Don't Make These 6 Big Outdoor Kitchen Mistakes!
First and foremost, an outdoor kitchen is an extension to the living space of your home. The proper placement of the island itself, the components, and how the island is organized is very critical to your long-term enjoyment of the new space. All too often, we find persons have an "indoor" kitchen mindset on how to build an outdoor living entertaining space. The two are quite different, and avoiding these outdoor kitchen mistakes is the key to creating an area you want to use, not just when you are entertaining, but as a daily backyard oasis for your family.
1. Wrong Placement of Outdoor Living Area
We often get to see projects after they are completed. Usually for some sort of repair service or modification. Time and time again we see a severe mistake in the placement of the outdoor living area. We fully understand that you may be the type to have huge parties that requires significant seating, cooking space, and room for all the guests. However, we also understand that, under most situations those huge parties, or events, aren't a daily occurrence. It is your Monday-Friday cooking that we concern ourselves with. Where is that grill going to be placed, so that when you are cooking on it, all week long, it is both accessible, and convenient for you to use? We don't want you walking down a set a steps, and half way across the yard to make a burger on a Wednesday night. You would be surprised at how many outdoor kitchens we see that are simply not easy to use due to the distance or access.
2. Making The Outdoor Kitchen Your Main Kitchen
This is an outdoor kitchen! This is not indoors! Unless you have a fully covered area, complete with heat and air conditioning, this is not being used as your main kitchen. You don't need 30 drawer sets! You are not storing your plates/ glasses/ pots/pans/silverware/ and serving items. You do need some storage, and every situation is somewhat different. A pizza oven, for example, often has many accessories that need storage near the unit, but for the most part, none of this storage is functional. We see more empty drawers in outdoor living spaces than you can imagine. What are you putting out there? You can't leave something like paper towels or napkins in the unit since they will get wet. You end up with a roll of wet wipes!
90% of the cabinets are not waterproof! These are outdoor storage drawers to hold some of your standard cooking utensils, probably a igniter for candles and tiki torches, a grill scrub tool, and probably your favorite bottle opener. There are available "Pantry" units that are more waterproof, but very few customers request these, mostly due to the price point. Be sure to avoid this as one of the common outdoor kitchen mistakes.
3. Not Enough Counterspace
Not enough counterspace. This is a big one. You want the biggest, hottest, emeril looking outdoor kitchen cooking space ever made. All your neighbors are going to be jealous at the size of your grill! You get that kitchen built with every component you can possibly think of installed in that island! Good for you! The day of your first big party, you fire up that grill red hot, go inside the house, and grab the gigantic plate of food you have ready for cooking.......Like an expert mater dee...... You carefully maneuver that giant platter out to your island, avoiding all the small children and obstacles in your path....With graceful movements a ninja would be proud of, you just made it to the grill....and then realize, uh oh, you have nowhere to put it down....so you set it about 3 feet away from where you are cooking....arg!
4. Not Using Stone Properly for the structure or countertop
Stone and countertops. Stone is a gorgeous element to use. But it can be one of the biggest outdoor kitchen mistakes
you can make if not used properly. Everyone loves a stone finished island. We have seen hundreds of examples of stone set properly, and also have seen hundreds of mistakes made. Stone looks best when it is connected to the ground, when it appears to have a solid foundation. We see many examples of a stone finished island set on top of a deck. It sort of leaves you scratching your head. Even if you are not aware of exactly why, and can't specifically point to the reason, something just doesn't look correct. In the same way bi level home looks odd when they stone face the top of it and the stone appears to be just "hanging". Stone just doesn't belong on top of wood. You have never seen a rock wall built on top of a wood deck, so why would your stone island be there? Stucco, not as desire able, but is the better choice of finishes on a deck, and sometimes on top of a preexisting patio, when you don't want to disturb the original surface.
Countertops are always a challenge. Bluestone, granite, quartz, marble, wood, tile, concrete are just some of the many options. This one is slightly harder to generalize due to individual conditions that the outdoor kitchen experiences. In general, colder climates are bad for quartz, tile, and many times, concrete. Some products fade in the sun, have issues with stains, chipping, or need to be resealed often. This is one of the few outdoor kitchen mistakes that can easily be avoided by simply asking your supplier the correct questions for your application. We generally recommend granite as the overall best choice, and bluestone as a second-best choice for those living in the northeast part of the country.
5) Picking the Wrong Contractor
Pick the correct contractor! Using a person that "can" put a kitchen in is just as bad as using the lawn service to put your paver patio in. There is a a reason we specialize in outdoor kitchen cabinet construction. Our experience in both
outdoor kitchens combined with 35 years of landscape construction gives us a unique advantage over our competitors ability to understand all of the details of how these two need to complement each other to create an outdoor oasis for your family. Outdoor kitchen mistakes are easy to avoid if your contractor understands all of the details involved.
6. Use the correct materials
Wood construction is a big NO NO, most galvanized studs are not designed for outdoor use, and plain steel will rust over time.
Using the 
correct materials will guarantee your outdoor kitchen will last for many years. Your average home center galvanized stud is "ready to rust". Galvanized studs can not be welded without first grinding the galvanization off, and every screw installed penetrates the galvanized layer, further providing a rust point. Decorative Landscape block "can" work, but only if it is set on a secure base, such as concrete. We have seen many cracked countertops due to poorly installed structures. That countertop is expensive, so, just like in home construction, the foundation needs to be done correctly to support everything above it. Outdoor kitchen construction detail mistakes are easy to avoid with careful planning and an understanding of what is involved.
Contact Patio Bob Today
See our current projects on Facebook RM Landscape Construction or go to our Outdoor kitchen page to see a gallery of past projects. As with any project different contractors will have different concepts, or methods of construction. Do your homework into both the island construction and the components. Many of the foreign made components have limited service plans, or even parts only, which means you have to do the repairs yourself.
We only build out of aluminum framing, and that is because it will never rust out, resists heat, and can be used in salt air environments. In addition our islands are fully welded frames, and 100% complete, with no finish work to be completed by the contractor or homeowner. Just set, level, and start stone facing. Avoid making outdoor kitchen mistakes by calling us today.
