- Feb 15, 2016
- 1
- 10
I've been knocking around ideas for an outdoor kitchen for a few years now. Time and budget allows me one decently-sized project each summer, and their are still a few summers between me and this project, so this is more of a mental exercise than a plan so far. Of course, the patio it would sit on/attach to will come sooner, and I built last year's project (a deck) with this plan in mind.
My self-imposed guidelines:
The overall patio/kitchen footprint is about 15'x20'.
The corner will be a Forno Bravo Pompeii oven.
The long branch of the L will have a smoker.
The smoker will be offset, refractory, and large enough to occasionally cook a small hog.
Somewhere, I need charcoal/wood grilling capabilities.
Gas cooking would be nice to have as well.
This is what I came up with so far:
The stairs for my existing deck would land on the left edge of this patio, 4 feet from the deck. The house is 4 feet from the lower edge in this view. This keeps the heat far enough from combustibles and gives at least 3' walkway out either side.
Cross-section of the smoker part:
I made CMUs in Sketchup, and built it like Legos. Allowing for a layer of 1.5" insulation and 2.5" firebrick, the firebox dimensions would come out to 36x24x18. The smokebox is 48x32x29.5. Air intake: 8x32, minus door/vent considerations, and the flue/damper area between fire and food is about 5x27. I used the barbecue calculator site I saw linked on here to come up with ballpark numbers, starting with the cookbox size and working backwards. In the cookbox, there would be refractory plate about 8" off the floor, and 2 or more grates above that. With all but one grate removed, I could cook any animal that can fit in a 48x32x16 box (give or take an inch or two of height, not sure exactly where the grates will be).
My thought was to make the firebox a modified Santa Maria grill insert to allow for charcoal grilling. Basically, a brick firebox, open on top, so I could drop in something like this:
Or cover the opening with a steel plate for smoking mode and a plancha.
Then my chef friend told me about Norcal Ovenworks, and this little guy:
http://www.norcalovenworks.com/Wood-Charcoal-Gas-Hybrid-Grill-p/hybrid-2.htm
Now I think I should plan to put one of those in the short L of the kitchen and either:
A) Close off the top of my firebox entirely
B) open up the end of the firebox to be one of these things I saw on Man Fire Food, but with a way to close it down for smoking mode.
Like I mentioned above, this is still a thought problem a few years from any reality, but I would be interested in feedback or tips. One thing I haven't figured out is how to engineer a damper between the firebox and cooking area.
My self-imposed guidelines:
The overall patio/kitchen footprint is about 15'x20'.
The corner will be a Forno Bravo Pompeii oven.
The long branch of the L will have a smoker.
The smoker will be offset, refractory, and large enough to occasionally cook a small hog.
Somewhere, I need charcoal/wood grilling capabilities.
Gas cooking would be nice to have as well.
This is what I came up with so far:
The stairs for my existing deck would land on the left edge of this patio, 4 feet from the deck. The house is 4 feet from the lower edge in this view. This keeps the heat far enough from combustibles and gives at least 3' walkway out either side.
Cross-section of the smoker part:
I made CMUs in Sketchup, and built it like Legos. Allowing for a layer of 1.5" insulation and 2.5" firebrick, the firebox dimensions would come out to 36x24x18. The smokebox is 48x32x29.5. Air intake: 8x32, minus door/vent considerations, and the flue/damper area between fire and food is about 5x27. I used the barbecue calculator site I saw linked on here to come up with ballpark numbers, starting with the cookbox size and working backwards. In the cookbox, there would be refractory plate about 8" off the floor, and 2 or more grates above that. With all but one grate removed, I could cook any animal that can fit in a 48x32x16 box (give or take an inch or two of height, not sure exactly where the grates will be).
My thought was to make the firebox a modified Santa Maria grill insert to allow for charcoal grilling. Basically, a brick firebox, open on top, so I could drop in something like this:
Or cover the opening with a steel plate for smoking mode and a plancha.
Then my chef friend told me about Norcal Ovenworks, and this little guy:
http://www.norcalovenworks.com/Wood-Charcoal-Gas-Hybrid-Grill-p/hybrid-2.htm
Now I think I should plan to put one of those in the short L of the kitchen and either:
A) Close off the top of my firebox entirely
B) open up the end of the firebox to be one of these things I saw on Man Fire Food, but with a way to close it down for smoking mode.
Like I mentioned above, this is still a thought problem a few years from any reality, but I would be interested in feedback or tips. One thing I haven't figured out is how to engineer a damper between the firebox and cooking area.