# Need ideas for an outdoor kitchen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-an-outdoor-kitchen/586327 "2011-06-21T18:51:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-an-outdoor-kitchen/586327/1 "2011-06-21T18:51:33Z")
The good news, my friend is going to build me an outdoor kitchen to make up for the favors I’ve done him, and to work off the money he owes me. The bad news, he dropped a couple of tons of granite in my yard today, so I have to get this started or listen to the wife complain about the pile of rock. He’s a good enough mason to do the stone work. I’ve got enough pieces of iron around to handle doors and lintels. I can get the metal mesh for grates and such. I need some ideas for what to build. I’m thinking it should have an open grill, a smoker, a couple of propane burneds, a sink, a small refrigertor, and a counter top. Anybody have links, pictures, ideas, experience? ---
**Author:** ![Parenchyma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Parenchyma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parenchyma)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-an-outdoor-kitchen/586327/2 "2011-06-21T21:19:44Z")
If you’d consider a wood-fired pizza oven (and you should) [this](http://www.traditionaloven.com/) is a good site. And here’s a home-made [tandoor](http://www.villagok.dk/tandoor/index.html) oven. [This](http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/#outdoor-kitchens-living-rooms) site has some outdoor kitchen forums in with the wood oven stuff. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-an-outdoor-kitchen/586327/3 "2011-06-21T21:36:10Z")
So what’s the diff between a pizza oven and a tandoor? We’ve been talking for a while about building a wood-fired pizza oven. But I’ve recently discovered na’an… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-an-outdoor-kitchen/586327/4 "2011-06-21T21:54:28Z")
> [@Parenchyma](#): > > If you’d consider a wood-fired pizza oven (and you should) [this](http://www.traditionaloven.com/) is a good site. > > And here’s a home-made [tandoor](http://www.villagok.dk/tandoor/index.html) oven. > > [This](http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/#outdoor-kitchens-living-rooms) site has some outdoor kitchen forums in with the wood oven stuff. Thanks. These are great ideas. I make grilled pizza in the summer, but a real pizza oven isn’t going to fit indoors anyway. That would be a great idea. And a tandoor!!! That will keep my wife from complaining. I’m trying to incorporate something like an Argentine Asador as well (if I spelled that right). ---
**Author:** ![Parenchyma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Parenchyma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parenchyma)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-an-outdoor-kitchen/586327/5 "2011-06-21T22:06:57Z")
[This](http://www.villagok.dk/tandoor/naan/naan.html) shows naan cooking on the walls of the tandoor, which is cylindrical with coals on the bottom and which opens from the top. You can cook a naan in a pizza oven, but you can’t cook a pizza in a tandoor. The tandoor is also good for sword-sized [skewers](http://www.villagok.dk/tandoor/lamb/lamb.html) that stand upright and lean against the top of the walls. ---
**Author:** ![Sandra\_Battye](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sandra_battye/32/552_2.png) [@Sandra\_Battye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandra_Battye)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-an-outdoor-kitchen/586327/6 "2011-06-22T00:43:57Z")
Sunset magazine first featured an[adobe oven](http://www.sunset.com/garden/how-to-sunset-classic-adobe-oven-00400000040017/) back in 1971. It looks easy to make. You can make bread, pizza, roasts, and vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-an-outdoor-kitchen/586327/7 "2011-06-23T20:40:55Z")
Looks like you have the start of a great outdoor kitchen. One thought - our neighbors, back in the late 1950’s, built a real looking stone well, with a wooden roof and a crank for the hanging bucket, etc. and basically used it as a cooler for beer and sodas, etc. As kids, it was really cool (literally and figuratively) to go to the well, reach down and get a cold drink. You might update that with a real refridgerated area below, but if not, even the old fashion “dump in ice and add drinks” to the well was fun for large parties. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-ideas-for-an-outdoor-kitchen/586327/8 "2011-06-23T21:00:18Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Looks like you have the start of a great outdoor kitchen. > One thought - our neighbors, back in the late 1950’s, built a real looking stone well, with a wooden roof and a crank for the hanging bucket, etc. and basically used it as a cooler for beer and sodas, etc. > As kids, it was really cool (literally and figuratively) to go to the well, reach down and get a cold drink. > You might update that with a real refridgerated area below, but if not, even the old fashion “dump in ice and add drinks” to the well was fun for large parties. Well we already have a canoe that has only been used for the ‘boat full of beer’ at our parties. But this is an interesting concept. Right now I’m trying to calm my wife down about receiving our new outdoor kitchen in kit form, i.e., a pile of granite in the yard.