With temperatures warming up, it’s time to start up the grill. Oh wait, you live in an apartment? Guess all the barbecue you’re eating will be from takeout.
Or maybe not. FirstBuild —a GE Appliance-backed innovation hub — knows that not everyone has access to outdoor space to own a grill. So to help those folks out, it’s released the Arden: an indoor pellet grill that lets you smoke meat inside.
“Pellet grill” is a bit of a misnomer, I grant you, because it’s more of a smoker than a grill. Like its outdoor counterpart, the Arden — sized to fit on a countertop — is powered by burning pellets that infuse smoke into food while simultaneously cooking it. Based on its product description, Arden seems easy enough to operate: you load it with pellets, fill the tray with water, set the smoke intensity and temperature, then let the thing go. With a built-in meat probe, the Arden will make sure your food stays at the right temperature, so you don’t need to constantly monitor it.
The thing about smokers is they do exactly what’s in their name: smoke. FirstBuild designed Arden with a “smoke-elimination system” that ensures the smoke stays inside the smoker and not in your kitchen. FirstBuild hasn’t disclosed exactly how Arden gets rid of that smoke, but the brand ensures that there are no filters to clean or replace.
Barbecue expert Jeremy Yoder, also known by his YouTube username Mad Scientist BBQ, helped in Arden’s development, working alongside the team at FirstBuild to make sure the smoker would work and work well. FirstBuild featured Yoder in a video where he taste-tested food prepared in the Arden, and people in the comments section — a usually hostile environment — seem keen on getting their hands on the smoker, especially with Mad Scientist BBQ’s seal of approval.
FirstBuild is raising funds for Arden on Indiegogo now through the end of April, with an expected shipping day sometime in August 2023. You can take advantage of the brand’s early-bird special and get Arden for $649, which is $450 less than its retail price of $1,099. And people are clearly going for it; as of publishing, Arden has raised just under $500,000 — five times its original goal.