Outdoor kitchen construction
Built like a wall, not like a piece of furniture
The kitchens that fail are the ones built like a cabinet. A light frame, a thin skin over it and a counter that sits on top. Out here the frame moves, the skin cracks at the corners and the counter opens up a joint you can put a coin in. We build the whole thing as masonry: a block core, laid on a footing or on the same compacted base as the paving, so it behaves like a low wall instead of a box sitting in the yard.
Once the core is up we face it. Veneer stone, brick or the same paver family that is already on the patio, so the kitchen reads as part of the space rather than an object dropped into it. Most of the kitchens we build go in while we are laying the patio it will stand on, which is the cheapest and cleanest way to do it.
Exterior Designs is family owned and operated, we are ICPI certified paver installers and a Belgard Master Craftsman shop, and every installation carries a 20 year warranty. When you are ready for a number, ask us to come out and look at the site. Estimates are free.
What is an outdoor kitchen actually built out of?
The core is concrete block. It is laid in courses, cored and filled where it needs strength, and squared up so the openings land where the appliances need them. That core carries the counter, takes the weight of a built in grill and holds the whole run straight for years. Nothing else we could build gives you the same stiffness for the money.
Over the block goes the finish. Veneer stone, thin brick or a paver face, set on the block and pointed, with a cap or a counter on top. The counter needs a real substrate under it rather than sitting on air: we run a solid deck across the block so the stone or tile counter is supported the whole way, not just at the ends. It is the same block and stone method we use across the masonry side of what we build, because a kitchen is a short wall with a lid on it.
Where do the gas line and the power go?
Under the paving, before the paving closes over it. Gas and power both get sleeved in during the base stage, while the yard is still open and a trench costs almost nothing. The sleeve is empty pipe run from the house side to the kitchen footprint with the ends marked, so the line can be pulled through it later without touching a single stone.
Retrofit is the expensive version of the same job. Once the patio is down, getting a gas line to the middle of it means cutting the field open, taking up pavers, trenching, and resetting the surface on fresh bedding. It can be done and we do it, but it costs several times what the sleeve would have cost on the day the base went in. The same sleeve goes in for a gas fire pit on the same patio.
Free estimate on your outdoor kitchen
Block core, stone face, gas and power planned in from the start. 20 year warranty on every installation.
Call (650) 705-0628Why does the base under the kitchen matter so much?
Because the kitchen and the paving have to move together, or not at all. If the platform sits on undisturbed ground and the patio around it sits on a compacted base, the two settle at different rates and you get a crack right where they meet. We build the kitchen platform on the same compacted aggregate base as the paving, at the same depth, so there is one section under the whole area.
We also think about the grill before the block goes up. The opening is cut to the unit you actually bought, with the manufacturer's clearances allowed for, and the ventilation openings left in the core rather than drilled in afterward. Tell us the model early and it gets built in. The base rule is the same one that decides whether a stone faced wall with drainage stone behind it stays plumb ten winters later.
Why choose Exterior Designs in San Carlos, CA?
We are paver and stone people. That is all we do: interlocking pavers and natural stone, no concrete, no stamped concrete, no asphalt. It means the kitchen, the patio it stands on and the walls around it are all built by our own crews to the same standard, and nobody is pointing at anybody else when a joint opens up. Have a look at everything we build out of San Carlos.
We are family owned and operated and we work across the Peninsula. We hold ICPI Certified Paver Installer status, we are a Belgard Master Craftsman shop and an Allan Block Certified Installer, and every job is built to ICPI specification and backed by a 20 year warranty. Estimates are free, so call and we will come and measure.
Ask a paver installer
Straight answers about paver installation on the Peninsula
Can you build an outdoor kitchen on my existing patio?
Usually yes, but we check what is under it first. If the patio has a proper compacted base, we lift the pavers in the footprint and build on that base. If the base is thin, we rebuild that area first.
What goes into the counter?
A solid deck across the block core, then the counter material on top. Stone, tile on a suitable backer, or a precast cap. The substrate underneath is what matters, because a counter that only bears at the ends cracks in the middle.
Do I need a gas line, or can I use propane?
Either works. A tank in the cabinet is simpler and plenty of people stay with it. If you want natural gas, say so early so we sleeve the line in during the base stage, before the paving closes over it.
How long does an outdoor kitchen take to build?
The masonry itself is usually a few days once the base is ready. What sets the schedule is the paving, the veneer curing and the counter, which often needs templating after the block is up. We give you the real sequence first.
Will the stone face match my patio?
We aim to. The easiest match is a veneer or paver from the same range, and we bring samples out and stand them against the paving in daylight before anyone orders. Colors look different in a yard than in a showroom.
Do you build outdoor kitchens outside San Carlos?
Yes. We work across the Peninsula and the wider Bay Area, including Belmont, Redwood City, San Mateo, Burlingame, Hillsborough, Menlo Park and Atherton, and we have built in Foster City and Los Altos as well.