Our DIY Outdoor Kitchen Plan -

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When we started planning our backyard renovation an outdoor kitchen wasn’t really on our radar (heck, neither was a pool!). But back in 2019 we hired a local landscaping company to draft up a design for us and he suggested adding one. While we didn’t end up going with that landscaping company OR their design (a pretty big waste of $1000 lol) it did give us a good starting point for our design. And obviously, we couldn’t shake the idea of an outdoor kitchen (or pool) once we got it in our heads. So I figured I would share a bit of our thought process now that we have finalized our DIY outdoor kitchen plan.

Let’s talk the non-negotiables, a.k.a. the things my husband just HAD to have (he is the chef around here so I gladly obliged). His list was: a bigger BBQ (not hard since our current BBQ is only 22″), lots of storage, a TV (insert eye roll here), and a Gozney Dome pizza oven. With this list in hand I got to work on a design.

Here is where we landed – let’s discuss!

The BBQ

After lots of research and help from the team at Dickson BBQ, we went with the Napoleon 500 Prestige Pro.

32″ – bigger than what we have but not so big that we lose out on counterspace
Commercial grade rotisserie
9.5mm thick rod stainless cooking grids (heavier rods create better sear)
Control knob lighting (this is probably unnecessary but it does look cool!)
Interior cookbox illumination for night grilling (again, not really necessary but I’m sure will be nice to have.)
Stainless steel trim and thermometer
MADE IN CANADA (this was a big selling feature for us!)

The Gozney Dome

This pizza oven was the topic of many conversations in our home. My father-in-law has a Gozney Roccbox which we have borrowed for pizza night on many occasions. It works amazingly well but you’re pretty limited with the size of pizza you can make. When my husband started hinting that he wanted to get the Gozney Dome for our outdoor kitchen, I honestly thought he was joking. What you need to know about my husband is that he is very practical and very frugal. So for him to suggest that we should buy a $2500 pizza oven, shocked me. BUT as I mentioned, he’s a super frugal guy, doesn’t have any expensive hobbies or habits, and he is an incredible cook. This guy deserves to splurge on the pizza oven of his dreams!

The Ceramic Egg

I’m sure you’ve heard of Big Green Eggs – well this is a Costco brand version, Louisiana Grills. Quite a few years ago I was at Costco and saw this egg on clearance for around $600. I knew Rob had been wanting one so I saw it as a great opportunity to surprise him for fathers day/his birthday. It was quite the ordeal – I only had a VISA (and Costco only takes Mastercard) and if I used our checking account he would wonder what the heck I spent so much money on!! So I opened up a Costco Mastercard and had to call my dad to help pick it up in his van because it wouldn’t fit in my car!

The Components

Here is where we agreed to disagree. He thinks we will need lots of storage in the outdoor kitchen where I don’t necessarily think we will. The only reason I didn’t push back on adding more storage components was because I liked that it was symmetrical! The cabinets on the outer sides are just access doors, and then there is a set of drawers to the left of the BBQ and a drawer and garbage pull out on the right.

The Inspiration

Now let’s talk about the design. We went back and forth about a million times on how we wanted to finish the kitchen – from painted brick, to stone veneer, to hardi-board shiplap. Where did we land? We are keeping it simple (and in-expensive) by doing a concrete board finish that will get skim coated with concrete, for a clean-lined stucco look!