Planning an Outdoor Kitchen That You Will Actually Use

Outdoor kitchens range from a barbecue on a bench to a fully serviced second kitchen. The ones that get used year round have a few things in common.

Start with how you entertain

Casual, a few people, most weekends. A built-in barbecue, a bench with storage and a bar fridge. Around $8,000 to $18,000.

Regular entertaining, larger groups. Add a sink with hot and cold water, more bench, better storage and a dedicated prep area. $18,000 to $40,000.

Serious outdoor cooking. Pizza oven or smoker, side burners, dishwasher, full-size fridge, generous bench. $40,000 to $90,000.

Be honest about which of these you are. Most people build for the entertaining they aspire to rather than the entertaining they do.

The services decisions

Gas. Natural gas connection beats swapping bottles. Run it at construction stage, because retrofitting means digging.

Water and drainage. A sink needs supply and a legal waste connection. Grey water cannot simply discharge to the garden. This is the item most often underestimated.

Power. More circuits than you expect. Fridge, lighting, appliances, and weatherproof outlets rated for external use. Get an electrician to design it rather than adding a power point to an existing circuit.

Lighting. Task lighting over the cooking area, ambient lighting for the seating area, and both on separate switches. Cooking in the dark is the fastest way to stop using an outdoor kitchen.

Weather protection is the deciding factor

An unroofed outdoor kitchen gets used in summer and abandoned the rest of the year. A roofed one gets used most weekends.

Consider also:

• Wind direction. Smoke blowing into the seating area ruins it.
• Afternoon sun. West-facing needs screening or it is unusable from 3pm.
• Rain blow-in. Adequate overhang or a drop-down blind on the exposed side.

Materials that survive outside

Benchtops. Concrete, porcelain, granite or stainless. Not laminate, and not timber unless you enjoy maintenance.

Cabinetry. Marine grade polymer, stainless steel, or purpose-made outdoor units. Standard indoor kitchen carcasses will swell and fail within a few years, and we see it regularly.

Fixings and hardware. Stainless throughout, particularly near the coast.

Appliances. Outdoor rated only. An indoor fridge outside will fail and may void your insurance.

Layout

Keep the working triangle tight: cooking, prep and cold storage within a few steps of each other.

Put the barbecue at the end rather than the middle so smoke is not crossing the prep area.

Allow at least 900mm of bench beside the barbecue for landing hot trays. This is the single most common omission.

Leave 1200mm of circulation behind the cook so people can pass without a collision.

What to spend on

Spend on the roof, the services and the cabinetry, because those are structural and expensive to change. Save on the appliances if you need to, because they are replaceable and you will learn what you actually use.

Approvals

An outdoor kitchen under a new roofed structure generally forms part of the approval for that structure. Plumbing and gas work must be done by licensed trades with certificates of compliance issued.

We build outdoor kitchens and alfresco areas across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, and we will design the services in from the start rather than chasing them later.