Kikrikee 22-Inch Fire Pit Stand Stove Review: Big Heat From a Two-Pound Pack

Introduction

The Kikrikee 22-inch fire pit stand stove is not the kind of campfire gear most people have seen before. Instead of a bowl, a canister, or a folding box, it is an open stainless steel frame with four folding legs, a set of top supports, and a woven mesh surface that carries the wood. Everything breaks down and slides into a small polyester carry bag.

At around $27 at the time of writing, it sits in the middle of a crowded field. Many brands offer near-identical fire pit stands, with prices stretching from roughly $18 to about $35, and the designs vary in ways that are difficult to confirm without testing each one individually.

What makes this particular model worth a closer look is the combination of price and weight. The full kit, bag included, came in at 1.8 lb on a scale, which puts it firmly in backpacking territory. That is a rare quality for anything that behaves like a fire pit, and it is the main reason this product stands out from the usual car-camping hardware.

Who This Stove Is For

This is a good fit for backpackers and small-group campers who want a fire without carrying a heavy steel bowl. It also makes sense for paddlers, bikepackers, and anyone who counts pack volume, since the stored footprint is only about 13 in by 3.6 in by 3.6 in. Set up, it stands 17 in tall and measures 22 in from leg to leg.

It is a natural choice for a group of three or four, because the heat radiates in every direction rather than being funnelled through one opening. Anyone who has struggled to keep a fire going in damp conditions will also appreciate how willingly this design burns less-than-perfect wood.

It is a poor match for anyone camping in tinder-dry or windy conditions, or for anyone who wants a fire they can dial up and down. This product is at its best when the site is sensible, the weather is settled, and the priority is heat and portability rather than control.

Main Strengths

The headline strength is performance. Because the fire sits on an open mesh with no walls around it, the fuel gets all the oxygen it can use. A fire established on a dry base will keep burning through damp wood and, in some cases, wet wood, which is unusual for a fire pit of this size. The burn is hot, fast, and remarkably complete, breaking down to a fine ash rather than leaving half-charred logs behind. It also produces noticeably less smoke, simply because the fire is never starved of air.

Heat output is the other standout. The mesh surface measures 22 in by 22 in, yet the stove throws more heat than much larger fire pits, and it radiates a full 360 degrees. Four people can sit around it and stay warm without crowding the flames.

The mesh itself is tightly woven, so embers and sparks rarely pass through it. When the mesh sags slightly under a load of wood, burning debris rolls toward the centre rather than out toward the edges, which keeps the fire contained in practice even though there are no walls. After roughly ten fires, the mesh showed no real wear beyond normal soot and staining, although long-term durability is still an open question. Replacement mesh panels are inexpensive at around $7 to $8, which lowers the risk of that unknown.

Stability is solid thanks to the four-leg frame, and the whole assembly can be lifted and carried a short distance in an emergency. That is genuinely dangerous and should be treated strictly as a last resort, but the option exists.

Setup, Storage, and Portability

Setup is straightforward once you understand it. The legs push into the frame, unfold into their corners, and form a square footprint. The top supports attach the same way, and the mesh clips on at each corner using small metal clips that pass through grommets and pin into the frame.

No instructions were included in the box, and the first two or three assemblies were awkward as a result. After that, setup takes one to two minutes. The most reliable clip method is the one that threads the clips through the mesh grommets and pins the ends into the frame, because it keeps the clips attached to the mesh and makes them far harder to lose. Other arrangements work but leave the clips loose and easy to misplace.

The frame, legs, supports, and mesh surface are all stainless steel, and the mesh has roughly 96 mm openings. The storage bag is inexpensive polyester with plastic zippers. It feels cheap and the interior stitching is rough, but it holds every component and does a good job of keeping the inside of a backpack clean.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The most significant trade-off is control. Once the fire is lit, there is no way to throttle it. You can spread burning debris around, but there are no walls or dampers to slow the burn. The closest comparison is a car with the accelerator pinned to the floor: it goes hard from the moment it catches, and it consumes wood quickly. Expect to feed it more often than a conventional fire pit.

The open design also means nothing contains embers. In dry or windy locations this is a potentially dangerous product, and it needs to be used at the right time and in the right place. That is a real limitation rather than a minor quibble, and it should shape where you take it.

The storage bag is another weak point. The stitching on the inside looks rough and the zippers are plastic, though they have continued to work without issue. If the bag failed tomorrow, it would not come as a surprise.

One further point is the weight capacity. The manufacturer lists two different figures for the same product, 12 lb and 26 lb. The lower figure is far more believable, since 12 lb of wood spread across a 22 in by 22 in mesh is already a substantial pile.

Buying Advice

At around $27, the shortcomings are easy to accept. The performance is exceptional for the money, the package weighs less than 2 lb, and the stove has held up across roughly ten trips without any sign of failure. Replacement mesh costs only a few dollars, which softens the biggest long-term uncertainty and makes the low price an even better value.

Buy it if you want a light, packable fire platform for backpacking or small-group camping and you are comfortable managing an open fire responsibly. Skip it if you need adjustable burn control, if you regularly camp in dry or windy regions, or if you want a fire pit that contains its own embers.

Conclusion

The Kikrikee 22-inch fire pit stand stove is a bare-bones design that does one thing extremely well: it burns wood hot, clean, and with very little smoke, while packing down to the size of a small stuff sack. Setup is finicky the first few times without instructions, fuel disappears quickly, and the open frame demands careful site selection. For the price, though, it delivers more heat and more portability than most fire pits at any price, and that combination is hard to argue with.