Vulcan Gas Firepit Table | Rectangle | Stainless Steel

The Vulcan Stainless is the sharpest-looking of the four Weather-it gas tables. A rectangular table in brushed stainless at 1200 x 500 x 350 mm, it holds a consistent, architectural finish from the day it arrives, which makes it the pick for a contemporary terrace where the other materials are glass, render and pale stone.

This is the brushed stainless model, 350 mm high, 40 mm lower than the Corten table on the same footprint. Corten is weathering steel: it forms a stable rust-coloured oxide layer that then protects the metal beneath, and holds that weathered look for 20 to 30 years. Brushed stainless does the opposite, holding its as-delivered finish rather than developing a patina, with no transition period and no maintenance beyond an occasional wipe. For this table that also means no first-season run-off to plan around: Corten bleeds orange onto pale paving while it patinates, and stainless does not, so it can go straight onto light stone. Our fire pit materials guide sets out how each material ages in a British garden.

Both finishes cost the same £1,729 here and carry the same burner, so nothing rides on this but how you want the table to age.

A rectangle suits a long sofa or a run of dining chairs, where the flame needs to sit down the middle of the seating. The square is the one to pick for a corner sofa or four chairs set around the fire. Both are hand-built in Britain by Weather-it and both run the same CE-certified 18kW burner, so the decision is seating geometry rather than output. If you are still weighing gas against wood at all, our gas vs wood-burning comparison covers the running trade-offs.