Outdoor Kitchen

5 Things to Consider When Building ​an Outdoor Kitchen

I don’t know about you, but when it’s summer, I love food prepared outside on the grill. Whether you’re a charcoal grill maestro, a gas grill enthusiast or a fan of grilling hot dogs and s’mores over an open fire, there’s nothing quite like food prepared outside. Plus it keeps the heat outside during the hot summer months—that’s a plus!
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While creating an outdoor kitchen of any level may seem daunting, with careful considerations and planning it doesn’t have to be. 

Five Steps to Designing Your
​Outdoor Kitchen

1. Needs and Wants

Before all else, consider your needs and wants. Do you live in a location where an outdoor kitchen will be used year round? This will help determine how much money and what building materials you will want to invest in your project. If you will only use it 3-4 months, you may want to create a functional, yet humble outdoor kitchen and invest your money elsewhere. However, if you see yourself grilling or enjoying a fireplace throughout fall and winter, then the investment may be worth your money. Nothing quite says fall like wrapping up in blankets, surrounded by pumpkins, sipping apple cider and enjoying a fire on a cool evening. This almost makes me yearn for fall… but not yet!

2. Size

The size of your outdoor kitchen will depend on a couple different factors. Just like an interior kitchen, knowing how many cooks will be working the grill(s) or meal prepping at the same time is important. Creating your dream outdoor kitchen to cook with your loved ones only to bump elbows as you cook and prep food would be disappointing. Make sure there is ample space for everyone cooking at the same time if there’s more than one person cooking.
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If you will be adding a fireplace, consider how many people will be using it at one time. Your family should fit around it comfortably. We decided to go with a smaller sized one as we have land elsewhere on our property where we can have large bonfires to enjoy with a larger group of people. 

Pay special attention to proportion of outdoor kitchen to house. It should all be to scale. It would look silly to have a tiny outdoor kitchen with a large house or vise versa. 

3. Colors and Materials

Although stone is not found directly on the cottage, the addition of stone on the fireplace façade adds interest. The stone picks up the cool tones found in the roof shingles, the concrete patio and walkways.

When building an outdoor kitchen, be sure to match or hint at the architecture of your home/cottage/pool house to give it a custom look. 
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Whether you use wood, brick, stone, or clay for the façade of your kitchen, make sure it’s compatible, matches or ties into the colors of your home. Take into consideration the façade of your house, the color of your roof, and any hardscape you may have in your yard.  People often react positively to a space that is cohesive. If you have a sense of funk or even eccentricism, there are still ways to tie your spaces together - you simply have to plan these designs well in advance to be able to pull it all together successfully. (I know, I know, eccentric style is defined by a “plethora of scattered styles” but it actually takes a lot of careful skill to pull it off.)
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It’s essential to have a designated location for your grill with some sort of horizontal space to hold your grilling utensils, platters, and food as it is going on or coming off the grill. Take careful consideration of your countertop material. How will it work with your home aesthetic? How will it work with the façade of the kitchen? How will it hold up throughout the years? ​

4. Grill Preferences

If you’re building an outdoor kitchen, chances are you love to grill. Do you enjoy using a gas or charcoal grill? Do you enjoy grilling with both, as we do? Then create space for both!
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There are specialty grills you can get to be placed within your outdoor kitchen. They’re nice but quite pricey. We decided to go with a regular gas grill that connects to a gas line. This way if anything happens to the grill, we don’t have to hire anyone to come check it out, we can simply replace it and we don’t have to worry about propane tanks. We erred in one place: we did not take into consideration the span the gas grill top needs to open. We have to pull the whole grill forward to cook, it’s no big deal, but a design flaw nonetheless. Learn from us!

 5. Specialties

The fun part of adding an outdoor kitchen is customizing it to your needs and wants. It was important for us to have lighting and outdoor electricity. We use our cottage year round and host often. Being able to plug in a crockpot on the counter during fall when we're still enjoying the outdoors was a must. Other than those two factors, we decided to keep ours fairly simple to keep it low maintenance. 

However, there are many ways to customize your outdoor kitchen. You can add an outdoor refrigerator, ice machine, a sink, a pizza oven, an island for seating and serving, storage, lighting, and the list goes on and on. If you can imagine it, chances are you can do it! Just be sure to think ahead and consider if you will need water, electrical, or gas lines placed before building. 
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Adding an outdoor kitchen to your home or vacation home if you’re an outdoor chef is definitely worth the investment with some careful thought and design. It creates a perfect place for outdoor entertaining and a wonderful way to spend summer evenings.