The Three-Tonne BBQ: Why Outdoor Kitchens Crack Cheap Patios
Your outdoor kitchen isn't just a fancy BBQ. Masonry, stone worktops and appliances can put serious weight into a small area. Build it over the wrong patio base and something eventually has to move.
You've spent eight grand on an outdoor kitchen.
Rendered blockwork. Stone worktops. Built-in BBQ. Pizza oven. Fridge. Maybe a sink and a few cupboards thrown in.
Looks brilliant.
Six months later there's a crack running through the render. The worktop joint has opened up and one end of the kitchen looks like it's starting to drop.
Everyone starts blaming the kitchen.
We'd be looking underneath it.
It's Not Just a Fancy BBQ
A proper outdoor kitchen can be bloody heavy.
You've got masonry, concrete, stone worktops and appliances all concentrated into a relatively small area.
That's completely different from a table and six chairs sitting on the patio.
The problem starts when somebody builds the patio first and treats the kitchen as something that can simply be plonked on top afterwards.
Porcelain paving and its base might have been perfectly adequate for people walking across it.
That doesn't automatically mean it was designed to carry a massive permanent structure concentrated along one strip of the garden.
Put enough weight in the wrong place and something underneath can start moving.
One End Only Needs to Drop a Few Millimetres
Buildings don't need to sink into the ground like the Titanic before you notice a problem.
A small amount of uneven settlement can be enough.
One section of the base moves slightly. The masonry above doesn't want to bend with it.
Something has to give.
You start seeing a crack through the rendered finish. A joint opens in the worktop. Tiles crack. Doors stop lining up properly.
Someone fills the crack and paints over it.
Three months later it's back.
Of course it is.
You've repaired the symptom while the bloody thing underneath is still moving.
The Foundation Comes Before the Pizza Oven
This is why we want to know about the outdoor kitchen before the landscaping starts.
Where's it going?
How big is it?
What's it being built from?
Where are the heavy sections going to sit?
Once we know that, the groundworks can be designed around the finished garden rather than somebody trying to retrofit a miniature building onto an ordinary patio afterwards.
The same goes for services.
If the kitchen needs power, water or drainage, we'd rather plan those routes while the ground is already open.
Nobody wants to finish £20,000 worth of porcelain and then start cutting channels through it because somebody forgot the fridge needs electricity and the sink needs somewhere to drain.
Build the Boring Bit Properly
Customers naturally get excited about the visible stuff.
Which worktop?
Which BBQ?
What colour render?
Where's the beer fridge going?
Fair enough.
Our concern starts lower down.
Because the nicest stone worktop in Dorset isn't going to stop the ground underneath it moving.
A premium outdoor kitchen needs to be considered as part of the landscaping from day one — foundations, levels, drainage and services included.
Get that right and the finished kitchen looks like it simply belongs there.
Get it wrong and your eight-grand showpiece becomes a very expensive way of discovering why foundations matter.
Stop letting cheap builders ruin your property. Pop down and see the lads at 78 Alma Rd, Bournemouth BH9 1AN, UK, or ring the site phone on 07840 151036.
