10 Things to Keep In Mind When Planning an Outdoor Kitchen Build: Part 2

Did you miss Part 1 with the first 5 items? Read them here.

6. Seating arrangement

How many people do you anticipate regularly joining you in your outdoor living area? What will be the focal point of the area. Will you be rearranging furniture based on the number of people? All these are things to consider when planning your seating and table arrangements. You want the space to feel comfortable and not too crowded. You also don’t want it to feel like you’ve just brought extra chairs from inside the house and randomly thrown them into your outdoor living area. So take the time to put some thought in your seating arrangement, and how flexible it will need to be.

7. Does it feel good?

In line with our last item about the seating arrangement, try to keep the perspectives of your guests. Does your outdoor kitchen and living area feel comfortable and inviting. Also, consider what unique feels you want. Do you want elegant and classy, or laid back and relaxed, or odd and quirky, or really naturish? Keep this and the comfort of your guests in mind as you decorate and lay out the furnishings of your outdoor kitchen and living area.

8. Kitchen hardware

When it comes to the grill and other actual cooking-related items of your outdoor kitchen, keep it in scope with the cooking abilities and preferences of whomever will be the primary chef. Generally, this will be you or someone else who lives with you. If it will be you, and you’re not a gourmet chef, then you probably don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on the best grill money can buy. Instead stay within your budget and buy the kitchen equipment that you know fits your cooking abilities and plans. With that in mind, if you have a certain item you like to cook that requires some special cooking equipment or devices that cannot be easily moved from the inside to the outside, you’ll likely want to purchase a second of this item or items exclusively for use in your outdoor kitchen.

9. Outdoor Maintenance

Remember, your entire outdoor kitchen and living area will be exposed the elements. So keep this in mind when selecting fabrics and materials for furniture, decor and even the type of grill you want. You’ll have to clean these items regularly. You clearly don’t want something that will be ruined when rained on, but you also need to consider a material’s propensity to rust, mold or mildew, as well as how easily a material can be cleaned. After all, you don’t want your dream backyard getaway to turn into a cleaning nightmare after every rain. Not planning properly in this area can also cost you money over time if you have to end up replacing items, either because the weather ruined them, or you find maintenance for them to be too much trouble and too time consuming.

10. Hire experienced professional contractors

If you have some experience with construction, you may be able to build your backyard kitchen area yourself, or with the help of some buddies. However, if you know that’s not your forte, then don’t try it. You could very well end up ruining your backyard building area, and then having to spend more just to fix it.

Even if you can handle the job, if you’re going to have running water, electrical outlets and gas lines in your outdoor kitchen, you should definitely hire professionals in these areas. Not doing so could end in disaster.

Also, when hiring contractors, make sure you choose someone based on more than just a low price. Hiring inexperienced or less than professional contractors will bring you more stress and problems than the money you saved was worth. Additionally, make sure that who you hire has experience with building outdoor kitchens and living areas.

To learn more about Reliant Construction’s outdoor kitchen services, visit http://reliantconstruction.net/residential-contractor-services/outdoor-kitchens-houston/ or call us at  281-786-5199.