Building an outdoor kitchen

Unknown

Okay, you convinced me. I am going to take a few pics of my site so you can see before, during and afters. [p]Here is my plan. I am going to build a twelve foot kitchen angled to follow the contour of my deck. Seven feet on one side a 40 degree angled turn and then five more feet of kitchen space. My XLBGE (which may be delivered tomorrow) will be on the left, there will be counter space (poured concrete stained black) then there will be two gas burners and my charcoal grill with more counter space to the right of the charcoal grill. I am planning to build a wood pergola over the kitchen which will have outdoor halogen lighting installed for those nights when darkness takes over. I am not planning any running water and no refrigeration (although this may be a mistake). Any thoughts? I could use some advice if anyone has any experience with this type of thing.[p]Thanks
Frank
South Salem, NY

jwitheld

FrankieP,
you are correct in stating that may be a mistake. a hand sink at the very least, even if it just has cold water.
you will be handleing food and sometimes things get dropped ect.
refridgeration can be compensated for with a cooler or added later. the sink needs to be incorperated into your design.
come to think of it the space under your countertop could be sized to accept a small refridgerator so you could add one if you feel it to be appropriate.
also the sink could be recessed with atop (cutting board) so you get doulble use of that counter space.

Parrothead

FrankieP,
man, i am getting tired just visualizing you running back and forth to the inside fridge to get a wobbly pop. LOL man, it sounds like you are going all out on this thing...don't skip out on anything!!
i'm anxious to see pics!!!![p]wobbly pops to ya![p]chris

Unknown

FrankieP,[p]I concur with jwitheld on the sink, big mistake to leave it out. I feel equally the same about the fridge. If I were to compare the usefulness of a burner, sink, and fridge I would give up the burner long before either of the other two.[p]If you are already planning halogens, you will have ample electricity for a small fridge from a warehouse store. Don’t go nuts and buy one of those outdoor specific refrigerators - they usually cost over $1000. During winter just put it in the garage or basement.[p]The sink is one of the greatest additions to the back yard – wash you hands any time without having to track mud through the house. Now it the time to consider the plumbing, putting it in later would prove to be pretty difficult.[p]I ran one waterline to my kitchen and then put a mini hot water heater (not much more than 2 gallons – home depot) under the sink. As for plumbing the drain, I ran mine to a trough filled with drainage gravel and let evaporation and absorption do the work. Use biodegradable soap from a camping store or Whole foods. [p]One addition that I have found incredibly useful is a built in shop vac – works fantastic for cleaning out the egg.[p]And just to be absolutely clear, the big silver thing in the middle is used as a warming drawer.[p][p]

Unknown

FrankieP,[p]I forgot to mention, I use indoor halogens and just take them down during winter – at least that was the plan; I forgot. They made it through winter just fine, but I don’t live in NY so that may not be the best advice.[p]

Wise One

FrankieP, if you're near Somers I'm going to have to look you up the next time I'm up there. That sounds like a wonderful plan. You might try to figure out how to get a water supply there even if it's just a hose connected to a spigut. I certainly would like a little water near by quite often. I'm still thinking about creating a kitchen area right off my deck. My wife wants me to clear off the porch so she can fix it up.

Why1504

FrankieP,[p]Add the sink. I would want one large enough to wash my grate. The under sink hot water heater is a great idea. I would not add a fridge as I have one in the garage. But, if your house is short on fridge space this may be a good idea. When I smoke 4 roasts or a turkey, or have a party I end up using every square inch of fridge space. I don't have an outdoor kitchen yet but do have a butlers pantry at my back door but it lacks adequate counter space and the sink isn't large enough. I really don't have a good place in my back yard for an outdoor kitchen but for me a space 10 X 12 with a roof, good lighting, food prep area, hose (hot water here would be really great), power plugs, ceiling fans(to blow away the bugs), and a sink are musts. You can buy wood covered ice chest for around $100 and I would add one of these (low maintence, no electricity usage). My brother in law had a commercial ice maker, fridge and freezer in a detached insulated building attached to his outdoor kitchen (on the ICW in FLA) it is very cool. His kitchen outside is better than the one inside his home. They use it all the time. At the end of the day the thing I believe are critical ar a sink outside with hot water, a roof, ceiling fans, and good lighting.

Why1504

why1504,[p]Almost forgot, make sure you have a place for a turkey fryer just out from under the roof on gravel if possible. I also brew beer occaionally so I would make sure I could perform this under the roof as well. and have hidden storage for as much of my cooking stuff as possible.

tach18k

FrankieP, Great ideas below. If your doing this project be sure to over plan but not over build. One thought with all this electrical. Make sure all your wiring comes to one accessable box large enough to handle extra lines from the power source. Be sure at least a small rope pulled with the rest of the wiring or several extra lines in case you need to add more toys or correct damage circuits. No sense being 3 years down the road and no way to pull replacement circuits. I also saw no one mentioned extra GFI plugs for the counter top kitchen tools and gagets. Have fun!

Unknown

Hi pivotizer,[p](I tried to email you this off-forum, but had some issues getting through to yahoo...)[p]I’m starting the process of building something that will likely come very close to what you have (with a different "warming drawer" ). If you have a few moments to spare, I would love to hear more about your project.[p]I’m curious about a few specific things, but would readily absorb any other bits of information you could pass along.[p]What sort of covering do you have, if any? Is it totally rain proof, or more of a pergola? (I’m in the Pacific “Northwet”, so this is kind of important for me!) [p]What is that form of rock called? Is it a manufactured stone, or cut? Those are concrete counters, right?[p]Did you ever consider a dishwasher? Sounds kind of weird at first, but I’m thinking of getting a dish drawer style washer to wash and store our outdoor foodware.[p]I love that shop-vac idea. Does it double as a blower for a quick counter top wipe etc?[p]Do you have any other pics you would be willing to share?[p]As you may readily see, this topic is my obsession of the week![p]Thanks,
bc
(Smoking rib-scrap sausage on the egg now, then pork ribs for dinner tonight)[p]

Unknown

FrankieP,[p]Absolutely keep us posted![p]One question though; why do you plan to have a charcoal grill *and* a BGE? Is the grill something special that the bge (or another bge) couldn't cover? Just curious...[p]A couple of "odd" things I plan to include in my outdoor kitchen are a dishdrawer style dish washer, and *maybe* a big stainless griddle for tepan yaki, or mongolian style bbq.[p]Can't wait![p]bc[p]

Unknown

It's a very short walk from where my outdoor kitchen is going to be to my inhouse kitchen. I've been grilling in the same spot the kitchen is going to be in for years and have never felt over worked. I really didn't want to get into plumbing a sink. Someone mentioned dishdrawers, I have those installed in my house kitchen and wouldn't buy them again if they were the only dishwashers available, they stink AND they're EXPENSIVE!
Someone asked about why a charcoal grill and a BGE. I thought that if I were having a large party and needed xtra grill space a nice stainless charcoal grill would come in handy. So my decision is to install the XLBGE and the grill.
I'm thinking now about the lighting situation out there and will probably relsove that with my experienced, licensed, electrician...my cousin!!
Thanks for all the advice, I'll keep you posted.
Frank
South Salem, NY

Unknown

FrankieP,[p]Funny thing them dishdrawers; we have a pair of them and we absolutely love them. Our best friends have a pair and they hate them as much as you do! (Granted, out friends are a prior model, ours are only 1 year old)[p]They definately polarize folks, I haven't heard of anybody that has anything but strong opinions one way or the other. I wonder if it has anything to do with what your prior dishwasher model was?[p]Anyway, I'm interested in potentialy *some* form of dishwasher (and definately a sink!) out in my kitchen. My wife is tired of the "grill marks" on the door knob into the kitchen from my hands. [p]I can't wait to see your pictures! I'll be cooking vicariously through you for a few months at least.[p]bc[p](pork ribs in 3 hours. The rib-scrap sausage patties are done smoking and will be excellent for breakfast tomorrow)