It’s a real epic show and tell today – our incredible outdoor kitchen, which felt like it went up in a matter of weeks (and kinda did). We’ve already had so many hangouts here, a 100+ neighborhood event, and so many more are scheduled this summer and fall. We feel incredibly grateful for this kitchen/life, and I’m so excited to show you and share it with anyone who wants to come over (literally, we invited our entire local elementary school, LOL). Our kitchen was designed by RTA Outdoor Living (Ready To Assemble), and I couldn’t love it any more than I do – the customer service, design expertise, speed, and assembly ease were all extremely dialed in. A quick recap: we worked 1:1 with a designer, told them our size and our needs/wants, we chose the finishes and they laid it all out, created the drawings for approval/tweaking, then off it shipped. Of course, no major home project is that simple, but this one felt so seamless and fast, with the major things being taken care of by RTA and my brother’s contracting company, Afore Construction. If you want to read all about the process, head HERE (today’s post is all reveal, all day, but that one breaks it down more). While we all know you can’t have “fast, cheap, AND good”, if you are like me and want “fast and good” then RTA might be a company for you to check out (and I do mean really good/high quality).
We entertain a lot, A LOT, hosting many multi-family BBQs, potlucks, and playdates, so we really went for it. We chose a U-shaped covered kitchen that would allow people to sit on both sides, while also allowing many people to cook/prep in the middle. We had to shove the whole kitchen in between the big pretty oak tree and our well house (unmovable), which meant that it’s kinda skinny but long, but it totally works. The layout allows for all the appliances that we wanted (36″ grill, griddle, sink, fridge, burners, and kegerator) as well as dry storage for serving and prepping. And the deck is big enough to allow for easy flow.
The Goal – A Long-Lasting, Fully Contained Kitchen
Once we realized the possibilities and thought really long term (a potential future event space), we didn’t want to regret not having the contained function that we knew we’d use. I wouldn’t say it’s a commercial kitchen, but it sure could be that if needed. We skipped the pizza oven and any tragers or smokers, and opted to make sure that we could cook what we love to cook and store everything we needed to eat and serve out here (no running inside).
As A Reminder, Here’s How The RTA Kitchen Design Process Works
Salt and Pepper Grinders (similar) | Olive Oil (similar) | Cutting Board | Ceramic Fruit Holder | Striped Napkins (similar)
The process is fantastic – you work with a kitchen designer to build out what you want within your particular footprint. They plan it all out, making sure it makes sense for flow, ease, and thinking about what mechanics you want near each other (i.e., gas near gas). You approve the plans, select the finishes (i.e., stone and cabinet panel finish), and they manufacture it. It’s modular in the sense that each cabinet is its own “box,” thus making it semi-custom (which is much cheaper than fully custom). It arrives separated in crates by each cabinet “box,” which makes it easy to figure out what goes where. Then you use a drill and their brackets to secure them all together (far easier than any cabinets ever – it’s just matching up the corners and drilling into the brackets to secure). If you want to see how the whole kitchen came together, go check out our YouTube video on the process or just watch the embedded video below (just wait for a few short ads to play).
The Assembly Took Us ONE DAY
That’s right, one day. We had 4 dudes, my brother and his business partner, an RTA rep, Pete (upon my request, just in case), and another assistant. We started at 8 am and wrapped by 6 pm. Now we had a lot of help, but our kitchen is on the much bigger side, so if you had a normal-sized grill/counter situation, it could definitely be done in a day. It’s just a simple assembly that is really intuitive once you see how it works (not IKEA, folks).
Our outdoor kitchen is not super far away from our kitchen, but definitely farther than you want it to be every time you need napkins or ketchup. This wasn’t Brian’s concern, but that’s because he’s the griller and I’m on everything else. So when we had the option of adding a fridge, dry pantry, and enough storage for outdoor plates, flatware, platters, and a sink (!!!) to do ALL the dishes (that live out here permanently), I leaned all in. And it has worked – we’ve already had many BBQs where nothing from inside comes out or vice versa (meaning we are only cleaning one kitchen and not even prepping inside).
I love how the finishes are so simple and work with the style of our property – the white “plank” panels are actually cast cement and extremely solid (they come in “brick” as well). RTA constructs everything to not rot or rust or deteriorate in any way. OF course, we’ll cover it in winter, but with the rain up here, I don’t need to worry about it – they’ve tested it all in hurricane weather. I LOVE that I don’t need to worry about replacing anything for at least 10 to 15 years (we all know that’s not typical for anything that sits outside for years). But RTA’s product is truly built to last a lifetime, so I actually feel so good that I don’t really have to worry at all.
Apron | Blouse | Pants | Slides
I’m pretty sure that’s me up there saying “I told you so” about how pleased I was with having burners to make the corn on the cob and the baked beans (two essential BBQ foods for me). It was so fun to cook out here with him, kids running around, and my brother’s fam hanging with us. I wasn’t relegated to prepping in the kitchen while everyone else got to hang out here.
Foldable Handle Pots | Round Wood Board (vintage) | White Colander | Salad Servers (similar) | Knife
I’m going to do a full post about all the appliances, but I’m just giddy about the fact that I can go to the store, immediately drop everything in the fridge out here, and later prep, cook, and clean the entire meal without going inside. Brian is psyched about the smash burgers, and I’m just so excited that no one will be tracking dirt into our house during our family frat parties.
Counter Stools | Large Cutting Board
As you can see, the counter stools from Polywood look pretty darn great here (and they’ll last for 20 years at least, which makes me thrilled). We can sit five on each side, and of course, have like 5 people gather in the middle leaning on all the counters. Such a dream – a rowdy, rowdy dream 🙂
The location of the kitchen was something we thought about for years, but after hanging out here for a couple of summers, we were clear and firm, and thank goodness we were right. It’s so central to the whole yard that you really feel part of all the interaction. The lovely folks at Dennis’ 7 Dees added those evergreen magnolia trees, flagstone, and all the plantings (shout out to Monrovia for the mature plants) to soften that awkward sports court location (in the middle of the gazebo). It doesn’t really bother me, but that’s probably because it was my idea, and I love the kitchen so much that I don’t even let a negative thought in.
I truly feel like the luckiest mom on the planet right now, and the only thing that makes me happier is having people over and sharing it all, forcing my soups and salads on my friends while listening to music and drinking rosé with a billion kids running around laughing. No life is perfect, and certainly mine isn’t either, despite sharing mostly the good stuff here. But I feel really grateful for this yard, and now this kitchen to share with my friends and family for decades to come.
Look at that brother and sister team 🙂 Ken practically lives at my house while I’m over shooting at his house – it’s pretty special.
My Quick Advice If You Are Thinking About An Outdoor Kitchen:
A kitchen of this size and caliber is an investment – we hired many subs for the structure, deck, electrical, gas, plumbing, painting, and landscaping. While RTA was crazy easy and fast, it’s still a thing and will cost tens of thousands of dollars, which is why my advice would be to think about your climate and make sure that you are investing in a kitchen that will last a really long time (like RTA). Read the reviews to make sure that you won’t be dealing with a landfill in 7 years. We knew we wanted to cover it for rain (and so we could grill in spring), and we chose hardwood to ensure that the deck didn’t rot in 10 years. While you don’t need to hire a GC and you could manage all the subs yourself, a contractor will help it go more smoothly and guarantee the work will be correct. I know that I’m extremely lucky to have this partner who traded out the kitchen for all my PR and social production from my team. I can promise you that we are extremely happy with the quality and durability of this product and stand firmly behind this RTA kitchen.
Make sure you’ll really use what you are investing in. After a summer with probably 20 parties, we knew that this would be a long-term family investment that would pay off for work and in memories, but you might not need more than a grill and a prep counter – especially if your kitchen is nearby for storage and food. Sometimes we influencers make you think you need all these incredibly luxurious things, but your house, your weather, your level of hosting, and your budget might warrant something simpler (or get that pizza oven if you like wood-fired pizza!). I hope this inspired you for what the options are – we’ve really really loved it.
If you are into this and ready to invest, I LOVE RTA SO MUCH. Plus, they’re offering 10% off of your outdoor kitchen!
Dress | Sandals
A huge thanks to RTA (Daniel and Pete FTW), Ken and Nick (Afore Construction), Dennis’ 7 Dees for all the landscaping, Monrovia for helping us get the most mature plants, Big Trees Today for some of our big trees and I haven’t even talked about the corbels (thank you, Purl) and future pendants yet (that didn’t arrive in time). We aren’t done talking about this kitchen yet – and you bet there will be a lot of BBQ reels out here this summer – Barb and Elisha included. xx
*Photos by Kaitlin Green