Advice Needed for Outdoor Kitchen Design


 
I figured your concerns about pavers were climate related. They are very popular here in SoCal with our mild climate. We love our paver patio. The only issue we have had with our paver patio was a disturbance by roots from a rubber tree. The affected pavers were removed, roots trimmed and then replaced. The company that did the original install did such a good job that 13 years later the drains still flow perfectly and not a single weed or blade of grass has popped up between any of the pavers.
 
Brad Olson said:
And with your new Sunsetter Retractable Awning you'll love it even more!

(Sorry, I've seen a LOT of daytime TV commercials since beoming temporarily retired.;))
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Don't laugh, but we thought about getting something like that, but due to our low eaves, it would have been mounted on the roof. I was not going to have unnecessary holes drilled in my roof. We have 2 large market umbrellas that we can move around. We have an e-z-up for big shindigs, but it's been a couple of years since we used it. I think our large (35+ people) cookout days are behind us.
 
I’ve thought about some sort of awning but, I have to finish the kitchen, replace some French doors, paint the pantry and the bedroom. Wife recently expressed an interest in a deck, that means I will need to square off the paver design then do the deck, I have a reasonably simple deck pattern in mind.
I agree about the weird use of pavers on city streets with ice melt systems. Kalamazoo has had to redo it since the first time they used a plastic membrane which did nothing but make the whole thing turn to mud so, it all came out and removed the membrane then re compacted the mess and put them in the “old way” and it’s been fine since. You have to find the old guy that understands how to do a paving job!
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
You have to find the old guy that understands how to do a paving job!
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Yea, that was my Grandfather. There are some good paver contractors out there, but most are just glorified landscaping contractors who teach the crew on the fly.
You get what you pay for, and most accept the cheaper bid.
It's a floating slab, just like a sidewalk or driveway and frost levels cause it to heave and separate, unlike concrete which has dedicated control joints and expansion joints.
Tim
 
It was funny, they literally had “the old guy” standing at the job telling them that their joints were either too wide or too thin!
For my purposes (no vehicle traffic) I can do the work myself. 5he expansion is not terribly large or involved the deck will need some thought.
 
JayT said:
We are re-doing our patio and it is a good time to put in an outdoor kitchen. Nothing fancy here, just want to put up a retaining wall about standing height and leave in space for the WSM and 22" Kettle. I am thinking of putting it against the house wall, like in the photo below. Would that be a problem with heat, smoke or anything else?

Did you do your patio project yet? Any pics?
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A couple of thoughts.....

Apparently, we got lucky when we had the deck torn off and a paver patio put in. Zero maintenance on the patio, all of the pavers are original, and the entire patio is still flat and very slightly sloped away from the house. No frost humps or other issues that I can detect. Temps range from about -20 F to 100+ F.

On kegerators....I converted a chest freezer (okay, I've done this twice, the 1st freezer died after 7 years or so,) into a 4 tap kegerator. I would highly suggest getting forward seal taps instead of standard bar taps. All moving parts in a forward seal tap stay submerged and won't stick. A bar tap will dry out and stick shut after a couple of days or so. Secondly, you are going to want to clean the lines and taps annually (or more, depends on usage.)
I'd agree that setting up an island would be preferable to not looking at the side of the house, and to be careful about what you build in, just due to wear & tear.
 
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