East Cobb Outdoor Dream Kitchen
During the 20th century, cooking outdoors was typically a summer novelty, wearing off as soon as the leaves started to shimmy in the cool fall breeze. Fast-forward to today and cooking outdoors can be performed year-round in the South, with the right design. Atlanta Curb Appeal came together to help this family make their outdoor dream kitchen a reality.
East Cobb Outdoor Kitchen
Step One-The Design
At our first meeting with the client, we sat down and thoroughly listened to all of their needs for a new outdoor space. We proposed a few options and came up with some hand-drawn sketches on the spot, turning their wish list into visual representations. The next step of the design process was to nail down the general location, the overall final size, and location of each system. Final decorative details, however, came later after the project progressed into the finishing stage. A combination of white and dark browns was determined to be the primary color scheme.
See the full Atlanta Curb Appeal Outdoor Gallery here
Step Two-Construction
Clearing the space was first on the agenda for our Atlanta Curb Appeal crew. We carefully demolished the original deck and foundation since we would be replacing the entire structure. New, heavier joists and posts plus footings and a decorated railing, made of metal and cedar 2×6 decking, were installed. Higher-quality timber was chosen on this job to support the weight of the new appliances and future guests. The original cedar color of the wood was gorgeous, and we could have used a simple, clear sealant, but we gave this natural beauty a notch up with a seal of sheer, warm, brown tint.
Outdoor Kitchen in Marietta
The hardware on the deck was the next installation stage. Typical home barbecue grills run on gas tanks, which have to be changed out after regular use. This new barbecue grill from Kitchen Aid currently runs on propane. However, they plan to upgrade it to natural gas with a conversion kit. A modified line can accept fuel from a home’s natural gas line, which means no more trips to buy gas! We will finish this gas line conversion after we finish remodeling their basement in a separate job.
The other significant addition to this outdoor kitchen layout is a Big Green Egg. They already owned a midsize model, but it sat unused for quite some time on their previous deck. They were very excited to finally get some use out of it.
Cedar Decking Outdoor Kitchen
Some clients ask about the safety of having an outdoor grill or Big Green Egg under a structure because of the level of heat that emanates from these devices. To counteract this, we installed this Egg inside of a granite countertop; it sits on a granite platform and is surrounded by three sides of granite to protect the encompassing wood from the heat.
Step Three-Adding Beauty
After function comes beauty, and they wanted something different; a pergola was the answer. Adding a pergola had three functions: an aesthetic feature, which provides some shade, but more than that, its true purpose was to emphasize the perimeter of the outdoor kitchen area and to ensure privacy from the nearby street. This dynamic pergola was installed using cedar beams and bamboo inserts that tie the overall look to their matching decorative fence. We suggested this design after we found out that they had some leftover bamboo materials from their fence installation.
Our favorite part of each makeover story is sharing how the client responded to their new renovation. They shared with us, “We are blown away by the results. It turned out better than we ever imagined. In fact, our friends keep taking pictures of it!”
Our advice for those in East Cobb considering an outdoor kitchen would be to be opened-minded; there are a lot of options out there when it comes to materials and design. A customer’s budget will dictate many of these decisions. Wood, stone, tile, granite and appliance quality and style, e.g. stainless steel, and other features can change the project cost dramatically. We love exploring options with new clients.
Want to read another makeover story? Check out this Million Dollar Deck with outdoor fireplace we completed last year!
Atlanta Curb Appeal 