Planning & layout
Planning and layout of an outdoor kitchen: where the grill, sink, fridge and storage belong in a run — clearances, working distances, wind direction, and the layouts that actually work.
The short answer
Start from the grill and work outward. The grill decides the aperture; the aperture decides which cabinet; everything else fills the remaining width in the order you use it.
Read in this order
Start here
The rest of the category is variations on these. Each answers one question rather than listing trends.
Guides in this section
The full list
Newest first. Each guide answers one question and links to the cabinet, drawing or report that settles it.
Before you read the guides
What to fix before anything is ordered
These are the decisions the guides below keep returning to. Settle them roughly first; the articles then fill in the detail.
The walkway
A grill whose lid opens upward needs about 1,000 mm of clear floor behind it. Below that, the cook stands sideways to open the lid.
The working triangle
Grill, sink and fridge within a short path of each other. On a run under 3 m this mostly happens by itself; above that it has to be planned.
Which way the grill faces
The cook should not stand with their back to the garden or the guests. This one decision moves the grill to the other end of the run more often than any measurement.
Services before layout
Water in, waste out, the gas bottle and a power point. A layout that ignores them gets redrawn once the plumber arrives.
How the run ends
A wall, a sight panel or a return. Deciding it on the drawing is free; discovering it on delivery is not.
Straight answers
Questions this section gets most
If the answer you need is not here, the enquiry form asks for the grill model and the run length and nothing else.
How much space does an outdoor kitchen need?
A workable single-wall run starts at about 2.4 m, and 3.2 m is where a grill, a sink and useful storage stop competing for the same space.
Can the run be an island?
Yes, with a back panel and a fixed position. Castors and islands do not mix — an island that can move will move.
Should the sink sit next to the grill?
Close, but not adjacent. Splashes and a hot appliance at the same joint is the arrangement customers ask to change most often.
Save the reading
Send us the grill and the length
One field, then a configuration and a price. If your grill is one we have not cut for, we will ask for the manufacturer's drawing rather than guess at it.
Page last updated · Reviewed by the BOGEQI technical team, Foshan Bogeqi Cabinetry Co., Ltd.