Cooking in summer in a hot and cramped kitchen is a very dubious pleasure. And if residents of multi-storey buildings have no choice, the owners of private homes can take the process of cooking in the summer outside the house – in the outdoor kitchen. And the house will get rid of excess evaporation in the season of active conservation.
Well, the food cooked in the open air – always tastier than in the house. In addition, the outdoor kitchen, without much expense, can be made spacious enough to turn it into a place for evening meals and meetings with friends.
There are many variants of outdoor kitchen for the summer house:
- with a veranda adjoining the house;
- with a barbecue area;
- with a pergola;
- with a separate gazebo (pavilion).
In general, outdoor kitchens are divided into two types:
- open – a canopy open on one or more sides, sliding structures, tarpaulins (fabric), roller blinds or removable partitions can be used as wind protection. It will be comfortable in this kitchen all season – from late spring to early autumn;
- a closed kitchen – in fact, it is a “house-kitchen”, securely hiding from all the whims of nature, but it loses much of the unique charm of the outdoor kitchen.
Since structurally it is a fairly simple construction, the construction of the outdoor kitchen by their own hands will not be too much effort.
Outdoor kitchen. Pick a place.
An important stage in the creation of the outdoor kitchen project is the choice of place, the right choice of which depends on both the simplicity and speed of construction, as well as the convenience of further use.
There are several factors to consider:
- Availability of communications – proximity and ease of water supply, electricity, gas, organization of drainage;
- Away from roads – exhaust fumes, dust and noise are not the best background for a relaxing holiday and cooking;
- Remoteness from toilets, pit latrines, compost pits, cattle yards and other places with a characteristic sharp smell;
- Fire safety – if an open fire (barbecue, grill) is to be used in the kitchen, there must be no flammable buildings within a radius of at least 10 m;
- Trees – crowns will shade and keep cool by limiting the exposure to the scorching rays of the sun. Cooking by the hot stove and even under the hot sun is a dubious pleasure;
Remoteness from home – building an outdoor kitchen that shares a wall with the house (in the form of a veranda or annex) will make the project much cheaper. But on the other hand, the smoke and stoves from the oven will get into the house, and the main idea of the summer kitchen – to rid the house of the side effects of cooking.
At the same time, if you take the kitchen away from home, in bad weather there will be problems with delivery of food to the house.
Outdoor kitchen. Laying the foundation.
Quite often on the thematic sites considered the option when the interior of the kitchen has its own cellar. The option is quite controversial, because in this case, the cost of construction dramatically increases. In addition, if the kitchen is open, then in winter such a cellar will require additional insulation.
And to get to it, you’ll have to shovel snowdrifts additionally. So we will still consider the cellar as an attribute of the house, and you can safely begin to mark out and lay the foundation.
If the construction of capital walls (brick, stone, foam concrete) is not expected, there is no need to lay a full foundation. To do this in the ground on the total area of the trench (depression) of 10-15 cm, which is filled with sifting or sand and tamped. From above you can lay tiles or boards for the future floor of the summer kitchen. In this case, the floor should be raised by 15-20 cm above the ground level to avoid rainwater flows.
If you are planning to build a closed kitchen with capital walls, then, depending on the conditions and the planned load, you should choose between strip and pillar foundations. To lay a strip foundation, a trench (50 cm deep) is to be torn along the perimeter of the kitchen being built, fittings are to be installed and cement mortar is to be poured. Inside, select the soil for 15 cm, then create a sand cushion, on top of which – a layer of gravel. All this from above is poured in the mortar.
Outdoor kitchen. Construction of walls and roofs.
Usually, building an open outdoor kitchen, initially erected a wooden frame, which is built from a bar (cross-section of about 15×15). If the foundation was not laid as such, the corners of the future kitchen at a depth of about 50 cm buried wooden poles, which are poured concrete. Next, beam elements are installed, which are connected by metal corners.
After that the structure (inside and outside) is covered with finishing materials, the choice of which depends on the chosen style. These can be boards or plywood treated with special compositions preventing rotting. Siding or plastic wagon is often used for this purpose, primarily because of its water resistance and the absence of the need to repaint it periodically.
If there is a foundation, a wooden frame made of timber is laid in the base, which is fixed with metal corners at the attachment points to the foundation. Later on, the construction of the frame repeats the process described above.
When building a closed outdoor kitchen, bricks, foam blocks or stone are used for erecting walls. In this case, the wall thickness of half a brick will be quite sufficient. Inside the walls can be covered with plasterboard, plastic, trailer or plaster – the only limitation is the frost resistance of the selected material, because in winter the room will not be regularly heated.
For the outdoor kitchen will be justified arrangement of a pent roof, for which it will be enough to build one wall of beam construction slightly higher than the opposite. Choosing a roofing material, it is important to consider the strength of the frame. If for an enclosed kitchen there are virtually no restrictions (slate, metal, composite tiles, shingles, shingles, corrugated board, false roofing, polycarbonate), then for an open kitchen, you must choose a material that is easier, such as polycarbonate or shingles.
