How much does an outdoor kitchen cost? What drives the price

Ask us how much does an outdoor kitchen cost and we will answer with another question: which kitchen, and where? The price depends on four things: the stone chosen and its thickness, the metres of worktop, the structure that carries it and the built-in elements, from barbecue to fridge. Two kitchens of the same length can cost very differently, which is why our workshop in Aprilia, where we have worked stone since 1976, publishes no price lists: the price comes from a drawing and a written quotation. This guide contains no figures: it explains, item by item, what moves the total up or down.

Stone is almost always the first item: granite and quartzite stand up to sun, frost and acids with no special care; sintered stone (Dekton, Laminam) absorbs nothing and also comes in thin, and therefore light, slabs; marble and compact travertine ask for a honed or brushed finish, a water-repellent treatment renewed over time and, ideally, a pergola. Within each family the price shifts with rarity and with the selection of the slab: a widely quarried granite and a quartzite with a rare vein are worlds apart. Our guide to choosing stone for an outdoor kitchen compares them.

Then comes thickness: a worktop is normally two or three centimetres, and three means more material, more weight and more to transport; an island carved from a solid block is another chapter, because you pay for the block, not the slab. Lastly the metres, which should be read as the overall run: a straight line along a wall is the simplest case; a corner adds a joint, an island is finished on every side, a U-shape multiplies the pieces, and every opening for a barbecue, sink or tap is machine work and hand work.

Our barbecues, and every structure beside the fire, are built in refractory stone, the material ovens are made of: it is meant to stand beside the flame and it holds the heat over time. A structure of refractory stone blocks, clad in stone, is built on site and stays where it is made. Structures in steel or treated timber are lighter, suited to a terrace and can be dismantled: see the stainless steel outdoor kitchen with a stone worktop.

Fire is the second major item. A wood-fired barbecue in refractory stone and brick, with its steel hood, is a piece of construction; a built-in gas barbecue, or a charcoal one (we work with BeefEater and Bull, with the Cabinex series and with Fògher modules), is an appliance, and its price follows the make, the size and the number of burners. A wood-fired oven with its dome and flue adds material, weight and hours of installation: see the outdoor kitchen with a wood-fired oven.

Every built-in element counts twice: for the appliance and for the opening cut to measure in the worktop. A sink with outdoor taps, a fridge and wine cooler in outdoor versions with a ventilated housing, a plancha, burners, drawers and doors: each is a line in the quotation. The services depend on the site: if water, drainage, gas and power already reach the spot, the item is light; if they have to be brought from the house, the trench and the lines are a separate job, and the quotation should state who carries it out.

The finishes weigh less than the stone, but they do weigh: a honed, brushed, flamed or bush-hammered surface, edges worked by hand, the water-repellent treatment applied in the workshop. Transport and installation follow the destination: the distance from Aprilia, the access to the garden, a terrace that has to be reached by hoist (see the rooftop terrace outdoor kitchen); abroad, add protective packing, shipping and technicians travelling to site.

The table sums up the items with a level in words: it is an indicative order that changes from one project to the next.

The Economy range, in refractory stone with standard modules, is the most affordable way to begin: wood-fired barbecues, ovens with an arched mouth, sinks, worktops and log stores in ready, complete, sturdy compositions, in pale, grey or anthracite refractory stone. It is put together module by module, starting from your space and your budget, and it can grow over time. The models are on our page of refractory stone barbecues and outdoor kitchens.

Bespoke, by contrast, starts from the place: shape, heights, worktop stone, the position of the fire and of every built-in element are drawn around the garden. A bespoke island in solid marble or granite is an investment that lasts decades: in granite it is untroubled by the seasons, in marble it asks for seasonal care. Between the two there is a middle road: an Economy range composition configured for your space, or a catalogue model adapted in size and materials.

The quotation is free, written and without obligation. It includes the site survey, free of charge in Rome, Latina and throughout Lazio, at which we check the water, gas and power connections, the load the ground can bear and the falls, and the 3D design, with the kitchen set in your garden. Structure, worktops and stone cladding are described item by item; the refractory stone barbecue and oven according to the model chosen; transport and installation are shown separately, according to the destination.

Behind those lines is the way we work: slabs are chosen one by one in the Aprilia workshop, worktops are cut on numerically controlled machines with the openings ready, then finished by hand. In Italy our own team installs: they level the structure, fix the worktops, set in barbecue, oven and sink and test them with you; abroad we deliver and install on a project basis, as in Dubai. To request a quotation for your outdoor kitchen, have ready the measurements of the area, even taken by hand, and its distance from the house; photographs of the space and its surroundings; the connections available or to be brought; and the list of what the kitchen must contain, from barbecue to oven, sink and fridge.

Good savings are made on the drawing, not on the substance. Choose the stone for the place: a widely quarried granite in full sun costs less than a rare quartzite and asks for less care than a marble. Simplify the shape: a straight line has fewer pieces, fewer joints and fewer hours of installation than a U. Keep the kitchen close to the connections of the house. Build in stages: a refractory stone barbecue with its worktop is made ready to take a sink, a fridge or a wood-fired oven later, in the same stone, provided the whole kitchen is drawn at the start.

There are, however, three places where saving spoils the project. The structure beside the fire must be refractory stone: a material not made for flame deteriorates from within under thermal shock and after a few years gives way. Indoor materials should not be taken outside: engineered quartz yellows in the sun and marks with heat, and the fridge must be an outdoor model. And safety finishes are not an extra: beside a pool, slip-resistant surfaces, never polished. A kitchen rebuilt after a few seasons is the most expensive of all.

This guide accompanies our main page on outdoor kitchens in marble and stone. For the fire, see the outdoor kitchen with a refractory stone barbecue; for the kitchen indoors, the twin guide how much does a marble kitchen cost. Once you have measurements and photographs, ask for your free quotation.