WMF

Some brands arrive at live-fire cooking from the outside, carrying a history that has little to do with the open grill, and still bring something worthwhile. WMF is one of them: a German house that has spent generations refining metal for the kitchen, and when it steps onto barbecue ground it does so with the restraint of a maker that has nothing to oversell.

Roots and philosophy

WMF began as the Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik in Geislingen an der Steige in 1853, founded by Daniel Straub and the Schweizer brothers. That modest metalworking workshop grew, by the early twentieth century, into one of the world's largest exporters of household metalware, with Jugendstil pieces that now sit in museums. Since 2016 it has belonged to France's Groupe SEB, yet its identity stays rooted in cutlery, cookware and steel.

What sets WMF apart

At heart, WMF is a kitchen-metallurgy brand, not a barbecue specialist, and that is exactly where its value lies when the subject is safety. From its catalogue we stock the 40 cm leather barbecue gloves, sold as a pair, and what draws us to them is precisely that: the length. Forty centimetres shield the whole forearm, not just the hand, which you appreciate the moment you reach under the dome of a glowing kamado or inside a pizza oven. Leather also tolerates brief contact with hot metal far better than synthetic fibres, which simply melt.

Our verdict

Cooking day to day on our own Big Green Egg Large, we know how much a glove that truly covers is worth: turning trays of lamb or lifting the baking stone once it is genuinely scorching is exactly the moment when a few extra centimetres of leather earn their keep. On paper, and by the account of the user community, what stands out about these gloves is the coverage: you stop flinching your arm away for fear of brushing the rim. That said, honesty matters — these are gloves for gripping and moving, not for cradling red-hot iron. Leather buys you seconds, not immunity.

What you'll find from WMF here

From WMF we carry a single piece, the pair of long 40 cm leather gloves. It is not the brand for kamado accessories, but it is the choice if you want serious hand protection with honest materials and the backing of a metalworking tradition few barbecue brands can match.