The grill is the easy part.
Outdoor Kitchen Contractors Across Georgia
An outdoor kitchen is a small building with services running to it. The cabinets and the grill are the part you choose; the gas, the water, the drain and the power are the part that decides where it can go and what it costs. We design and build both halves, and we say which is which before you commit to anything. Aqualis Pools also takes on projects across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Built for Function, Designed for Lifestyle
What an Outdoor Kitchen Is, and What It Is Not
At one end it is a grill built into a masonry or framed counter, with storage under it and a working surface either side. At the other it is a cooking area with a sink, a refrigerator, a bar and a roof over it. The distance between those two is not really about size. It is about how many services have to be run.
The honest version first. If what you want is a better place to grill, a freestanding grill on a properly finished patio with a gas stub run to it will do that, and it costs a fraction of a built kitchen. Plenty of backyards are best served exactly that way, and we would rather say so at the start than build you something you use twice a summer.
A built kitchen earns its cost when the space is used often enough that walking back inside for a plate, a drink or a rinse becomes the thing that stops you using it. That is the actual test, and it is worth being honest with yourself about it before anyone draws anything.
The Services Are the Job
Every appliance you add pulls something to the site.
Gas. A built-in grill runs on natural gas or propane, and the two are different decisions. Natural gas means a line run from the house and never thinking about it again. Propane means a tank that has to live somewhere accessible and out of sight, which is a design decision worth settling early rather than on the day the tank arrives.
Water and a drain. A sink is the appliance that changes the job most. It needs a supply line, it needs somewhere for the waste to go, and both of those are decided by where the house’s existing services run. A sink is also the difference between rinsing something outside and carrying it back indoors, which is exactly the walk a built kitchen exists to remove, so it is worth pricing properly rather than dropping at the first budget conversation.
Power. A refrigerator, an ice maker, task lighting and outlets for anything you plug in all need an outdoor-rated supply and protective devices. That is a circuit run, not an extension lead, and it is decided at the same time as everything else that gets buried.
The practical consequence: the cheapest time to run all of it is while the ground is already open for something else. If a pool, a patio or a deck is in the plan, the kitchen should at least be positioned before that work starts, even if it is built two years later. new pool construction and an outdoor kitchen are one set of trenches if they are planned together.
Decisions Made Before Anything Is Built
Which way it faces. In a Georgia summer, where the cook stands at six in the evening matters. A run of counter facing west puts the person doing the work in full sun at exactly the hour the kitchen gets used. It is a free decision if it is made early and an expensive one afterwards.
Whether it has a roof. A pavilion over a cooking area keeps rain off and extends the season, and it introduces a real question about clearance and ventilation above a grill that is worth raising before the structure is drawn rather than after. Where a full roof is not the answer, other shade structures cover the seating without sitting over the heat.
What it stands on. A masonry kitchen is heavy, so what is underneath it is a structural question and not a finish question. On the ground it is a hardscaping job, built off a slab or a properly bedded patio. On a raised custom deck, the framing has to be designed for the load and for the heat, which is a conversation to have before the deck is built rather than after.
Materials, and the question worth asking. There is more than one grade of stainless steel and they do not weather alike, which is why two outdoor kitchens that look identical on day one can look very different after three summers. Ask which grade the doors, drawers and appliance housings are, and what the cabinet structure behind them is built from.
The freeze. Georgia gets cold enough, often enough, that an outdoor water line needs a way to be shut off and drained before it happens. It is a small piece of design and it is the difference between an inconvenience and a repair that involves opening masonry.
Working space, not just appliance space. The thing that gets squeezed first is counter, not equipment: somewhere to put a tray down, somewhere to stand that is not in front of the grill, and enough run for two people to work without one of them reaching across heat.
What an Outdoor Kitchen Costs
The visible parts are a modest share of it. What moves the number is how far the gas, water, drainage and power have to travel, whether the ground needs levelling or retaining first, whether a roofed structure and its footings are part of the plan, and which appliances go in. A grill counter on an existing patio and a full cooking area with a sink, a fridge and a pavilion are not the same product with different price tags; they are different builds.
Where a kitchen forms part of a larger project, pool financing options apply to it in the same way they apply to the pool.
Where It Sits in the Rest of the Backyard
A kitchen fixes the layout of everything around it, because the rest of a backyard arranges itself around where people cook and stand. Seating usually wants to be near enough to talk to the cook and far enough from the heat, which is where an outdoor fireplace often ends up, and where it can be built as part of the same masonry job rather than as a second visit.
How all of it sequences against a pool, a deck and the ground between them is set out on our outdoor living page.
What Our Clients Say
Aqualis Pools is rated 5.0 on Google, from a small number of reviews, and every one can be read on the profile.
Outdoor Kitchens Across Georgia
We design and build outdoor kitchens for homeowners in Lawrenceville, Buford, Loganville, Athens, Auburn and nearby Georgia communities. The full list is on our service areas page, and finished work is in the gallery .
Frequently Asked Questions
Gas or propane for the grill, a supply and a drain if there is a sink, and an outdoor-rated electrical circuit if there is a refrigerator, an ice maker or lighting. How far those have to travel from the house is usually the single biggest factor in the price, and it is the first thing we look at.
Grills, side burners, sinks, refrigeration, storage, counter runs, bar seating and lighting, in whatever combination the space and the budget support. The useful way to plan it is backwards: decide what would stop you walking back into the house, and build that.
It depends on what they are made of, which is why the question worth asking is specific: which grade of stainless the appliances and doors are, and what the cabinet structure behind them is built from. Two kitchens that look identical when they are finished can age very differently. The other Georgia-specific point is the water line, which needs a way to be shut off and drained before a hard freeze.
Often yes, but it is a structural question rather than a finish one, because a masonry kitchen is heavy and a grill produces heat. It needs to be designed into the deck framing rather than added to a deck that already exists. On the ground, a slab or a properly bedded patio is the simpler route.
A grill counter on existing hard standing is short work. A full kitchen with services run to it is a construction programme, and permitting for any roofed structure is part of the timeline rather than an afterthought.
A well-built kitchen that suits the house adds to how a property presents. Whether it returns its cost at resale is debated and depends heavily on how specific the build is to one owner’s taste. Build it because you will cook on it.
Start Planning Your Outdoor Kitchen
Two answers get a realistic number quickly. Do you want a sink, or just a grill and counters? And how far is the nearest gas, water and power from where the kitchen would stand? The first decides which product you are buying; the second decides most of the price.
Call (770) 373-8405 or send us a message.