A well-equipped outdoor kitchen can be the crowning glory of your backyard bash. You’ll have as many options for appliances and fixtures as you would in any indoor kitchen. However, it may be difficult to discover what you need at a price that fits your budget. To get you started, we polled experts on the best places to spend money and where to cut costs without sacrificing quality in an outdoor kitchen.
Think about how often you’d actually use an outdoor kitchen before you start building it. Bob Hursthouse, owner of Chicago’s Hursthouse Landscape Architects and Contractors, advises, “Build for the bulk of the life you live.” Temporary flooring, folding tables and chairs, and even additional grills are all things he says can be easily added to make the space suitable for large gatherings. Houston’s own TCP Custom Outdoor Living’s Katherine Douglass concurs. She advises that you first determine what it is you intend to do in the room because “it’s hard to distinguish between necessities and wants.”
Prepare ahead of time. Making smart decisions within your budget is facilitated by careful planning for your needs.
Do you want to grill once a week in the summer for your family and maybe a few friends, or do you want to grill all year long and host frequent gatherings?
Is there a refrigerator inside the building that you could use to store perishables, or would you prefer to have quick access to a cooler?
Do you like to slow cook or smoke your meats? What about some bread or a side dish?
Pick a spot
Consider how the kitchen’s placement will affect the aesthetics of the surrounding yard. The question is whether it should be located immediately adjacent to the home or if there are other options. When you cook, do you want to be right in the middle of everything, or do you need some space to focus? Do you plan to have a fire pit, bar, dining table, and chairs, or other features installed? This information will be useful when you plan the kitchen’s dimensions and layout.
Commit to your style or presentation
Style and making an appearance that is consistent with the rest of your home are additional things to think about. While grills and other equipment may only be available in a few different colors and styles, countertops, cabinets, and other elements can come in a dizzying array of options.
Douglass and Hursthouse both stress the importance of selecting a style that harmonizes with the façade of your home and the surrounding surroundings. We suggest that the kitchen have a vintage style,” Douglass explains. Hursthouse recommends taking a close look at the façade and landscaping, then incorporating structural and landscape components like clapboard, cedar, brick, and stone into the design.
Introduction to grills
When it comes to outdoor cooking, nothing beats a good grill. There is a wide selection of grills available, from small, portable charcoal or electric grills made for cooking a few burgers or hot dogs to large, complex appliances with all the bells and whistles to feed a large group.
A standard, medium-sized grill is appropriate for most households. If you’re a couple that only grills once or twice a week, Hursthouse adds, you don’t need a 36-inch grill. Instead of buying a larger barbecue, he suggests investing that money on new countertops and storage units.
It makes sense to go bigger if your method of grilling is more involved. On a weekly basis, “you could need additional room if you do mixed grills, beef brisket, or a rotisserie chicken,” as put out by Hursthouse. Douglass chimes in to say that if you frequently host large groups, a larger grill and a side burner, in addition to ample space for prepping, are essential. You may want to include the cost of both a grill and a smoker in your cooking budget if you frequently smoke or slow-cook dishes.
Take the grill’s expected lifespan into account. It’s not a permanent fixture in your home,” Hursthouse warns. He recommends spending a little more on a high-quality stainless steel one that can be repaired and has readily available replacement parts if durability is a priority.
Accessories for the barbecue
Your barbecue can accommodate a wide variety of additional cooking devices. These may seem like a waste of money at first, but think about how you may put them to use. Having more burners on the side would make it easier to prepare a larger meal by allowing you to cook different items at different temperatures for varying amounts of time.
With a deep fryer, you may cook food by completely immersing it in hot oil, resulting in a crusty exterior and a tender interior. To avoid losing heat while juggling grilling duties, a warming drawer is a handy addition. You can use a pizza oven as a regular oven too!
The breakfast staples of bacon, eggs, and pancakes could be prepared over the campfire with the use of a griddle.
If your grill is partially contained by an overhead structure, as on a patio, Douglass suggests investing in a vent hood to minimize smoke from filling the space. “In some municipalities, vent hoods must be installed over a grill,” she explains.
If at all feasible, stick with appliances made by the same company to keep everything looking consistent.
Storage cabinets
Storage cabinets are an integral part of any outdoor kitchen. Prefabricated cabinets can be modified to fit your area at a lower price, but custom cabinets can be designed precisely for your room. Hursthouse and Douglass agree that you should spend what it takes to achieve what you desire because you will utilize it for many years to come.
Look for cabinetry that is weather-resistant and built to last. Think about how much space you’ll need to store things like gas tanks, charcoal, and pellets. Additional cabinetry might be handy for storing grilling gear and accessories, refrigerated units and outside tableware, reducing additional trips inside.
Stone veneers can be found in a wide price range, from modest to high, and they exude a timeless quality. Sustainable woods can be found at a variety of pricing points and can be used in a wide variety of architectural and landscaping contexts without looking out of place. Other common choices, most of which are fairly priced, include stucco, brick and metals.
A countertop is the last touch on an outdoor kitchen. They work hard, preparing and serving meals while also being out in the weather day and night.
Granite, bluestone, and other types of natural stone are more expensive than certain alternatives, but they are also more durable and more aesthetically pleasing. Those on a tighter budget need not sacrifice aesthetic quality for practicality, as Douglass points out; “quite excellent less expensive pieces” are available. Hursthouse says that if you do decide to utilize stone, it is best to pick a thicker slab that is more fitting for an outside setting. In addition, he suggests going with an honed or leathered surface treatment. Otherwise, “you’ll have to purchase stock in window cleansers because you’ll be out there touching things up every time it rains,” he says.
Take a look at tile, wood, metal and concrete possibilities; plenty of them can take the outdoor exposure. The final appearance you want to achieve, as well as your budget, will determine your options. Consider the cost of installation, the time and effort required for upkeep, and the longevity of your options.
Dishwashers and fridges
No indoor kitchen is complete without a refrigerator, but you might not need or want one in your outdoor kitchen if the indoor one is nearby.
Consider the value of having a place to keep drinks and snacks close at hand while you grill vs the cost of installing one. If you do decide to add one, ensure sure it is rated for outside use. Also, according to Hursthouse, if you plan on using it to store drinks even when you’re not hosting, you should invest in one that can be locked.
Installing a sink with hot and cold running water is a more expensive proposition. You’ll have to hook up to the city’s water and sewage systems, Douglass warns. A dry sink can be filled with ice and water to cool drinks and food and then drained into the garden, providing a low-cost alternative.
Brightness
The likelihood of your using your outdoor kitchen late into the night is high. It’s important to think about your electrical requirements. You’ll need both focused illumination for things like cooking and more general lighting for things like lounging in the backyard. There could be bright lights within the grill, but you still need some ambient lighting, explains Hursthouse. Downlights, including those integrated into a backsplash on the countertop, are a fantastic alternative for illuminating a countertop without producing glare.
The grilling area at Hursthouse has new electrical outlets. For appliances like “refrigerator units, rotisseries, slow cookers, blenders, and warming trays,” he advises, “you’ll want one on the back and one on each side.” A cabinet with an electrical outlet inside of it is another suggestion he makes. Simply check that all of the plugs are weatherproof and suitable for usage outdoors.
If you’ll be adding electricity lines, think about if you want the added price of running a plumbing line. There are benefits and drawbacks to installing a plumbing line if you want to install a sink. For fuel, “running a gas line to the outdoor kitchen is perfect and much less of a headache than propane tanks,” Douglass says.
Protection against the elements
When it’s cold outside, and especially when it’s raining or snowing, you could lose interest in firing up the grill. On the other extreme, too much sun also might be an issue. Putting a roof over your outdoor kitchen is a good idea if you live in a climate where rain or snow could ruin your plans for an outside party. A solid roof would keep the rain and snow off, but it might not give you the feeling of being outside. The slatted roof of a pergola would give it a more airy atmosphere while still offering protection from the elements.