Forget big barbecues - this compact model is as good as having an outdoor kitchen

Not everyone has the space, or the budget, for a full outdoor kitchen and you don't need one to enjoy eating al fresco.. A simple, well-chosen barbecue can change how you use the space - and how often you host family and friends.

Portable barbecues are often mistakenly lumped into the same category as disposable barbecues, but the Dimplex eXtreme Crossray is far from cheap and flimsy. Modern, sleek, quick, and consistent it's one of the easiest ways to refresh your garden, giving it a whole new dimension around meal times. Bring out some outdoor furniture, pack a cool box, and you've got everything in place for lapping up the atmosphere of a warm evening.

We gave Lesley, our expert tester, the Dimplex Crossray eXtreme as an alternative to her slower, more unreliable charcoal model. She hosted garden parties, fed families and friends, and even cooked for just two on a warm summer's evening. She gave it a good grilling and here's what she thought.

Dimplex Crossray eXtreme Portable Electric BBQ review

• Dimensions: 435 mm x 613 mm x 457 mm
• Weight: 22.8 kg (trolley offered as add on)
• Power: 2200W
• Cooking Area: 2,772 cm²
• Temperature Range: 0°C to 300°C+
• Power Supply: Standard 240V
• Cooking Surface: Steel porcelain enamel grill and hotplate
• Body / Outer Construction: SPCC steel
• Control Panel: Programmable digital display
• Included: cover and meat temperature proble

Who would the Dimplex Crossray eXtreme Portable Electric BBQ suit?

• Anyone who wants fast, consistent barbecuing with none of the traditional faff: no charcoal, no lighter fluid, no long wait for coals to catch
• Hosts who barbecue for a crowd: there's enough for between 6 to 8 people, plus a warming rack to keep food hot while the rest finishes
• Anyone short on space looking for a compact barbecue that doesn't compromise
• Anyone with a sheltered spot to store it and a nearby outdoor socket, since it needs to come indoors between uses

This isn't a barbecue for someone who wants to leave it out in the garden all summer and grill on a whim - it has to be stored away from the elements and carried out each time, unless you have the trolley accessory, in which case you can wheel it out. But for anyone happy to treat it as a proper set-piece barbecue rather than a spontaneous one, it takes the pain out of the process.

What is the Dimplex Crossray eXtreme Portable Electric BBQ like to use?

Barbecue delivery day is always one worth preparing for, even with a portable model like the Dimplex. You never quite know how many boxes will arrive or how heavy they'll be, but Lesley had a smooth delivery and set-up experience.

Before testing, Lesley confessed "to say that I am technically challenged is being kind", so she made sure to have help on hand for the delivery. However, she was pleasantly surprised by how straightforward the barbecue was to assemble. "It was easy to assemble," she says. "You'll need to screw on four feet, but after that everything just slots into place. Even I could manage it." The packaging also kept everything secure and in perfect condition, while its "neat and modern" design meant it looked at home in her garden once assembled.

Previously a charcoal barbecue devotee, Lesley was keen to see whether the Dimplex could offer a smoother, easier grilling experience. And, not to spoil the punchline, but it really did.

There are a couple of practical considerations to bear in mind before you get cooking. As an electric barbecue, the Dimplex needs to be positioned close enough to an outdoor plug socket, which could limit where you place it. Also, at 23kg when fully assembled, it's also not exactly lightweight. That's around the weight of a fully packed 23kg suitcase for context, so it's worth choosing your spot carefully, or investing in the trolley accessory if you want to move it around the garden.

The temperature control quickly became one of the Dimplex's strongest features. "Cooking is easy," Lesley notes, thanks to a clearly labelled temperature dial that's effortless to adjust. There's also a probe to help check when food is done, which she says "totally eradicates the fear of killing your guests with underdone chicken".

After years of charcoal barbecuing, Lesley was also delighted with the speed of the Dimplex. "The barbecue heats up very quickly and lets you know when it's ready, so there's no waiting around for what used to seem like hours before you start cooking," she says. And the proof was in the food. Lesley and her guests agreed that it had a "genuine barbecue flavour", with chicken, kebabs, sausages and burgers all coming out nicely seared and browned.

Just as importantly, Lesley found the heat was consistent across the grill, with no hot spots or cold patches to contend with. This meant she could put all the food on at once and use the timers as a rough guide, rather than constantly moving things around to account for uneven cooking.

Having enough cooking space was another of Lesley's non-negotiables, particularly when her extended family visits. She was pleased to find that the grill had "plenty of room and definitely enough to feed eight people, depending on appetites", as well as a useful warming rack for keeping cooked food hot while the rest of the meal comes together.

At the end of a big cooking session, Lesley was happy to note that "the barbecue is easy to clean, the grill plates and racks remove easily and there is also an easily removable drawer which catches the fat."

For a former charcoal devotee, then, the Dimplex made a convincing case for switching to electric. From its quick heat-up time and consistent temperature to its generous cooking area and straightforward clean-up, it removed much of the faff Lesley had come to associate with barbecuing without sacrificing the smoky, seared results she was looking for.

Should you buy the Dimplex Crossray eXtreme Portable Electric BBQ?

If what you want from a barbecue is speed, simplicity and consistency (without the hassle of lighting charcoal and waiting for it to catch) the Dimplex Crossray delivers exactly that, and Lesley's testing bears it out on every front that matters at the grill itself.

The trade-off is portability: at 23kg with no carry handles, and needing to be stored indoors between uses near a plug socket, it suits a fixed spot in the barbecue routine rather than a spur-of-the-moment sausage sizzle. For anyone with the space to store it and a sheltered outdoor socket to hand, it's a easy, fast, and reliably good barbecue to own - and definitely worth considering the trolley accessory for a built in stand and portable addition.

How we test BBQs

Barbecuing has a reputation for being a young person's game - all that faffing with charcoal, lighter fluid and burnt fingers. So, we enlisted the help of our tester network, a group of women, who, like you, are looking for products and appliances that fit seamlessly into their lives.

Our tester Lesley, 79, from Surrey, decided to find out whether an electric barbecue could make the whole thing effortless enough to bring back into her life. "Age notwithstanding," as she puts it, she still relishes having friends round and "enjoying the laid back barbecue atmosphere" - and there's something rather lovely about the idea of "quickly being able to barbecue some sausages" whenever the grandchildren turn up.

Lesley hadn't barbecued in years, put off by exactly the kind of hassle charcoal grills demand. The Dimplex Crossray promised to remove all of that - heat at the flick of a switch, no waiting, no ash. It was an unknown for her, by her own admission: "I'm technically very challenged," she told us, "and I was worried that the barbecue would arrive in pieces which I would never be able to join together." She dedicated two weeks to giving every element of the barbecue a rigorous test to share her experience with you.