5 Ways an Expert Mason Can Create Your Dream Outdoor Kitchen in Barrington and Newport, RI
Around the world, dining in the backyard with family and friends is one of the most cherished pastimes. As modern outdoor living becomes more luxurious, there are many ways in which your outdoor kitchen can become an essential feature far beyond a basic grill. Building your outdoor kitchen with masonry will not only improve its look, function, strength, durability, but also the feeling of permanence in your backyard. Here are five ways an expert mason can create your dream outdoor kitchen in Barrington and Newport, RI.
Related: Here Are 5 Ways a Mason Can Make Your Outdoor Kitchen Stand Out in Middletown, RI
The Right Flooring Materials
Use natural paving stones or patio pavers in and around your outdoor kitchen to create a focal point and complement the design aesthetic of the home and patio.
Brick and bluestone are two classic materials for outdoor kitchens; but today, there are many more choices including large format pavers. The advantage of large format pavers (whether square, rectangular, or plank-style) is that they look more modern, make the kitchen feel more expansive, and help keep the space cleaner because of fewer joint lines that could gather grime.
Though modern pavers are easy to clean, there is always a risk of an unwanted stain created from food or who knows what else. Some pavers come pre-sealed; and if not, ensure your mason applies a sealant to protect their appearance and integrity, and simplify cleanup.
Masonry Walls
The outer structure of your kitchen walls can help integrate the kitchen into the surroundings or make it into a stunning stand-alone focal point. Either way, the use of masonry will give your outdoor kitchen a sense of permanence. You could use stone blocks, decorative concrete blocks, or, for the greatest design flexibility, natural stone or manufactured stone veneers.
Within these masonry walls you can house lighting fixtures that illuminate space and show off the beauty of the masonry itself.
If your landscape is on a slope, you can even incorporate the outdoor kitchen into a retaining wall. When the back of the kitchen becomes part of the retaining wall, the effect is one of coziness as the walls give you a sense of being indoors except that the sky is adorned with billions of stars.
A Fire Feature
Nothing enhances outdoor cooking and dining quite like a fire feature such as a fire pit, fire table, or outdoor fireplace. Each one of these masonry features will warm up everyone’s fingers and provide ambient light. Integrating an outdoor fireplace into your kitchen area will create the most welcoming hearth that has drawn humanity together for millennia.
Combine your outdoor fireplace with a pizza oven to enhance your outdoor cooking even more. A pizza oven can be the centerpiece of your outdoor kitchen/dining space, combining warmth, light, beauty, and delicious bubbly wood-fired pizzas.
Shelter
Placing your cooking and dining space under a pavilion will let you use the space virtually year-round. Setting a pavilion on top of masonry pillars gives it a more robust appearance and a sense of permanence. And once again, the masonry can house light fixtures to keep your patio clutter-free.
Seat Walls
And speaking of clutter free, if you frequently host large parties and don’t want to clutter the kitchen area with furniture, consider a seat wall around the perimeter of your patio and especially around the outdoor kitchen. This helps define the space, offers overflow seating, and it’s a place to display colorful potted plants and other items.