Adding the cozy warmth and nostalgic feel of a fire feature to your landscape is almost always a great idea. These enhance the ambience of nighttime engagements and offer a gathering place for guests and family to socialize. However, deciding whether your purposes and preferences indicate a leaning toward a fire pit or outdoor fireplace in Setauket, NY, requires some consideration. Before making the decision, think of how your family intends to use the space and the existing aesthetic of your landscape. Here are some pointers to help you decide which might be best suited to your home:
Social Functioning
Few homeowners intend to use a fire feature alone. One of the purposes of constructing such a feature is to enhance social enjoyment during gatherings. An outdoor fireplace and fire pit both influence get-togethers in different ways, setting different moods and creating a different heat profile.
An outdoor fireplace typically limits participants to just a few people, creating an intimate lounge-like setting, while a fire pit allows for many more due to the openness of construction. Because of this, an outdoor fireplace emphasizes romance and intimacy while the fire pit will encourage nostalgia and friendly conversation. Consider your primary social purposes of the construction when choosing between the two options.
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Practical Functioning
Patio Designs Setauket NY - Outdoor Fireplace vs Fire Pit
Taking into account the practical needs of both an outdoor fireplace and fire pit are also essential considerations for your design. This step will depend largely on your own property. For instance, if your yard is regularly subject to windy conditions, a fireplace offers protection both for lighting the fire and keeping smoke contained. A fire pit doesn’t offer the same protection, and during windy conditions, guests’ may have to continually move or distance themselves from the fire pit. However, this can be limited by placing additional structures around the fire pit to act as windbreakers. These practical elements should also influence the decision of seating around your fire feature. A fire pit makes the addition of permanent seating easy, while a fireplace is best suited to moveable lounge-style furniture.
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Safety Precautions
Fire always warrants a presence of mind and a thought to the safety aspect of your feature. Maintaining safety around both of these fire features is necessary, but offer different pros and cons where safety is concerned. Because of its low profile. a fire pit does pose more of a risk for children or pets playing nearby. Precautions and guardedness should always accompany use. With a fireplace, you can place a grate to keep children protected. Its raised structure also contributes to it being less accessible to kids and pets.
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Aesthetic Advantages
These two features both offer an opportunity to create a focal point within a landscape, but the statements made are often very different. An impressive and commanding fireplace serves to stun guests with it size and luxuriousness while a fire pit is more understated. When lit, however, the effect of a fire pit can be seen from all directions and can have a wider impact. Additionally, a fire pit will not block a beautiful view; in fact, it can be used to enhance the scenery.
