Here Are 5 Ways a Mason Can Make Your Outdoor Kitchen Stand Out in Middletown, RI

The outdoor kitchen can be the most important part of your outdoor living space. It can provide delicious feasts and is often the centerpiece of the best outdoor experiences. Outdoor kitchens can also provide a great sense of community and beauty with their gorgeous masonry structures. You’re considering adding an outdoor kitchen to your landscape, so here are five ways a mason can make your outdoor kitchen stand out in Middletown, RI.

Related: Masonry Features to Create a Cozy Outdoor Living Space in Bristol and Tiverton, RI

A Retaining Wall

One of the most useful landscape features around is the retaining wall. Primarily used to help secure the soil of a landscape, retaining walls are also used to divide sections of an outdoor living space. An outdoor kitchen can be integrated into a functional retaining wall to create a cozy feel. The back of the kitchen would back up to the retaining wall, which will expand your storage capabilities with wall cabinets.

But even on a flat property, you can use a seat wall to partially encircle your outdoor kitchen and its corresponding dining area. This will help create a feeling of coziness, it will add overflow seating, and it can also house light fixtures that enhance night time experiences. 

The Kitchen Walls

The walls that make up the walls of your outdoor kitchen are an opportunity for creative expression. Your kitchen can be designed to blend in with the surrounding masonry by using complementary materials (or the same materials as the retaining wall or other vertical features). Or, it can become a dramatic stand-alone focal point by using contrasting materials that are found nowhere else in the space. Typically, most modern outdoor kitchen walls are constructed of concrete block clad with a natural stone or engineered stone veneer, but they can also be made using concrete blocks with a decorative face, or natural stone blocks.

An Integrated Outdoor Fireplace with a Wood-Fired Oven

There are few forms of cooking that humans have practiced longer than the use of wood in a masonry oven. Some of the best foods made by masters around the world still come from this humble feature. With a masonry wood-fired oven, you can turn your outdoor kitchen into a center of culinary delights. Apart from pizzas and other kinds of breads, a wood-fired oven can also deliver fantastic baked dishes and braised meats whenever you want to entertain.

Integrating an outdoor fireplace, wood-fired oven, and the outdoor kitchen will become the ultimate in outdoor living. After all, nothing is cozier than combining fire and food! With the fireplace as a central part of the cooking/dining area, you may wonder where you should put your lounge area. You could create another outdoor fireplace area in a quieter part of the patio; or, use a fire pit in the seating area and reserve the outdoor fireplace for the space that gets used the most: the kitchen/dining area.

Masonry Planters

Every chef knows that fresh herbs and vegetables are far, far superior to supermarket varieties. Having a small masonry garden within easy reach of the outdoor kitchen will ensure the freshest ingredients for your culinary adventures. Masonry planters can also contribute to a sense of privacy, if they are filled with ornamental grasses or dense evergreen shrubs.

A Water Feature

The soothing sounds of water always add to the atmosphere. A small fountain by the kitchen not only adds to the ambience, but if you use a Roman-style fountain (like a faucet spilling out from a masonry wall), this water could even be used to fill pots in your outdoor kitchen. What a great convenience!

Related: How a Mason Can Extend the Use of Your Barrington, RI, Landscape by Adding an Outdoor Fireplace