For starters that exhaust fan is useless for an inddor grill and why do you have to honour some builder , this is your home unless you want to keep it get rid of it. I would stick to a BBQ ourside instead of smoking up the whole house.

I'm a person that occasionally does "indoor burning/cooking" with stuff like raclettes, hibachi grills, and fondue pots... but I would be rather hesitant to want to try firing up that indoor grill. There is such a thing as too much fire in too little ventilated indoors, lol.

I rather like the look of the brick oven effect, but can understand why some folks wouldn't. What you do depends on your lifestyle. It could become a bar, or a way to display kitchen goods akin to a china cabinet- you could hang pots and such all over that brick too. If you do do a lot of grilling, you could replace that grill with more heat resistant brick and tile and make it a "holding area" for your hot stuff coming in off the grill. Perhaps a slender buffet or table underneath for additional food service. Cap the grill and put in a breakfast or beverage station.

Maybe if you can take out that black door/cubbie and open out the lower brick more to make room for a couple stools for seating, you could make that a breakfast/table/whatever nook.

My mother's house (that I've recently inherited) has something similar with an electric rotisserie. House was built in 1968. My parents bought the house in 1989. It doesn't look like it was ever used, I know my parents never did. We will be selling the house as-is, but not sure this will be a big selling point.

you owe him nothing. these aren't Batchelder tiles. Tear out the monstrosity. those bricks remind me of the cardboard bricks and look hideous. That goes for the pony wall too.

The brick wall w/arc is a really nice feature -- the pony wall, not so much. Perhaps you could remove JUST the brick pony wall (or most of it).

You could leave a square brick post adjacent to the brick wall so the symmetry remains intact -- just enough to set a tray atop it. You could wrap the new end with board(s) that go well with your kitchen cabinets in order to hide any rough, uneven ends of the remaining brick pony wall.) Repurpose that brick to your backyard patio.

This would expand your kitchen into this area and you could then. logically, could use this nook as a microwave nook -- and do so without ripping out any part of the main exterior wall feature.

Edited my prior post. Please don't rip out the entire brick feature -- it is an attractive and uncommon one … but wouldn't use it as a grill (for safety reasons) if it is now against code to build or have it.

I thought removing it was an option, I see I misinterpreted. Even so, I will say that I have seen my own and my neighbors' attempts to get some use out of similar structures and there just really is no decent use. I turned my into cookbook storage....others used it for dishes, flower arrangements, art and clutter. Every single one of them looked like an awkward kluge (as in, I have a big brick thing right here, may as well shove some stuff into this hole as I can't think of anything else). I can't advise you on how to do something I think is literally impossible. I'll tell you why....the brick is so powerful and intense, it demands to be the focal point. Yet it's awkwardly located, fighting with windows. There is not enough going on in the brick or arch area to be the focus. Anything you add to the bricks to justify the focus - like, say, a piece of art - will just increase the visual discord.

If someone does come up with a way to make that thing attractive and functional, I say we give them a gold medal.

I would rip out the pony wall. I would also paint the brick. It is not very attractive and would have a whole different look painted. Paint it in flat paint to not have an unattractive glossy or sort of glossy mass. If it were my decision, I would rip it all out.

These are wood burning grills; charcoal shouldn't be used indoors. If you are brave enough to try to use it, first get the ventilation checked out to make sure it draws—think like a fireplace chimney. Then, make sure you have a fire extinguisher. Keep flammable materials away from the front of the grill—fires spark.

When building a fire in these, think small. Use kindling as your main fuel, as it'll burn hot, quick, and won't last long, which is what these are for. These are for a five-ten minute hot sear on a steak, not hours-long BBQ, or even greasy sausages.

@HoJo1 - that rotisserie looks great for fire-kissing a rib roast!

BTW, here's mine—

Joe T. - A friend of my mother's said she had seen these in houses before in the area. If you really want to try it out, the house is going to be for sale soon in Kansas :-)

I'd paint it to match the walls if you want and build a banquette. The arch could provide a nice nook for art, either sculptural or a painting.

Dining Rooms · More Info

You would not have space for the shelves on the sides of course. And you could do an L shaped bench if you wanted.

Looked at the pony wall again.

If all the pony wall brick is separate and built in front of but not built into the wall brick -- if you wouldn't need to cut bricks in half to remove the pony wall -- you could go ahead and remove the entire pony wall ... if not having the opening centered wouldn't bother you.

Since this nook has a light and appears to have an electrical motor, you already have an electrical connection within the nook for any electrical appliance you want to use there. Still think a microwave might be a good idea; however, that nook could also be a good place for an electrical frying pan or deep fryer or toaster or toaster oven -- any heat producing appliance.

Looking more closely at the grill and rotisserie equipment, there are small individual electrical appliances that resemble that set up. The rotisserie is already electrical. You might be able to find one with a pan that will set down inside the box beneath that grill -- or have one adapted or created to do so -- and actually use that grill but as an electrical grill (rather than violate any safety measures or codes/regulations prohibiting using charcoal or wood burning grills. indoors).

Was given an electrical rotisserie as a gift years ago but rarely used it. It worked well enough but cleaning it was a real chore. That gift looked very much like this:

https://picclick.com/Farberware-Open-Hearth-Electric-Broiler-Rotisserie-Indoor-372324497230.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=indoor+open+electrical+rotisserie+grill&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiGtZ-0n-vbAhWtt1kKHZm6ADMQsAQI_gE&biw=1366&bih=628

If you know with certainty that you're not going to do any cooking in this nook -- at least no grilling or frying in any electrical pot or pan -- you might want to consider changing the light fixture to something intended to be seen -- something that is suitable to your personal style (and, perhaps, completely remove the fan). Especially if you're going to keep the brick and use this nook for display and/or storage rather than cooking -- rather than frying or grilling, a new light fixture would be a good idea.

Do you have a lock box or jewelry box in need of a hiding place? Behind the metal door (knee high) would probably be a "fireproof" place to keep valuables. Alternately, after thoroughly cleaning any lingering charcoal dust, measure the interior of the firebox to see what else might fit there.

Examine what is in the nook more closely to see if you have the option to remove the rotisserie rods and motor, leaving only the grate without damaging the nook itself; and, if so, you might consider covering the cooking grate with either a wood surface or countertop matching the rest of your kitchen countertop and/or adding a shelf -- perhaps one half that depth -- above that countertop.

You don't need to keep the nook as a grill in order to enjoy the beauty of it.

Definitely don't paint the brick. Anything painted will, inevitably, need to be repainted and can begin to look really awful as it gets that way. The purpose of brick, after all, is low maintenance so keep the wall with the nook and find a way to use and enjoy it.

Did you take it out?? if so tell me how please! Ha ha ha I hate mine it makes my kitchen smaller. Thanks

If it was in my house, I would remove the entire thing....pony wall, firebox, chimney, foundation and everything. Use a contractor because you will have repairs to do, including the ceiling and roof.
It has a negative effect on resale of the house.

I think it is a unique feature of the house. I agree with removing the pony wall, but vehemently disagree with painting the brick. Once that is done, there is no going back, and in my opinion, it just makes a brick wall look like a brick wall that someone decided to disguise, and did a lousy job. Embrace your brick

WoW...soo much hate for something my chimney inspector stated while an icon to another era (yes,60's) he offered to come over and grill any steak for me since the indoor BBQ feature was something he LOVED. We purchased this home, and yes, it's OLD. Yet, my wife wanted to use her Weber outdoor gas fired grill to continue the BBQ'ing at the new home. Big problem is that it would need a gas outlet which the new house doesn't have but does have this with a gas stubbed into the indoor kitchen. The challenge currently is that were looking to remove that gas stub and and outfit it to fire gas since it's stubbed for it to BBQ like the Weber. The chimney's are there (so we don't need a fan) but it was never used by the previous owner's. So the choice is to pay $900 minimum to get a stub outside and BBQ in the elements or use the interior BBQ that is already outfitted for BBQ'ing. So, while most say tear it out, were looking to use it as it's passed the inspection and just need to hook up the gas and getting it firing. If anyone has suggestion's on how to do it let me know. Here's some pics.

We went from first photo with a vinyl cover over the grill to a new electric cooktop, steelmade cooktop, and ventahood.

We just finished a major reno that ran over budget, so we still have ours. Now, I’d love to make it useful. What would I need to budget for a project like this?

Kyle Dukart