Planning an Outdoor Kitchen on Your Terrace: Built for Vienna's Seasons

What makes an outdoor kitchen

An outdoor kitchen is a permanently installed kitchen in the open air, with a worktop, a cooking area, often a sink, and storage. It differs from a mobile grill in being a place rather than an appliance. There you prepare, cook, plate up and clear away without constantly running into the house.

The basic question is the same as for any kitchen: how do you want to live outdoors? A grill in the evening for the family, a weekend for twenty guests, or just morning coffee on the terrace? Size, fittings and position depend on the answer. The transition between inside and outside is covered in the article Inside becomes outside.

A good outdoor kitchen does not lengthen the summer. It shortens the distance between kitchen and table.

Where it stands decides more than any appliance.

The right position

An outdoor kitchen in the wrong place is rarely used, however beautiful it is.

We clarify these points before planning:

1. Proximity to the indoor kitchen: Short distances to the main kitchen save many steps. Ideal is a position beside the terrace door, so provisions and crockery are quickly fetched.
2. Sun and shade: Whoever cooks in the afternoon does not want to stand in the blazing west sun. A pergola, sun sail or canopy makes the kitchen usable in the heat too.
3. Wind: Smoke and heat should drift away from seating and windows. The prevailing wind direction can often be read from the garden itself.
4. Neighbours: Smoke, smells and noise should not drift straight to the neighbour. With terraced and semi-detached houses this matters even more.
5. View: The cook does not want to face a wall, but the garden or the guests.
6. Ground: The kitchen needs a load-bearing, level and drained base. On a roof terrace we check the permissible load with the structural engineer.

On balconies and roof terraces in a Viennese multi-occupancy building, house rules or the condominium agreement often restrict things like open flames or gas grills. We clarify this before planning. Which approvals are necessary for alterations in an Altbau is described in the article on permits for renovating a Viennese Altbau.

Once the place is chosen, the next opponent is the weather.

Materials that survive Viennese winters

The Viennese climate is demanding. In summer, temperatures above 30 degrees and strong UV radiation; in winter, frost, snow and thaw. In between, rain, pollen and leaves. Every material must withstand the swings.

Cosentino Dekton is one of the materials we prefer for outdoor kitchens. The manufacturer describes it as UV-resistant and frost-proof; it does not fade in the sun and tolerates high temperatures, which makes it well suited to outdoor worktops and cladding. What ultra-compact surfaces can do and where their limits lie is in the article Dekton explained. The comparison with natural stone and quartz composite is in the article Worktops: Dekton, natural stone or quartz composite.

Quartz composite is generally unsuitable outdoors, because its resins can yellow under UV radiation. Wood can be wonderful outdoors, but needs regular care and changes colour. If you want wood, choose it deliberately as a material that ages.

With the shell sorted, what goes inside?

Cooking, cooling, washing up: the equipment

The equipment depends on how you cook outdoors. Not every outdoor kitchen needs everything. A small kitchen with grill, worktop and sink is often used more than a fully equipped one that is overwhelming to clear up.

Possible elements:

• Grill: gas, charcoal or electric. Gas is fast and easily controlled, charcoal adds aroma, and electric is often the only choice on balconies.
• Hob: for side dishes, sauces or a paella next to the grill. Gas or special outdoor hobs come into question.
• Sink with water connection: saves many journeys but needs a winter-proof supply line.
• Fridge: only an appliance suited to outdoor use tolerates the temperature swings. An ordinary indoor fridge is not designed for this.
• Pizza oven: wood-fired or gas-fired, a place in itself that needs a lot of space and clearance.
• Storage: for grill utensils, charcoal, boards and crockery, in weatherproof cabinets with seals.
• Landing space: the most important and most underestimated feature. There should be room to set things down on both sides of the cooking area.

Workflows are the same as indoors: provisions, preparation, cooking, plating, washing up. How to plan these zones is described in the article The inner workings of the kitchen.

Picture the first August evening: the grill hisses, the pizza oven glows, and you slice tomatoes on a surface still warm from the day while the children set the table without a single trip through the house.

Water, power and light

The services must be planned in from the start, ideally before the terrace is built or relaid. Laying lines under a finished surface is laborious.

With water, the central question is frost protection. Outdoor lines must either be laid frost-proof or be fully drainable before winter. We plan a shut-off valve inside the house and a means of draining. The waste water from the sink needs a connection to the sewer or another permissible solution, settled with the plumber.

With power, outdoor sockets and appliances must be suitable for outdoor use and protected by a residual current device. The cables are laid with protection, and the electrician specifies the exact requirements. Why sockets and connections are planned before the furniture is explained in the article on electrical planning.

With light, the outdoor kitchen needs several layers, like the indoor one: bright task light over grill and worktop, so you can see after sunset whether the meat is done, and a subdued light for atmosphere. Outdoor lights should be glare-free and not shine into the sky or towards the neighbour. The logic of the layers is in the article Kitchen lighting in three layers.

What doing nothing costs. Carrying everything out and back for another season is not just tiring. It decides how often you actually eat outside. And a make-do grill corner with indoor furniture does not survive its first winter, so the second purchase is paid for twice.

And then comes the part that makes or breaks an outdoor kitchen: winter.

Through the winter: protection and care

In Vienna and Lower Austria an outdoor kitchen stands unused in the cold for several months. To be ready again in spring, it needs a small winter plan.

This is how to make it winter-proof:

1. Shut off the water and drain the lines before the first frost arrives.
2. Empty and clean the fridge and switch it off as the manufacturer specifies, or prepare it for the winter.
3. Clean the grill and hob, remove grease, and store gas cylinders safely as required.
4. Empty cabinets that do not tolerate moisture or frost, for example liquids in bottles.
5. Fit covers if the kitchen is not roofed. Breathable covers prevent condensation.
6. Inspect in spring: check seals, lines and fittings before the season begins.

A roof, such as a pergola with a solid roof or louvres, lengthens the season and protects appliances and surfaces. Under cover, an outdoor kitchen can often still be used in October, and on mild days even in winter.

An outdoor kitchen that you cover in March and that simply works becomes a place. One that has to be repaired every spring becomes a burden.

Which suggests the best approach: think of both kitchens as one.

Planning outdoor and indoor kitchen together

The best outdoor kitchen works with the indoor one. When both are planned at the same time, materials and heights can be matched. A Dekton worktop that begins at the island inside and carries on in the outdoor kitchen joins the rooms across the terrace door. A continuous floor without a threshold reinforces the impression, as described in the article One floor for all rooms.

At Richard Atelier you meet this thinking in one person: a single contact from the first line on the plan to handover, and our own joinery Tischlerkultur, a Viennese carpentry tradition since 1935, building the indoor and outdoor pieces as a pair.

Costs, too, are better planned when inside and outside are considered together. Firm prices cannot responsibly be quoted for outdoor kitchens, because size, appliances, materials and connections vary greatly. If you entertain many guests, the article The kitchen for hosts has further suggestions, for example on circulation routes and quantities of crockery. How we plan kitchens indoors and outdoors is shown on our page about fitted kitchens, and examples are in the references.