Maximize Your Outdoor Kitchen Space

In any family or friend group, there’s always one house where everyone wants to hang out. The home’s atmosphere is warm and welcoming, with cozy furniture that encourages long hours of lounging and conversation. Food is plentiful, beverages flow freely, and the pleasant company promotes laughter and deeper connections. It feels like home, whether you’re biological or found family. 

As a homeowner who loves to entertain, you likely pride yourself on a clean and comfortable home. You also spend your free time planning and preparing to host your favorite people for fancy soirees, Sunday dinners, or laid-back game nights. 

If you want to take the party outside, you need the right outdoor kitchen space to set the scene. The layout is an important part of how your space functions. How can you choose the configuration that maximizes your entertaining space? 

Measure Carefully 

Before choosing the best configuration for your kitchen setup, you need to know exactly how much space you have to play with. With accurate measurements, you can find the right fit for everything you need, including an appropriately sized kitchen island with the dimensions and layout that suit your patio or other outdoor space. 

Linear (I-Shaped) 

Designing an outdoor kitchen with limited space can be challenging. How can you fit everything you need on a patio or deck with a footprint the size of a postage stamp? A linear, or I-shaped, kitchen could be the ideal solution, particularly for long, narrow spaces.  

An I-shaped kitchen island with space for the basics — a grill, a couple of storage doors and drawers, and a bit of counter space — could be as short as about five feet long. Or you could choose a longer model of just under eight feet to house a larger grill, along with an outdoor fridge or sink. 

One of the best places to situate a linear outdoor kitchen is against an exterior wall of the home. If you have more space to work with (but the ideal configuration is still a straight line), you can create a custom setup by adding modular solutions for extra storage, appliances, and counter space.  

L-Shaped 

If you have a small-to-medium-sized patio that is squarish in shape, consider installing an L-shaped kitchen in one corner. It could abut your house with a peninsula extending into the yard, or you could place it on a corner opposite the house, facing out into the yard on both sides. 

The nice thing about adding an L-shaped kitchen is that it allows for greater ease of use than a linear setup. Rather than moving up and down a line to access counter space and appliances, you’ll enjoy better economy of movement with everything in easy reach of your grill station. 

Galley Style 

Popular in narrower yards where space is somewhat limited, the galley-style outdoor kitchen includes two parallel islands with a narrow lane in between. This shape allows you to maximize usable space if you don’t have enough room for an L-shaped layout. You could achieve this by setting up one of our outdoor kitchen spaces with a countertop, or bar on the parallel side. 

Even in a larger space, you might appreciate the open flow of this trendy configuration. A thoughtfully placed galley kitchen allows the host to breeze through the cooking area and attend to guests in entertaining spaces on either side. 

Add to Your Kitchen Island

Our unique outdoor kitchen designs allow you to add drawers, coolers, fridges, and more directly to the kitchen island itself. This way, you don’t need to get a big bulky outdoor BBQ, an outdoor kitchen next to that, a table for cutting, plus a mini fridge plugged in somewhere nearby for a thrown-together outdoor cooking space that takes up all the room you have to entertain. Allow us to design something seamless that takes advantage of every inch of your backyard. 

Our Most Compact Option 

If you’re worried about space and need to maximize what little you have, consider The James, our 62-inch kitchen island. From here, you can add and remove whatever accessories work best for your cooking style. The James is entirely customizable and comes with an optional 32-inch TrueFlame Grill for a quick and easy design you can cook with right away. 

If the sizes we offer don’t fit your space exactly to maximize what square footage you have, you can ask us about our custom fit options. Simply set up a design consultation to get started. 

Customizing Your Layout and Design 

When you select modular pieces that scale to suit your needs, you can create a kitchen that takes the best advantage of your space. 

Cooking may be something of a science, but crafting meals and entertaining family and friends is an art. The two can merge seamlessly in your outdoor kitchen when you design a thoughtful layout that not only fits available patio space but also perfectly meets your needs and preferences. 

Let the experts at Stono Outdoor Living help create your dream outdoor kitchen. Start building your kitchen with our 3D configurator; it's simple and easy to use. Or schedule a no-obligation design consultation to tailor a custom outdoor kitchen design that combines comfort, functionality, and style. We guarantee a perfect fit, free shipping, and easy assembly. Shop Islands or Schedule a Consultation today.