Outdoor kitchen cabinets

[james]

You can build outdoor kitchen cabinets from concrete blocks, metal studs, welded steel or a combination of the three. There are also pre-made kits that let you build outdoor cabinets like tinker toys, and there are laminated cabinets made using compressed woods and glues capable of withstanding water and outdoor conditions.

It would be fun to hear what past builders have done, and what new builders are thinking of doing.

This is a new forum, and I think the information here will be very valuable to new builders.

Thanks!
James

[jahysea]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

Hi, our outdoor cabinets are made from a combination of materials. The right side, which has a burner and bbq, are framed with metal studs. The left side is framed with 2x4's. Both sides are clad in plywood and then stucco'ed. Counters are plywood/wonderboard/granite.

The stainless doors under the sink, range, and bbq just open to the inside of the cabinets.

This is covered by a roof and stays quite dry. I'd have done differently if this was unprotected outside.

The wood oven is about 5 feet to the right of the bbq by the way.

[Hendo]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

I have had brick-on-flat walls built on a footing in front of the wood oven, which will act as dividers between the sink cupboard, bar fridge recess, oven access bay/ash pit, barbecue and in-built deep fryer. I'm proposing to frame three of these bays with 3" x 1" timber battens and hinge doors on them, to create cupboards. Bench top will be solid granite. I decided on brick as the oven will be clad in red brick to match our house. The wall above the bench will also be brick to roof height.

John, those stainless steel cupboards and drawers - are they 'off the shelf' products, or did you have them specially fabricated? They look really neat! What do you mean by the doors opening to the inside of the cabinets? Do they open only at right angles, or do they slide back flush with the bench top after opening them?

[jahysea]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

Hi, the stainless under counter stuff is all pre-fab, just ordered off the internet. The doors open outward like any other cabinet door, sorry for the poor description. What I meant to say is that the inside of the cabinets are unfinished, when you open the door you see the inside framing.

I get asked frequently if the drawers are warming drawers. They are not. They are drawers full of junk like most other drawers in our home. Wine openers, garden shears, gloves, coasters, etc.

The only stainless we had fabricated was the backsplash behind the grill.

[james]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

I was looking through my photos today, and found this. It is the early metal stud framing for our outdoor cabinets and counters. Thought you might find it interesting.
James

[james]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

Here's another photo with the concrete board on, and the poured concrete counters.
James

[jtroy]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

We have recently finished our outdoor kitchen. Here in New Jersey we can't wait for the snow to thaw so we can get started with the pizza parties!!

We had ours professionaly installed by a landscaper who did a terrific job. He used Pennsylvania blue stone to complement our landscape.
Thanks,
Joyce
ps. how do you attach a picture to this site? When I click on attach it says error on page.

[james]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

Hi Joyce,

You can post a photo that is smaller than 100KB (roughly 480dpi) as an attachment to the posting here in the forum. Or, you can post a larger photo (up to 1024dpi) in the Photo Gallery, where they are sorted by category.

I am looking forward seeing you pictures (and to spring), so let us know if you can make it work.
James

[Hendo]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

Further to my post of 13 March, I shot a few snaps of my cabinet/counter brickwork using a friend's digital camera, which might better explain my setup.

The first shows the overall layout, with the brickwork dividing areas for (from left) sink/sink cupboard, bar fridge, ash pit, barbecue/wood storage and deep fryer with cupboard below. The slate pavers will extend into the bottom of all recesses after all the mess of building the oven and finishing the brick wall is completed. Only the sink, ash pit and fryer recesses will have door cabinetry installed.

The only work area will be above the fridge and perhaps a bit of the sink area. Hopefully this will be sufficient, except for pizza parties when we'll have to use an outdoor table for preparation.

I'm still deciding what sort of material to use for the doors. I'd prefer something rustic, but with so much stainless steel above the benchtop - sink, BBQ, overhead grill, range hood, fryer - I think I've successfully killed of any chance of a rustic appearance!

The second pic shows three granite samples which we're considering for the benchtop. The left one is 'Adelaide Black', a beautiful local granite which we've teamed up with European Beech cabinets in our recently renovated kitchen, and matches in well with the pavers and mortar joints. The middle one is called 'Outback Red' (which actually comes from Brazil) and has a remarkably similar shade of red to the brickwork, as well as flecks of charcoal grey. The right one fits in well with the rendered wall, and has both red and charcoal flecks through it.

Decisions, decisions!

The last pic shows the bench area situated at one end of the gazebo with oven behind.

Cheers, Paul.

[stuart]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

I was looking through my photos today, and found this. It is the early metal stud framing for our outdoor cabinets and counters. Thought you might find it interesting.
James

I can't tell from the photo James, are those standard 2x4 studs used for residential and commercial construction? Is that backer board attached to the backs and how did you finish this out?

I'm in the design phase right now for an outdoor kitchen remodel and would like a thinner alternative to cinder blocks. The oven will be covered with river rock and the cabinets with flagstone. I'm trying to reduce the overall depth of the cabinets from those in flagstone covered cinder block.

Can you tell me how material and labor costs compare between the stud construction and block construction?

[james]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

Paul,
Nice brickwork. That's going to look good. But I don't see one thing. Is your oven set back behind the cabinets?

Stuart,
My thinking is that both solid frame cabinets/enclosures (block or brick) and metal stud enclosures both have pluses and minuses, so that is comes down to the individual kitchen.

Blocks are inexpensives and go up fast, and don't take a lot of skill. But, it's more difficult to do more refined details, they're heavy and they consume a lot of space. My first outdoor kitchen in CA was all block, including the upper enclosure of the oven and all the cabinets. It came out pretty good. Everything in southern France is built from blocks, including houses, garages, fences, arbors, retail buildings, you name it.

Metal studs let to tackle more detailed enclosures, and they might be easier to do if you are building a gabled roof. The kitchen in the earlier photo used concrete board, but that was the last time I will ever do that. Terrible stuff. I should have remembered an earlier bathroom project and the concrete powder everywhere. I think heartybacker is much better.

I have never done a cost comparison, though at some level, neither is very high. It's more the labor.

Here's an idea. I think it's time for a poll. What did you use for your outdoor cabinets.
James

[Hendo]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

Paul,
Nice brickwork. That's going to look good. But I don't see one thing. Is your oven set back behind the cabinets?

James,

While the oven will be situated behind the cabinets, the vent and the landing in front of the vent arch will occupy a good deal of the cabinet depth.

This is shown in the photo below, where a section of the hearth slab (with ash slot in the middle) can be seen protruding over the middle ?cabinet? (ash pit). There will be a distance of one foot between the leading edge of the bench-top and the vent arch (with a 9? or so landing in between) and another foot to the oven opening, which will be flush with the face of the concrete blocks. It?ll be around six feet from the leading edge of the bench-top to the rear of the oven, so I may need to fabricate some long peels! But ultimately I will not have to lean over the bench much if at all to feed the oven.

Paul.

[kk5551]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

How are the metal studs to work with? I have looked at them at Home Depot but I think that there must be a better place to buy them. The ones that I have seen are more of an aluminum and don't seem sturdy. What tools does it require to be effective? Your pictures look great!

[jwnorris]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

How are the metal studs to work with? I have looked at them at Home Depot but I think that there must be a better place to buy them.

I would hope so - HD sems to be taking over everything.

The ones that I have seen are more of an aluminum and don't seem sturdy. What tools does it require to be effective? Your pictures look great!

As for the metal studs, they rely on their shape and the ultimate clading for their strength. And they are easy to use after a short learning curve.

You still need the trqaditional building members - sill, plate, stud, and bracing. Think stick biulding with light weight, non flamable material.

As for tools, a decent pair of avaition snips [tin snips], a saw, and a power screw driver are about it.

J W

[RTflorida]

Re: Outdoor kitchen cabinets

The HD steel studs are known as light gauge - 24 gauge galvanized steel, primarily for residential applications.
As mentioned it is the cladding which gives them strength (as well as being anchored and screwed together securely.
There are heavier studs available, I believe they are 16 or 18 gauge galvanized steel, rated for commercial applications (think office buildings).

I build my outdoor cabinets with the HD studs, then covered with cement backer board covered in slate. I would say this is the most solid portion of my home (I live in a block with stucco house). Its all in the anchoring and the attachment of your cladding material. In my case, I know I went way overboard with securing both; maybe a D9 bulldozer will move it, but not much less.
Yes, tin snips, screw gun, and maybe a chop saw if you have many to cut to length, are all you need.

RT