Everdure FURNACE review - our editor gets his cook on to try Heston Blumenthal's gas grill

Gas barbecues are a modern phenomenon. Any North American with a deck and pair of tongs seems to have one, and live on it all year round. They can be game-changers, giving you grilled food in no time  - that wonderful bbq flavor with none of the wait for charcoal to heat up. 

And with superstar chef Heston Blumenthal having been collaborating with Everdure since 2016, this latest three-burner barbecue is positioning itself as a gamechanger. Heston is the one who comes across like a mad scientist of the kitchen, creating phenomenons like the meatfruit at his London restaurant Dinner (which I've been lucky enough to eat) and regularly packing out the Fat Duck in Bray. Crowds love the spectacle of his food, the theater, and pomp. Would my burgers have the same magic if cooked on his grill?!

I've put it through its paces, testing the Everdure FURNACE by Heston Blumenthal to see where it ranks on ease of cooking, results, and how it was to put it together and clean, among other things. To see how it compares with others in the market, see our guide to the best gas grills. 

Everdure FURNACE by Heston Blumenthal: Key specs

• Cooking capacity: 1117 inches squared
• Number of burners: 3
• With a hood? Yes
• Power: Gas canister (not included)
• Ready to use in: 5 minutes
• Color: Black, but the hood comes in 5 color options
• Height: 42 inches

Everdure FURNACE by Heston Blumenthal: Set-up

Admittedly, I'm not one for knowing their way around a flatpack. When something needs assembly, I tend to struggle first, look at the instructions second, and ask for help third.

Opening the box for the Everdure FURNACE by Heston Blumenthal, I saw how neatly packed all the parts were, and how many there were. This wasn't going to be a job for me - I didn't even know where to start - and with my husband's handy uncle visiting later that week, it could wait for him.

On the night of the barbecue, I quietly busied myself indoors making the side salads, and left him to it. But it took even Des - who knows his way around a set of screwdrivers - just over an hour to get it all together. It wasn't that it was difficult, Des said. It's just that there were a lot of bits. The instructions were straightforward, he said, but there were reams of them. My mind just doesn't work that way. 

The parts included a stand, a hood, a fat tray, and shelves to hang tongs and place sauces on, as well as the three grills. 

Once it was set up, moving it to where we wanted was easy. It was light yet felt sturdy, the rigorous instructions holding it together just as rigorously. 

Everdure FURNACE by Heston Blumenthal: Performance

The FURNACE really couldn't have been easier to use. Once we'd connected the gas canister, it was a case of simply pressing a button and turning the three handles on the side of the grill to control the temperature of each plate.

The best grills should pre-heat fast, so you can get to cooking as soon as you switch it on. Hood down, the plates took around five minutes to get to full heat, at which point we were able to cook burgers and chicken wings quickly and beautifully.

The best thing about the grill is the lattice of the plates. With such an intricate design, the surface area that touches the meat, fish or vegetables is vast. So, as you turn it on the grill, it catches the char really well. 

Everdure FURNACE by Heston Blumenthal: Design

With its rounded hood that comes in six colors, there is a pleasing retro look to the Everdure FURNACE. It evokes the American 1950s diner style of a Smeg fridge, and is almost pretty (it's still a gas barbecue, so let's face it, is never going to win any beauty contests). 

We had the mint hood, which sat somewhere between green and blue, depending on how you look at it. 

The grill plates were smartly indented, so the shape is more dynamic than your average rectangle. It seemed like there was flair in the form of this barbecue - there were curved edges and geometric lines added in a way that showed the design team had thought about the aesthetic. 

The trouble comes with the cleaning. The instructions recommend you wipe clean while still warm, but at that point, I was still enjoying my food in the sunshine. By the time I was ready to clear up, an hour or so later, the food was caked onto all those intricate lattices, carcinogenic crust clinging to every line. It took around 25 minutes to scrub each plate - and a lot of hard work - so either do clean it the second you've finished eating, or just hope that the heat of the barbecue will burn off any nasties next time you use it. 

Everdure FURNACE by Heston Blumenthal: Our verdict

The Everdure Furnace is a smart bit of kit, for someone who is serious about grilling rain or shine. If you adore the flavor of barbecue food, and want to eat it reguarly, then the fact it's hot in mere minutes can only be attractive. It's not cheap, but it knows how to cook, and is so easy to use that perfect grilling is basically assured. 

But the cleaning is an issue. It took too long to get those beautiful three burner plates back to new again, which puts me off using them too regularly. 

About this review, and the reviewer

Pip is the editor of Livingetc, and has been writing about design and food in national publications for almost 20 years. He has interviewed most major designer and chef working today, and has written a cookbook, The Herb and Flower Cookbook, published in 2014, and a design book, A New Leaf, published in 2021. The kitchen is his most important space, a room to cook and entertain and chat and live, and has to look good and be functional, too.