Building Our Perfect Outdoor Kitchen

When we started our deck renovation, we were hoping to build THE perfect outdoor kitchen. I wanted Chris to be cooking, and me to be watching! 🙂 I had a lot of thoughts on how I wanted it to look, and Chris just wanted to be able to have options.

We also wanted our outdoor kitchen to feel like a place we could actually LIVE in – a space where our friends and family could hang out and have meals together, and Chris wouldn’t be so isolated while grilling. We hoped this would feel like a homey and inviting extension of our home, we are blessed with good weather in GA so the plan was to live out here and just enjoy our whole backyard.

I wanted this space to feel high-end but still organic with warm wood tones, natural textures, and just timeless.

This outdoor kitchen took many, many, many, many rounds of layouts, and second guessing but my overthinking paid off and now… it’s DONE and it’s FREAKING PERFECT!!! Shout out Decksouth and all my friends for listening to me go back and forth a million times! They are the real MVPS.

Deciding on the Layout

The goal was to make this function like a TRUE Kitchen, no running inside to do one step of something. I thought long and hard so that we could cook an entire meal outside. And I’m happy to say it worked. Stressing over not only what would go in this kitchen but what the layout should be was worth it.

Lets go back and see what this sad sad deck looked like before shall we? When we had 2 smokers and a grill just chilling on this cramped deck with no freaking stairs.

Appliances

Let’s talk about the appliances in this bad boy. A smoker was Chris’s non-negotiable, so we got the Recteq Pellet Grill from BBQ Guys because Recteq is a smoker company, they are a local GA company and I heard their customer service is off the charts and when you are building a PERMANENT fixture like this kitchen. That is very important. I also want to mention that we ran a gas line inside the deck for most of the appliances! IT HAS BEEN THE BEST not to have to worry about propane tanks let me tell ya!!!! Anyway then we decided to go with the Blaze Gas Power Burner + the BlazeGas Griddle. Both were crucial in my mission to make this just as functional as an indoor kitchen. We can boil water and make pasta, while making wings, and cook burgers right on the griddle. The possibilities are endless.

The Alfa Hybrid Pizza Oven has been one of the best additions. It’s a gas/ fire hybrid pizza oven so this acts as our OVEN you can bake it in too. We are still learning but I can’t wait to see what we start making out here! (Besides pizza) The kids love it when Chris makes taco calzones. We also have 2 fridges – yes you heard that right. I thought it was overkill but now I’m certain we made the right call. We have a Blaze drawer fridge for just drinks and a regular fridge that helps store all the food or essentials we cook with like butter, cheese, pepperoni, etc!! It’s been so great and then of course we decked it out with storage and access doors where we needed them! We got EVERY SINGLE appliance and storage from BBQguys. Most are Blaze because they have such an incredible warranty and I wanted all of the stainless steel to match!

Setting up the Kitchen

I designed this entire kitchen using the Gemini software from ProFit Outdoor Living — it let me drag and drop a million different layouts and appliances from different brands. SO helpful. If you’re designing an outdoor kitchen, seriously… use it.

I ordered everything through Pro-Fit Outdoor Living, and they make all the exact cuts you need for your appliances. They have finished bases, but I ordered mine unfinished because I wanted a very specific look. And when I say it was fast… I mean FAST. The Deck South team set up the entire base in two hours. Wild. And the measurements? PERFECT. I swear I held my breath the entire time, but I measured right (a miracle!) and everything slid in pretty easily.

Before we could move forward, the Decksouth team actually built the pergola inside the kitchen footprint. Watching that go up was crazy, but it came together so quickly. The Decksouth team is unmatched. Miguel and Chris work so fast and so hard and they are perfectionists which you can REALLY appreciate in a contractor! Anyway after they got the pergoal up, we added a Cover Your Pergola roof to protect the appliances and stained it Hawthorne by SW WoodScapes. We also added 3 outlets on the pergola so we can hang lights and fans, so if you plan your own kitchen don’t forget your small details!

The deck was engineered to handle whatever I wanted up here, but I knew I wanted the most beautiful stone to finish it off: El Dorado Stone in Casablanca RoughCut. It gives that limestone look I was obsessed with, but it’s a veneer stone, so it’s half the weight (perfect for an elevated deck), easier to install, lower cost, and no sealing required. Less maintenance? YES PLEASE.

We finished it with white grout to keep that clean organic look… and don’t ask me how long it took me to pick the grout color because it’s not important. 😅 I had a vision, and I was not stopping until every detail locked into place.

Probably the biggest decision I had to make was the countertops. They had to survive us, the Georgia sun, and all the elements. I searched high and low for something that would hold up to the wear and tear and give me the exact “vision” I had in my head. The clear winner? Cosentino Dekton® countertops.

Dekton® isn’t technically natural stone, but it looks and feels like it, while being even more durable. It checked every box for us. You can literally put a hot pan directly on it, and since this kitchen sits in full sun all day, the UV protection was a must.

We chose the color Adia in a matte finish, and I’m obsessed with the white veining. Not too light, not too dark… it’s perfect. And even after hours in direct sunlight, the surface never gets hot to the touch.

Dekton® is scratch-resistant, UV-resistant, basically maintenance-free, and after months of using (and honestly abusing) our outdoor kitchen, I can confidently say: these countertops are insanely durable and SO easy to clean.

We also have a bar in the outdoor kitchen with a big beautiful slab of the same Dekton®. It’s perfection.

Finishing Touches

Let’s talk about some finishing details! LIGHTING!!!

I KNEW I wanted cafe lights for obvious reasons 1 AMBIANCE of course and 2 so we can see while we are cooking. It’s too dark not to have overhead lights esp after daylight savings time lol!! I got these lights from Walmart. They were like $8 but after I installed them I was like hmmmmm how the heck am I going to turn these off every night because they weren’t smart lights or on a switch… SO I got this KASA thing from amazon, hooked it up and it EVEN DIMS THE LIGHTS!!! It’s so cool.

We also added InLite lights underneath the countertop to give that HIGH END RESORT LOOK!!! I love the way it looks and it was so easy to install. Very plug and play and the color of the lights isn’t too warm or cool, it’s just right. We have that and the other deck lights hooked up to a transformer and they come on automatically at 7 pm every night!

NOW lets talk about the barstools, they have been a process because I wanted a high back black stools that I have been swooning over on BBQguys but guess what, it doesn’t exist at a decent price or at the counter height measurement I needed. It was hard to let them go but I have to. We ended up with this 4-pack from Amazon. I like that they won’t be hot when the sun is beating down and they have removable cushions, backs and armrests, Everything but a dang swivel!!!

But also let us not forget the decking that holds this baby up and adds the perfect contrast. We went with MoistureShield decking in the color Catalina. They have cool deck technology. 

I do have ONE REGRET, my biggest regret is that I didn’t put the pergola over the whole damn kitchen.

I’m just here to say thanks for being on this journey with me and OMG I CANT BELIEVE THIS IS MY HOUSE!!!!! Special shout out to Decksouth for building the most beautiful space I’ve ever seen.

Outdoor Kitchen Supplies

Contractor: DeckSouth

Countertops: Dekton® Countertop in color Adia (matte finish) by Cosentino USA

Stone: El Dorado Stone in Casa Blanca Roughcut 
Grout: White S by HOLCIM

Kitchen Build software: Gemini – Pro-Fit Outdoor Living

Decking: MoistureShield Meridian in color Catalina
Railings: RDI Railings in Elevation
Pergola and Pergola Cover: ProWood and Cover Your Pergola
Pergola Stain: SW WoodScapes Hawthorne

Outdoor Cafe Lights: Walmart
Island Lights: In Lite
KASA dimmer switch: Amazon
Bar Stools: Amazon

Thanks to Cosentino USA for sponsoring this post