backyard kitchen
 

I am about to start planning a backyard kitchen.
I am wondering if any of you have any input.
Brands?
components?

I am hooking the grill up to the house natural gas.

didn't Gramps do one a few years ago?

I was thinking about a Bull grill. Anyone have experience with these?

I would like to be able to use a smoker and a grill at the same time. Everything that I find looks like it's a combined unit. I'm kinda thinking something separate, but the smokers that I find don't run on gas..

thanks

I used to have a smoker that ran on gas. I had a wood smoker, but it was a ridiculous amount of work to charcoal the wood and maintain the temperature. The one I had was square and vertical and the temp was easy to keep low and even. This one looks like it. And IIRC the one I had was a Smokey Mountain.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Outd...i_sku=12429510

Same as john said. I now have a 6 burner Cal-flame built in range with and smoker. Holds temp amazing and ignitors still works after 8 years. My advice - Spend twice as much time designing and picking your components than you think is normal. Try to really think outside of the box. I added extra conduits from one corner to the other inc case I needed to run different speak er wires or power wires. Try to put 120V outlets through the yard. We have rope and xmas lights throughout the yard which take power. I have wired and wireless speakers through the yard. On my Bar I have two keg-a-rators and the BBQ. I decided to not go with a sink as most of my buddies never used it. Lighting is critical through the yard and where the BBQ is so spend good money to get the correct lights. Finally - Make sure you have correct drainage. I have seen so may yards ruined by poor draining and wet lawns and such.

Good luck.

I have a outdoor kitchen with the Bull BBQ I really like it its natural gas everything is great but it is tough to clean. The best thing I came up with to clean is easy off oven cleaner but still allot of work. I thought about going the smoker route but didn't want to use more counter space so we opted to get a stand alone and place it elsewhere. I still haven't got one. I had a sheet metal guy fab up a thick stainless box and I put that on the burner and use it its ok for now.

I'll try to post a few of mine but as they said above extra power and conduit cause you always want to add stuff. I have on my island the bull four burner forgot the model and the side burner and then storage door and utility drawer below BBQ then a two drawer and fridge and kegerator and sink. I added a tin roof patio over it and converted a surfboard into a light fixture and added much neon and then surround sound and sat tv. We are out there a bunch so again as said before put alot of thought into what you want make sure you have drainage water electrical gas and extra conduit for whatever else you may think of down the road.

So I give I can't figure out how to post pics since the change. Anyone care to help or point me in the right direction?

Wakeboardin, there is an "attach image" icon down in the reply box. second from the left....

Just started working on mine. Interesting comment on the sink. Makes not running a water line out there a lot easier.

Going with a bar setup for entertaining first. Kegerator with tap tower, icemaker, mist system.. (wish I would've put that in in March)

Anyone know of a good kegerator for pony kegs? Brew my own and don't want to the huge kegerator for the standard 15.5 gal keg....

For your smoker, get a Big Green Egg. You can mount it in the bar. They burn wood charcoal. Matte of fact, Big Green Egg has it's own brand of charcoal. You can not use regular charcoal in them. They can smoke meat from 225 degrees for a day or you can open the vents to turn up the heat to 700 degrees and make a pizza if you want. It burns so efficient that it hardly produces any waste. I can do a 12 hr plus smoke and hardly have any ash.

http://biggreenegg.com/

Couple of examples of the end result that you can not get from a gas grill.

How you get dang images to work? It keeps wanting a URL.

I am leaning towards a big green egg for a smoker. I also want a gas grill. My thought too was to nix the sink. I would need to spend a few bucks on a drain line. That money can be spent elsewhere.
I agree with the pic posting. i can't figure out how to do it without just using a link to photobucket

My buddle did some stuff that turned out well.
He poured a concrete counter and polished it smooth.
He put in a large griddle for Sat morning breakfast.
Put in a canvas top with a metal frame.
It turned out awesome.

Here is what we did a few years ago. We went easy on the appliances but we are very happy with what we did.

This is at the lake house it had no back yard at all there was a 4ft retaining wall between the 3ft from the back of the house. We wanted to make the space useful so we had it dug back some trees removed, poured a concrete pad and built a new retaining wall with a fireplace that doubles as a smoker. We also put a long counter with a grill in it. Both the grill and the fireplace/smoker have propane that is hooked to the large tank for the house.

We did everything on a serious budget by doing a lot of hard work ourselves. We did the entire thing ourselves(no experience with building a wall) with a little help from a guy who lays brick on the side. The countertops are mined locally. The rocks were all picked up from our farm.

Our grill is probably the biggest regret. We bought it from lowes and it has already started rusting to pieces and the lighter does not work.

Here are some pictures

I don't have an outdoor kitchen, but I do have a webber gas grill and a traeger electric smoker and having both is awesome! They each do different things great and I couldn't go back to cooking on just one. Last week I was finishing up smoked pulled pork on one and grilling salmon on the other. Sometimes it's a bit stressful working both, but luckily if something is on the smoker I don't really have to do anything to it

looks nice Jon. thanks for all of the input.
Patrick, I do know that I want both components. Cooking on multiple surfaces can be stressful, but that's sorta what I do for a living. Sometimes I have 8 or 10 things going at once. (the whole Time -is-money thing)

jon, that looks good. simple yet effective

Finally figured this out sorry for the crappy cell phone pics. As for the Sink you really need something to rinse the shaker and blender with so I use mine all the time. As for kegerator I have the Danby but forgot the model. It is the unit that fits in a BBQ island the unit that holds the full size will not fit due to depth. Good luck and have fun, Mine went from outdoor kitchen to outdoor bar by the pool but I always get positive feedback.

Jon.... Looks awesome.

Someday I'll have a outdoor kitchen......

>How you get dang images to work? It keeps wanting a URL.

You have to click "Go Advanced" and then click "Manage Attachments" - at least that's what I do.

Cliff, in this Texas heat I think the number one thing(s) you need for an outdoor kitchen are 4 walls, a roof, and air conditioning :D

A couple months ago I erected a roof over my deck complete with a retractable LED flat panel TV, surround sound, and a fan. This week I upgraded my patio furniture as well. The problem is that it's soooo damn hot outside I can't stand to be out there.

Come on October!!!!

Thanks Big D. I think that is the ticket. I will try to upload some picts later.

Thanks for the complements.

Really like what wakebordin did. His and ours are on the other end of the spectrum.

The idea of having your cooking area covered is a great idea. It would protect you from the sun and also protect those expensive outdoor appliances from the weather.

The big green egg is an awesome tool. I have used one a few times and they are super versatile.

I don't know how the more expensive grills are made but ours is stainless on the top and the grates and the rest is just cheap steel. One that was all stainless would be a lot better.

Cliff, I've had just about every type of smoker ever made, a BGE, a Santa Maria style grill, gas grills, but a few years ago I got a Traeger Pellet Grill. I rarely touch any of my other cookers after that. I recently upgraded to a MAK 2 Star, but if i were to do a built in i would gladly do a Memphis:

http://hearthlandproducts.com/products/grills/memphis-builtin

Pellet grills are extremely versatile and extremely easy to cook on. We do everything from beef jerky to ribs to pizzas to bread. We use it almost daily. Before I bought my Traeger, I was dead set against pellet cookers. A friend had one and made a whole chicken on it and I was sold. Best move i've ever made.

Plan your build....build to your plans. Over think it, over power it, over build it.....go to a few friends houses and see what you do and don't like. Some people like them close to the house some people like them as far from the house as possible. We have a big patio 70' long by 25' wide so we had plenty of room to build it under the awning instead of building another structure to put the BBQ / Patio under. We went with 2 30" Bull Angus grills, 2 refridgerators, 2 fully enclosed drawers and 2 double doors that lead to storage underneath the grill/bar. I have seating for 12, outlets for crockpots and blenders, deep 24" stainless sink, disposal, hot and cold water. Lighting right above the cooking area and fans to move the air around while cooking. I built mine with one side that has a pass thru bar, I can close it off or lift it and open it up. We have a low serving side so you can put out food and people can serve themselves. My last project for the house will be to add a 30" flat screen behind me so we can watch TV from any spot out back. There is a TV you that you can watch from any spot under the patio, it swivels in all directions and I can watch it from the jacuzzi. We have surround sound out back as well, we can push some food thru when I fire up both grills and the fridges are always packed with cold drinks.

I ran all my utilities before we poured the patio, water, electrical conduit, sewer....like I said "Plan your build, build to your plans"

Have fun, it will last you a lifetime if done right. Living in Southern Cal we use the pool and BBQ almost year around so it was built with the mindset that it is an extension of our kitchen. We eat, cook and hang out in the back a lot at all hours of the day.

Sweet kitchen akman!