How to Build an Outdoor Kitchen, and When to Hire It Out

A block outdoor kitchen is well within reach of a competent DIYer, with two exceptions that are worth being clear about up front: the gas line and, in most cases, the electrical. Those are licensed work, and in Tucson running your own gas to an island is both a permit problem and a genuine safety one.

Everything else, the footing, the block, the finish and the counter, is ordinary construction. Here is the sequence, in order, with the parts that catch people out flagged as they arrive.

The real sequence

1. Layout and utilities planning

Mark the footprint on the ground and live with it for a few days. Work out where gas, power and water will come from and what route they take. Decide this before you dig, because the trench has to be open before the footing goes in.

2. Permits

If gas, electrical, plumbing or a roof are involved, sort this now. Retro permitting is worse than permitting.

3. Footing

Excavate below the loose surface material to firm ground, and be prepared for caliche. Form and pour a footing sized for the island. This is the step people skip by building on an existing patio slab, and it is the single most common cause of the cracking that shows up three years later.

4. Utility rough in

Sleeves and stub ups for gas, electrical and water placed before you lay block, positioned to come up inside the island where the appliances need them. Getting this wrong means coring finished block later.

5. Block work

Lay the shell in standard CMU, keeping courses level and corners square. Set rebar in the cells and grout them. Leave the appliance openings as you build rather than cutting them afterwards.

Getting the opening dimensions right is the hard part. Work from the installation manual for the exact appliance, and add the tolerance it specifies rather than a tolerance that seems sensible.

6. Inspection

Where a permit applies, the rough in gets inspected before you cover anything up.

7. Finish

Scratch and brown coat, then a finish coat of stucco, or stone veneer or tile over a suitable substrate. Allow proper cure time between coats. Rushing this in summer heat is why so many finishes craze.

8. Counter

Template off the finished structure, not off your drawing. Set with a slight fall so water sheds. Bracket any seating overhang properly.

9. Appliances and commissioning

Appliances in last. Gas connections tested and checked. Doors and drawers fitted.

The four that catch people out

The footing

Building on an existing slab. It is the most tempting shortcut, because there is already flat concrete there, and it is the one that reliably produces cracking.

Appliance openings

Grill dimensions and required tolerances vary considerably. An opening cut a half inch small in finished block is a genuinely difficult problem to solve without damaging the surround.

Gas sizing

Pipe size is determined by total burner load and run length. Connecting a modern grill and a side burner to a line sized for something smaller gives you poor performance that looks like an appliance fault.

Summer curing

Stucco and mortar cure too fast in Tucson summer heat, which weakens them and causes crazing. Building in June and July means shading the work and keeping it damp, and it is a real reason to schedule a build for spring or autumn.

What to hand over

The gas is not optional. It needs a licensed trade and, in nearly every case, a permit and an inspection. The same generally goes for new electrical circuits.

Beyond that, the honest answer is that it depends on how you value your weekends. The block work is straightforward and slow. The finish coat is a skill, and an amateur stucco finish is visible forever. The counter is worth having templated and fitted professionally because the material is expensive and cutting it is unforgiving.

A common and sensible split is to do the footing and block yourself and hand over the utilities, the finish and the counter. We are happy to work that way, and we would rather do the gas properly on a kitchen you built than have you find someone who will run it without a permit.

See outdoor kitchen installation and the permit guide.