Outdoor Kitchen Construction in North Seattle

Follow along as an outdoor kitchen construction project unfolds for a family living in North Seattle.

North Seattle homeowner dreams of an outdoor kitchen

A couple who live in a North Seattle love their location and their neighbors. After their second child was born, they realized how great it would be if they could utilize more of their back yard to create a beautiful outdoor kitchen.

Lori Beehner, lead designer for Environmental Construction Inc., interviewed the homeowners. The owner pictured a basement level wood shop where he could exercise his love for wood working. Together we dreamed about using the walls for that shop as a means to support a first floor outdoor kitchen and dining space. The objective was to extend their livable space with a functional and finely crafted workroom and outdoor kitchen.

This blog series will take us from excavation to final completion as we have fun digging in the dirt and crafting a outdoor kitchen in North Seattle that would make anyone stop and say, "Wow!"

The outdoor kitchen construction begins

First, we developed a plan for designing and building this exciting project. With help on permit documents from a Seattle based Landscape Architecture firm, the plans for this outdoor kitchen in North Seattle began to take shape. Permits were obtained and we were off to the big dig.

The first part of the outdoor kitchen construction project began with excavating a large amount of the backyard, just below the entrance to the back door. This space would be home to a new work shop. The outdoor kitchen area would sit directly above the shop.

Led by Environmental Construction’s foreman Jon Daughtry and our lead carpenter Travis Bergner, we created an earthen ramp down the south side of the property, wide enough to access the back yard with our Dingo Compact Utility loader which handled the excavation.

Robert Pride, Independent Geotechnical Engineering Professional, was the soils engineer on record to assure the excavation process went smoothly.

Coming up...

The planned outdoor kitchen components will include a pizza oven, large grill with exhaust vent, a two-burner cook top and sink, plus below counter storage space. There will be room for a dining table as well as steps down to access their back yard. But first, we will pour the footings and start framing the walls.

Watch for continued updates as this project evolves through the summer of 2015.

Category: Projects