Lior Eliav
By Lior Eliav, Co-Founder, SKOL Outdoor Living
An outdoor kitchen lives outside all year. It takes the summer sun, the rain, the wind and the cold snaps, and it does that every day whether anyone is cooking or not. When an Oklahoma family asks me what to look for, I start with one question: what is it made of, all the way through?
I started my career as an aircraft engineer. That work teaches you that precision and reliability are not optional. An outdoor kitchen is a much simpler machine than an airplane, but the same idea applies. The parts you cannot see decide how long the parts you can see will last.
Here is how I walk a homeowner through the materials before they buy.
The countertop: ask whether it needs sealing
Countertops get the most attention, and for good reason. They take direct sun, spilled marinade, hot pans and standing water.
Most granite is porous and generally needs periodic sealing to keep stains out, and darker slabs can lighten when they sit in constant sun. Concrete is porous too, usually needs sealing, and can crack or craze with heat and freeze cycles. Tile can look great, but outdoors the grout lines are the weak point.
The surface we chose is sintered stone. It is an engineered surface made from natural mineral material, compacted under high pressure and fired at high temperature until the particles fuse into one dense slab, with no resin binder. Because it is not porous, it never needs sealing. It resists heat, scratches, stains and UV, and you clean it with soap and water.
Whatever you pick, ask the seller two plain questions. Does this surface need sealing, and how often? What happens to its color after a few summers in full sun?
The frame: stainless is not all the same
Under the countertop is the structure that holds everything up. This is where a lot of outdoor kitchens fail, because nobody looks at it.
Lower grade stainless steel can tea stain, which is the brown discoloration you sometimes see on outdoor metal, and it can corrode at the welds. A painted or coated frame can look fine on day one and then start to chip where the coating breaks.
Our cabinet structures are 304 stainless steel certified to ASTM A240, and nothing is coated or painted over the structure. Under normal residential exposure, including pool chlorine, salt air and UV, 304 stainless does not rust or oxidize.
You do not need to become a metals expert. Ask three things: what grade of stainless the frame is, whether it is certified to a standard, and whether there is paint or a coating over it. A good seller will answer all three without hesitation.
The cabinets: what keeps the weather out
Doors and drawers are where water, dust and critters get in, so look at how each cabinet is closed up. Ours are fully enclosed and sealed on all sides, with weather stripped compartments. If the back or the bottom of a cabinet is open, whatever you store inside is sitting outdoors too.
Also ask what the kitchen stands on. A traditional built outdoor kitchen usually needs a poured pad or a masonry base, plus framing, masonry and a crew on site for days or weeks. Ours stand on independently adjustable stainless steel legs that level them on pavers, stone, concrete or a structurally sound deck, so most yards do not need a new pad poured.
Start with how you cook, not the countertop
I see this industry as very close to the appliance industry. The grill, the pizza oven, the refrigerator: that is what people are really buying, and the cabinets and countertop are there to serve them. Appliances are usually the largest single swing in what a build costs, so it pays to choose them first and plan the layout around them, before you fall in love with a countertop color.
Appliances also wear out or get discontinued long before good stainless and stone do. With a traditional masonry kitchen, when a built in grill is discontinued, the cutout has to be rebuilt to fit its replacement. So ask whether the appliance openings are tied to one manufacturer’s original dimensions. Ours are not, which means a grill can be swapped years later without rebuilding the cabinet.
Questions to bring to any showroom or contractor
– Does the countertop need sealing, and how often?
– What grade of stainless is the frame, is it certified, and is it painted or coated?
– Are the cabinets sealed on all sides?
– What does the kitchen stand on, and will I need a new pad?
– If my grill is discontinued in a few years, what has to change to fit a new one?
– Who handles the permits, and the HOA approval if my neighborhood needs it?
Take your time
Families often take three weeks to a month to decide, sometimes two months, and sometimes the whole season. That is fine. An outdoor kitchen is something you will use for years, often with the whole family around it. I once had a family who had moved in from out of state to be next to their grandkids, and they wanted a pool and an outdoor kitchen for them.
It is also why I would rather meet people in their own backyard than send a number and a rendering. Standing in the yard, you see where the afternoon sun hits, where the wind comes from and where everyone will gather. Those things matter as much as any material on the list above.
Choose materials that will still look and work the same after years of Oklahoma weather, and the rest of the kitchen will take care of itself.
About the author: Lior Eliav is co-founder of SKOL Outdoor Living, which engineers and factory builds complete outdoor kitchens in 304 marine grade stainless steel and sintered stone, with full delivery and installation in Oklahoma and Dallas-Fort Worth. Lior began his career as an aircraft engineer and has since built businesses in service, construction and outdoor living. https://skoloutdoorliving.com
Lior Eliav is co-founder of SKOL Outdoor Living, which engineers and factory builds complete outdoor kitchens in 304 marine grade stainless steel and sintered stone.
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