Outdoor Kitchens, Pergolas and Fire Pits

A lot of backyards end up as a series of projects that were never planned together. A patio goes in one year. A few years later someone adds a pool, and the patio is in the wrong place. Then a kitchen goes on the only corner that was left, far from the back door. Each piece works on its own, but the yard does not.

We would rather sit down once and lay out everything you want in the next several years, even if you build it in stages. Where does the cooking happen? Where do people eat? Where is the shade in July? Where does the smoke from the fire pit drift when the wind comes out of the west? How do people walk from the house to the pool without cutting through the dining area? A 3D design answers most of that before anyone digs, and it tells us where to run gas lines and conduit now so a later phase does not mean tearing up a finished patio.

Doug H., one of our pool customers, put it this way in his review: "Already working on plans for the patio and outdoor kitchen area!" Planning the patio and kitchen while the pool is being designed is what makes that second phase go smoothly.

An outdoor kitchen can be as simple as a built-in grill with counter space on each side, or as complete as a full cooking line with a side burner, a refrigerator, a sink, storage and a bar with seating. The starting questions are practical. How often do you cook outside? How many people do you usually feed? Do you want to face your guests while you cook, or face the view?

Location matters more than the appliance list. Close to the back door means fewer trips carrying plates. Out of the main walking path keeps kids and a hot grill apart. Downwind of the seating keeps smoke out of everyone's eyes. And if the kitchen sits near the pool, it should be far enough back that wet feet and a grill are not sharing the same few feet of deck.

Utilities are the part people underestimate. A gas grill wants a gas line. Lights, a refrigerator and outlets need electrical circuits. A sink needs water and somewhere for the water to go. Each of those means digging and coordinating, and each may need its own permit. Before any digging we have buried utilities marked through Ohio811, as Ohio law requires, and we find out what your town needs for the gas and electrical work.

An outdoor kitchen in Northeast Ohio spends the whole winter out in snow, sleet and freezing rain. The structure has to handle that. We build kitchens on a proper base, the same as our patios, so the island does not tilt or crack when the ground under it heaves. Countertops and finishes should be chosen with freeze and thaw in mind, and we will steer you away from materials that do not hold up to it.

Water is the enemy in winter. Any sink line has to be drained before the first hard freeze, and we plan the plumbing so that is easy to do. Covers for the grill and appliances are worth buying. If you want to cook outside in November or March, a roof over the kitchen, from a pavilion or a solid-roof structure, makes that far more realistic.

Shade is the thing most new patios are missing. A pergola, with open beams overhead, gives partial shade and a sense of an outdoor room without closing off the sky. It suits a dining area or a seating group next to the pool. A pavilion has a solid roof, so it keeps you dry in a summer storm and shaded at midday. It is the better choice over an outdoor kitchen or anywhere you want to be outside when the weather turns.

Both are structures, and in Ohio structures need footings below the frost line. Summit County, for example, requires deck footings to reach 38 inches, which gives an idea of how deep frost gets here. Posts set shallower than that can lift over a few winters, and a roof built on posts that move will show it. We set the footings to the depth your building department requires and tie the structure into the patio design so posts do not land in the middle of a walkway. A pavilion or larger roofed structure may need a building permit, and we handle that.

Outdoor living spaces and a pool have to share the yard, and the pool fence decides a lot. Every pool needs a barrier, and anything inside it is part of the pool area. Put the outdoor kitchen inside the fence and the cook can watch the kids swim, but guests who are not swimming are still walking through a gated area. Put it outside the fence and the kitchen and dining space stay usable for everyone, with the pool gate as the only way in.

Neither answer is wrong. It depends on how your family uses the yard and how many small children are around. We draw the fence line in the same 3D design as the kitchen, the patio and the pool, so you can see the tradeoff before any of it is built. The same goes for the equipment pad: a pump and filter are not something you want humming next to the dining table.

A fire pit stretches the season at both ends. On a cool September night, when the pool is too cold, the fire pit is where everyone ends up. We build fire pits in stone or block to match the patio, with seating around them, either built-in walls or space for chairs.

An outdoor fireplace is a bigger project and a bigger statement. It gives you a focal wall, blocks wind from one side and throws heat toward the seating instead of in all directions. It also takes a solid foundation, since a masonry fireplace is heavy.

Placement is where fire features go wrong. Keep them away from the house, overhanging trees and anything that burns. Think about which way the wind usually blows so smoke does not drift across the dining table. Towns and fire departments can have their own rules about recreational fires and where a fire pit may sit, so we check before we build.

The small pieces tie a yard together. Seat walls around a patio give extra seating without extra furniture and can hold back a slope at the same time. Walkways connect the driveway, the back door, the pool gate and the kitchen, so people are not wearing paths across the lawn. Tying in the planting beds, the edges where hard surface meets grass and the way drainage is hidden is what makes a new patio look like it has always been there.

Our crew includes people with landscaping backgrounds as well as construction and mechanical experience, so the hardscape and the ground around it get planned by the same team.

Outdoor living projects start at about $15,000. Where yours lands depends on what you build and what the site needs. A fire pit with a seating area on a new patio is a very different project from a covered kitchen with gas, power and water. The biggest cost drivers are the size of the patio or structure, the materials, the utility runs and how much excavation, grading and drainage the yard calls for. Building in phases is fine, as long as the plan is made once, up front. We price after the site visit and design, and if you would like to finance, we work with lenders including PoolLoan.net and HFS Financial.