I've been told that cement board is fire resistant. You can get it at your local Home Depot and use it to line your firepit.

I've thought about this in the line of building an outdoor firebox for a wood or corn burning stove for heating my greenhouse. Not enough space inside greenhouse for stove: therefore put stove outside and pipe the heat in.

Another thought would be to try a fireplace kit and then use the bricks for the veneer. Fire Rock and Isokern make kits that stack together like 'legos'. There is a video of the Fire Rock product at www.firerock.us

Here is a link that might be useful: Fire Rock Outdoor Fireplaces

Fire Rock has put a video describing the masonry fireplace kits. These fireplace kits work great for building an outdoor fireplace.

Here is a link that might be useful: Installation video of Masonry Fireplace Kits

Youtube has a video of installation of a Firerock masonry fireplace kit. The video is part of a Danny Lipford show and shows masons installing a Fire Rock fireplace.

Here is a link that might be useful: Video of Masonry Fireplace Kit Installation

You need to be carefull about what you use, I 've seen untreated bricks explode from water they absorbed being heated up.

I am looking for any reviews of Isokern fireplaces.
I am planning to install 2 Isokerns in a mountain house and love to build roaring fires. Do the Isokerns draw well and are they tough enough to withstand roaring fires?
Thanks,

There are some great outdoor fireplace design tips

Here is a link that might be useful: Outdoor Fireplace Design

Isokerns look very beautiful but I have run into many of them that do not draft well and tend to smoke out the house. Their are some prefab fireplace out there that after installation get real firebrick in the box area grouted in. They look like real brick built fireplaces after installation and do not have any drafting problems. Also about a third of the cost of building a brick built fireplace. One example is the heatilator birmingham fireplace. Many of the other fireplace companies have a model similiar to this as well. I would stay away from Isokern if you don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a fireplace that smokes up your house.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fireplaces Houston

Resurrecting a dead post? Yes, maybe. When I bought my house a few years ago, the place came with a pile of paving bricks. 30-40 of 'em. I just arranged them in a circle of about 12 bricks and made it a couple rows high. It's worked out for me for the past few years.
Here's something I'd love to try but haven't found a good material to use yet. GLASS FIREPIT! How cool would that be? I was originally thinking using glass block, but then thought they might explode or crack. Now I'm thinking square pirex dishes filled with colored glass beads. Though I guess a few years ago they changed the recipe for pirex so new dishes are no longer as heat resistant.