in red, chrome or black.

The Quadro is cube shaped (300mm x 300mm in size) and comes in the same designs. Both the Tondo and the Quadro are equipped with an easy clean system to keep hard water mineral deposits like lime from clogging the opening.












Available with USA or European water hookups and can be purchased online here.

A Building That Makes Me Sick Just Looking At It: The Dynamic Rotating Tower in Dubai

Italian Architect David Fisher's latest building in Dubai makes me sick. Not because it's unattractive, but because it actually rotates. And I have severe motion sickness. Dramamine needs aside, The Dynamic Rotating Tower is no longer a potential project; it's begun construction and is soon to be a reality.


above: Architect David Fisher and his Dynamic Tower

With such wild land developments as The World shaped private islands, the Palm and ambitious unusual architecture like The Burj Al Arab luxury hotel, Dubai is fast becoming a looky loo's paradise of building and architecture design design.

The latest addition is the Dynamic Rotating Tower by David Fisher. It's the first rotating skyscraper to be self powered and completely prefabricated.




Rotating Tower Dubai Development Ltd headed by the Dynamic Group, announced the opening on June 24 of the reservations list for the first Dynamic Tower in Dubai.
Click here to put your name on the reservation list.

The company has also revealed the design and floor plans of the rotating building which will have 80 floors and be 420 meters (1,380 feet) tall.



Apartments will range in size from 124 square meters (1,334 SF), to Villas of 1,200 SM (12,916 SF) complete with a parking space inside the apartment.



Each floor rotates independently to create a building that constantly changes shape, resulting in a unique and ever evolving architectural structure.



The Dynamic Tower is environmentally friendly, with the ability to generate electricity for itself as well as other buildings nearby making it the first building designed to be self-powered, it achieves this feat with wind turbines fitted between each rotating floor.


Above: An 80-story building will have up to 79 wind turbines fitted between each rotating floor, making it a true green power plant.

Each floor will rotate independently at different speeds, resulting in a unique and forever evolving shape.



The Dynamic Tower will continually reshape, allowing the sun to both rise and set from the same view. The buildings can also be adjusted to the season, the weather, or to capture a special moment.



Luxury penthouse villas, which will be over 1,000 square meters (11,000 square feet), will be completely custom-made to fulfill individual buyer's personal needs, they will also include an indoor swimming pool, voice activated features, demotic control systems, built in phone system and any other special desire, all custom made.


Above: Bathrooms will be pre-assembled at the Leonardo da Vinci factory in Italy, part of the Dynamic Group and will include precious Italian marble, a sauna, a Turkish bath, chromatography and sound therapy.


Above: Villa's residents have the possibility to drive directly into the building where a special elevator will take their car to their floor and park at the entrance to their Villa.

In addition to the ever changing views, the Dynamic Tower will offer a voice activated control system, state-of-the-art design details, high quality Italian made finishing, sophisticated electronic devices.

Want an apartment in this building? click here to put your name on the reservation list.

Dr. Fisher also announced that the second Dynamic Tower planned for Moscow is now in the advanced design phase, with preassembling of the units to start soon and completion scheduled for 2010. The developer is the Mirax Group, headed by leading international developer Sergei Polonsky, The Moscow tower, which will have 70 floors and be 400 meters (1,310 feet) tall, will be located in Moscow City area, the new prestigious part of the Russian capital.


Above: Moscow's Rotating Tower

“Our intention is to build the third Rotating Skyscraper in New York,” Dr. Fisher stated. “Additional Dynamic Towers will be built around the world, following an expression of interest from developers, governments, and public officials to construct a Dynamic Tower in Canada, Germany, Italy, Korea and Switzerland”.

Each Dynamic Tower throughout the world will be unique, becoming an iconic structure wherever it's built, together the Dynamic Towers will represent an era of a new architecture that will change the look of our cities and herald a new era of Dynamic Living.



learn all about it here.

Even better, to see the building in motion, go here.