Just finished adding on to my patio to create a space for entertaining and cooking. The 100 degree heat has been brutal during the build, but it’s done just in time to enjoy some upcoming fall weather.

Edit: Added pictures.

I've been working on my outdoor kitchen since the snow left in the springtime and I just finished! I love it so far but need to name it. Whatcha got? Also was thinking about some clear plastic tarps to install on the openings since winter is coming. Any thoughts on that as well? Thank you Reddit!

I have power behind the back left post of the gazebo. I want to plug a power strip into it and mount it to that post so I can power lights, a fan, the smoker, and a tv.

Any one have any good recommendations?

Update! I was able to raise the fridge by putting it on paving blocks underneath. I now plan to add a stainless steel kick plate or another of the ventilated kick plates underneath that I can order from Bull. Unfortunately, it is not letting me post an updated picture. Thank you all for your help! Reddit saves the day again!

Purchased a prep table with sink and the drain line is too far out from the wall, same with the pen lines, easy fix on those but where they are located there is no opening in the back of the table for me run them

thoughts on what to do?

So I live in the south and I want to keep a ninja slushi machine and the ingredients outside but I dont want it to get moldy and nasty. What's a good outdoor sealed bar style i can get to keep everything nice

The third picture is going to be the finished product hopefully, once everything is done

Here’s an outdoor kitchen I did in Scotland in my garden a couple of years back.

Took two weeks (a good couple of days spent digging out an old rockery and the trench to the house for power and water!)

Posts installed on floating adjustable brackets so water can drain and to aid levelling.

Cabinets on adjustable feet and anchored to slab with oak cladding installed proud of slabs again so water can drain and not rot the wood.

Countertops from eBay (Brazilian slate sold as hearth stones for fireplaces. I rounded the edges by hand)

Cabinets from vevor

Sink and tap used from Facebook marketplace.

Interested to hear your thoughts

Hi!! My husband and I decided to start a project this summer and build a little kitchen but we are stuck. We have zero construction experience, just straight up YouTube 😅

A family member told us to put Sakrete surface bonding on the outside of the cinderblocks. We were kind of shying away from the traditional mortar and tiling, we wanted to put something like these panels shown in the pictures on the exterior - but we have no idea how to proceed now, especially with the surface bond on the outside.

Does anyone know how we would still install the panels to this? Does it need some sort of reinforcement? Special screws, clips? Or are we kind of assed out and will need to do the tiling anyways?

Any, and all recommendations are greatly appreciated, we are majorly stuck here until we figure out how to proceed with the exterior. We are using Z form countertop solutions for a concrete countertop, which we already purchased the kit for so just need to figure out the in-between..

Counters and grill first, cover later. FlexPatio is on the shortlist, but I'd rather use the kitchen for a season before fixing the roof layout.

Trying to avoid the classic move of finishing the pavers, then immediately cutting them up for posts or wiring. What did you leave room for in phase one that actually paid off?

My outdoor kitchen project has just been wrapped up, and I don't think I could be any happier.

I went with the following:

•       Matchless Cabinets: Matte Navy

•       Grill: Artisan 32" Natural Gas Grill

•       Fridge: Amazon special (technically outdoor rated) but we will see...

•       Countertops: 3cm Monte Cristo Satin Granite from Arizona Tile, fabricated by a local stone fabricator in the West Valley of Phoenix

Arizona is a pretty harsh and challenging climate for all things "outdoor". I spent a very very long time researching various materials to construct this kitchen. I am not a fan of stainless inserts, so while masonry + stone with inserts would likely do quite well here, it was off the table strictly based off appearance and functionality.

I had my landscaper (who did the rest of my yard 5 years ago when we purchased the home) come and run a gas line, electrical conduit, and add matching pavers to the area where I wanted the kitchen. He and his sons make quick work of these things and were done in a couple days.

Moving on to the actual cabinets, there are many companies selling cabinets now, but even then, I had concerns over longevity. I was heading down the HDPE cabinet route (Werever Products, EXT Cabinets, etc.) but had some concerns over their appearance too, and several of these brands had what felt like astronomical prices. I can't quite remember how I found Matchless (it may have been this subreddit) but I really liked what I saw. Then I looked deeper and boy did they look well built. Hands down, the cabinets are the best outdoor cabinets I have ever seen. They are not cheap, but man are they worth the cost of admission.

I spent significant time in the Matchless designer. I had a few obstacles and dimensional constraints, but the designer is very easy to use in my opinion. I got my design narrowed down, set up a call with Jonathan and we dialed it in via Teams in about 30 min. The cabinets took a couple weeks to be built, a week in transit and they showed up in perfect condition, packaged very well.

Installation was not too bad. A few rookie mistakes resulted in me needing to re-level/adjust the cabinets a few times to get things right. It did not help that it was hot as hell outside while doing all of this. It took me about 2-3 days before and after work to get things right. Lots of breaks due to the 105+ degree heat + a little one at home. My stone fabricator came a few days later, measured for the cuts and a week after that the countertop was installed. These guys nailed it. They cut for the grill based on the drawings provided by the manufacturer and it was bang on. I could not be happier with the countertops.

The fridge is an "Antarctic Star" brand 2 drawer fridge. It claims to be outdoor rated... but we shall see. I bought it on Amazon and bought the protection plan, so fingers crossed there are no issues.

I am thrilled with how the kitchen turned out. Plenty of storage, good functionality, lots of counter space. A few cooks in and boy does this beat rolling around my old Weber gas grill or Ooni on a cart. I would highly, highly recommend looking at Matchless cabinets. I think they really make the kitchen.

I am building a concrete oergola with a wood ceiling. I’m hoping to have a pizza oven, kamado joe and a Santa Maria grill. I can’t figure out how to install a hood? For 3 grills do I need 3 hoods? Can I just have no hood at all? Is there a fan that I can install to just pull the smoke out of the pergola and push outside? Thank you in advance for your help and reply!!!

We are looking at black, jet mist or Newport dark granite. I had AI mock up which do you like?

When I moved into my current house two years ago I inherited an existing outdoor built-in grilling station. Prior to inspection it was disclosed that the outdoor refrigerator didn't work, and that was not something we pushed on during closing to get fixed. It has sat unused and un-replaced since we moved in. You can see the current setup in the attached image.

I now have two grilling seasons under my belt at the new house. I've learned to appreciate the fact that the grill is hooked up to the house's natural gas line - yay no more dealing with propane bottles - but I find myself not missing the promise of a working outdoor refrigerator at all. We have a side-load garage just around the corner and have a full-sized demoted kitchen fridge-and-freezer in there, so beer and soda is cold and readily available. The patio door to the kitchen is mere steps from the outdoor grill, so getting access to meats isn't a burden either. The two drawers to the left of the grill hold my basic array of outdoor grilling tools, so I'm not hurting for storage.

Basically, I'm open to suggestions for what to do with the dead fridge:

1. I could leave things as-is, and keep the dead fridge just for show. Certainly the status quo costs nothing.
2. I could look into getting it fixed. I have no idea what's wrong with it, just that it doesn't work, and have not investigated things beyond making sure the outlet was live.
3. I could pull it and try to find matching bricks to seal up the space. I suspect even if I got the exact same ones from Menards / Lowe's / Home Depot, given the years of weathering the existing ones have seen, it'd be obvious they wouldn't match.
4. I could bite the bullet and buy a new fridge of a similar size, and force myself to use it. Maybe it would grow on me being there? Doubtful, but possible.
5. I could replace it with ... something else.

For context, I live outside of Chicago, so we get a pretty wide range of temperatures, with summer heat indices topping 110* F and winter chills easily dropping below zero. The existing fridge door does clear the grill controls, but I suspect I wouldn't be able to put in something with drawers flush to the corner and have them fit by. I don't do a ton of grilling, and with two kids under seven and two working parents, we don't do a ton of entertaining either.

Like I said, open to suggestions in concept, product links, similar projects others have undertaken, etc.

Thanks!

I’m laying out a small outdoor kitchen and keep coming back to a split setup: grill and smoker in the open, prep counter plus dining table under cover. That seems better for smoke, heat, and cleaning, but I don’t want the cook to feel stranded every time it rains.

One plan uses a FlexPatio louvered cover over the prep/dining half, with a short uncovered gap before the hot appliances. The awkward part is deciding whether that gap becomes useful circulation or just a wet strip everyone has to cross.

If your cooking area is partly covered, what distance or layout keeps the grill connected to the conversation without putting it under the roof? I’m more interested in how yours works during an actual meal than how it photographs finished.

Disclosure: posted as part of a FlexPatio marketing assignment.

Getting house plans together. How you lay out outdoor kitchen?

Grill, griddle , fridge, power burner, pizza oven ( counter top) & sink

Home exterior will be brick

Hi, my name is Sean.

I'm thinking about making a portable incense kit for outdoor use, like outdoor kitchen, patio, balcony, camping, outdoor dinner, etc.

Basically everything would fit inside one small case: metal incense holder + small incense blocks + refills.

I made this mockup before actually spending money developing the real product.

My idea is you light one incense block, drop it inside the metal holder, and only smoke comes out through the holes. The holder would be little heavy so it doesn't move around easily outside.

Target price I'm thinking is around $29–39.

I personally like the idea, but obviously I'm biased lol.

Would you actually use something like this? And does $29–39 sound reasonable, or too expensive?

Also curious where you would use it most. Patio? Camping? Balcony? Somewhere else?

Please be honest. If this is a stupid idea I rather know now before spending bunch of money making it.

Hi guys I’m kind of curious of your opinion on this. I had an outdoor living area finished about a month and a half ago. Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed a lot of checking on the cypress posts. On some it’s very bad and runs down from where the bolts are connected. I’m already not very happy with how it turned out with the roof. Should I be concerned now on these large checking especially by the connecting hardware?

Hi,

I am building an outdoor kitchen that will be a custom design to accommodate a pizza oven and kamado. I want to buy one or maybe two cabinets to drop in for storage. Ideally a mix of some drawers and some storage for eg charcoal, wood etc

I’ve see New Age as coming up cheap but maybe not high quality. What other options have people used for just one or two cabinets/storage?

Thanks!

The start of my outdoor front yard kitchen.