Outdoor cooking tools can make your life easier – or wackier

The grilling accessories we've acquired during the past few years, while the outdoor-kitchen craze has heated up (sorry) and we found ourselves cooking al fresco more often than not, were decidedly a mixed bag.

Some have been unfailingly useful, such as the big grill pan that enables us to cook cut-up vegetables on the grill without losing any to the fire, or the long, wooden-handled skewers that make grilling kebabs a breeze.

Others, not so much. We're still not sure what possessed us to buy an outdoor meatball rack, and a grill light that doesn't light the grill has been more of a hindrance than anything else.

Then again, one man's highly efficient garlic peeler is another man's useless gadget. In that spirit, we bring you a variety of some essential - and not-so-essential - tools for the grill.

Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474.