Outdoor Kitchen
With summer almost here it's time to dust off the barbeque and fill the gas bottle. There's nothing like the smell of grilling food to stir the appetite, everything tastes great outdoors and it's hard not to have a good time when you add chilled beer and wine.
An outdoor kitchen is a place where you can slow down and spend more time with family and friends. Putting all the ingredients for outdoor dining close at hand can be as simple as a storage cabinet for cooking gear or as ambitious as a full kitchen with grill, refrigerator, sink and eating area. Either way, organising your patio or deck with the right equipment will make it a versatile outdoor "room" that's a natural gathering spot.
What to Include
All you really need for a basic outdoor kitchens is a barbeque, a benchtop and a storage cabinet. This will cost could cost as little as a few hundred dollars. Once you start adding other features the costs just go up and up to over $10,000 for one with all the toys. Do bear in mind that there are important differences between what you'd expect in an indoor kitchen and what you might use outside.
For instance, whilst a grill is essential for cooking food and benchtop for preparing and servinge food are essential, a refrigerator and sink aren't. Remember too that whatever you use outside has to be weather resistant. The electrical supply, should you have one will have to be properly laid with external sockets and switches and also protected with an RCD.
How elaborate should yours be? That depends on what you and your family need. For example, if you barbecue only once in a while, a grill, benchtop and an under-bench storage cabinet will probably suffice. If you're a regular outdoor entertainer you'll probably want to add a sink and tap and ideally a fridge.
Take it as far as you want but careful planning will make the most of your space.
Planning Your Space
An existing deck or patio is a great foundation for an outdoor kitchen. With an existing pation you won't need to dig foundations or lay stone. Decks, on the other hand, might require additional support for all but the simplest of outdoor kitchens.
Whichever position you choose, an outdoor kitchen should be near to the house kitchen for convenient access to supplies and equipment. But that doesn't mean it has to be visible from the house. After all, might not wish the outdoor kitchen to be part of the view. Be sure the spot you choose will accommodate everything you want the kitchen to hold both now and in the future. Here are some typical space requirements for each component:
Grills & Barbeques. You'll find grills with cooking areas from 600mm to about 1200mm wide and 350mm to 600mm deep. You can also add a side burner or shelf, each of which can add another 300mm or so to the width. Whichever grill you choose, place it so smoke blows away from people eating, and notinto the house!.
Eating areas. Outdoor Tables typically range from those that can seat four to those that seat up to 10 in reasonable comfort. people. Allow at least 1000mm and preferably 1200mm between the edge of the table and a wall, deck railing or other fixed object so there's room to walk behind those seated. For safety's sake, place tables at least 1500mm from stairs, even if the eating area is just one level up.
For benchtops with high stools, provide at least 600mm. of bench width for each stool. Also plan on 300mm of under-bench leg room.
Bench space. You'll need plenty of open benchtop space to prepare food and serve as a holding area for a variety of items, so don't skimp. As with indoor kitchens, plan on 1000mm of benchtop on each side of the grill if possible. And to make food prep and cleanup easier, allow 400 to 800mm of open space on both sides of a sink.
Layout. Because the grill is the heart of any barbeque, build your outdoor kitchen around it. Then arrange the items in the kitchen so they're easy to reach when you're cooking. Don't forget hooks for hanging tongs, spatulas, forks and other grilling utensils. If you include a sink, refrigerator and storage cabinet, they should all be close to each other. But they don't have to be arranged in the indoor-kitchen work triangle that ties the stove, refrigerator and sink together.
One functional layout to consider: Place a benchtop opposite the grill, creating a mini-galley or U-shaped kitchen. This setup is not only efficient, but it also keeps kids and other traffic out of the work area. Barriers that keep children away from the hot grill are an advantage.
Choosing a Grill
The main grill types are charcoal and gas. Charcoal units range from $80 to $750. Those at the high end include work shelves, charcoal-storage areas and auto ignition systems.
Gas units offer more advantages. Many can be built into an incombustible surround for a more permanent appearance. They also provide greater control over cooking temperatures.
Good-quality gas grills start at about $400 and top out in the $4,000 range. That's a big spread, but you can narrow it once you determine what you need. The price of a grill rises with the size of the cooking surface, BTU output and extras.
Sinks. Stainless-steel sinks are the obvious choice here because they won't corrode. They start at about $150. Unless you plan on washing dishes outside, you'll only need a cold-water supply. And in cold-weather areas, install a shutoff valve inside the house so you can drain the pipe for winter
Refrigerators. Under-bench units are popular for outdoor kitchens. They're out of sight, protected by the counter and handy for storage. In colder areas, disconnect the refrigerator and store it inside during the winter
Cold-weather cooking. Even in chilly areas, you can extend the cooking season with a gas patio heater. Marketed by all the DIY sheds, these heaters look like 8-ft.-high light fixtures and produce a 20-ft. circle of heated air around theml. Either portable or set in concrete, they include a number of settings. An 8.75Kg LPG tank, hidden in the heater base, can provide up to 10 hours of heat.
Relax
After all the hard work of planning and building your new outdoor kitchen you deserve to relax with a cold drink and enjoy the view. Take it easy. Invite some friends around.
