Whether you want to continue the Kansas City BBQ tradition at home or simply love the al fresco outdoor dining experience, an outdoor kitchen is a must to turn your backyard into an at-home vacation haven.
In Kansas City, a new outdoor kitchen can cost between $20,000 and 50,000 or more. The actual cost is affected by several factors, including:
Size: The size of your outdoor kitchen, including the necessary counter space.
Material Selection: Countertop material will also affect how much your outdoor kitchen would cost
Construction Method: The complexity of kitchen design, including any overhead structures.
Appliances: Extra appliances besides stoves and sinks.
Additional costs: plumbing, electrical wiring, permitting, and any other expenses associated with the project.
Cost by Size
The size of your kitchen will significantly impact the cost of your project. On average, an outdoor kitchen costs $75 to $250 per square foot, although the rate can vary based on your local labor rates. Most outdoor kitchens typically range from 200 to 300 square feet, with some larger designs taking up 400 square feet or more.
Cost by Layout
The layout and complexity can also affect the cost of your outdoor kitchen. Popular layouts include:
Small layout: suitable for kitchens under 200 square feet. Usually comes in a linear design with one grill and a counterspace on the side.
L-shaped layout: L-shaped layouts can be placed along the edge of your patio and usually feature multiple appliances, an extended counter, and sometimes a bar.
Large/full kitchen: A full-size outdoor kitchen has a rectangular layout, typically with three sides of counters and appliances and a central island. These layouts can cover over 400 square feet.
Overhead Structures
Sometimes you may want to add an overhead structure, such as a pergola, to cover part of your outdoor kitchen for weather-proofing. Overhead structures cost about $15,000 on average, but exceed $50,000 depending on the size, design, and material used.
Cost by Material
The material you use for your countertop can significantly impact the cost of your outdoor kitchen. Popular countertop materials for outdoor kitchens include granite, soapstone, concrete, and tiles.
Outdoor Kitchen Countertop Price by Material
Material
Cost (per square foot)
Granite
$80 to $150
Soapstone
$60 to $130
Concrete
$50 to $150
Porcelain and ceramic tiles
$17 to $30
Many outdoor kitchens are built on top of existing patio pavings. However, if you want to use a different type of paver for your kitchen, be ready to pay more for material and labor as well.
Appliance Costs
Appliances are the soul of your outdoor kitchen, determining its capacity and functionality. To ensure the efficiency and safety of your outdoor kitchen, make sure to use appliances specifically designed for outdoor use.
Below are the prices for some common outdoor kitchen appliances:
Grill: $700 to $7,000
Outdoor-rated Fridge: $2,000 to $6,000
Storage Doors and Drawers: $350 to $1,500
Pizza Oven: $700 to $7,000
Ice Trough: $300 to $600
Dishwasher: $400 to $2,000
Wine cooler: $400 to $2,000
Additional Costs
Like most other architectural design/build projects, a complex outdoor kitchen project also comes with some additional costs for design, engineering, and upgrades
Plumbing
If your kitchen comes with a new sink, it will also need new plumbing. The cost to install a working sink outdoors falls between $300 $600 in most cases. Plumbing for water or gas, altogether, typically ranges from $1,500 to $5,000, depending on how many appliances are needed to service and how far it is away from the source
Electrical
Sometimes you may be able to use the exterior outlets on your home to support your outdoor kitchen appliances. However, most times you might need to install new outlets to keep the kitchen running. New outlets can cost anywhere from $250 to $500 per outlet, with outlets further away from the home costing over $1,500 sometimes.
Outdoor Living Features
Fire features, dedicated dining areas, outdoor lighting, and landscaping around the kitchen each come with their separate cost.
Permits
You may need certain permits to complete your outdoor kitchen projects, especially if new electrical, plumbing, and surrounding structures are involved.
DIY vs. Hiring a Pro
You can put together a DIY kitchen on your patio with a simple grill and standing storage cabinets for around $4,500. However, we highly recommend hiring an outdoor kitchen expert to build your outdoor kitchen if you want something lasting, efficient, and enjoyable. A professional landscaping company can also take care of any permitting needs and play the role of Project Manager to help you coordinate with other contractors on the project.
To custom-build an outdoor kitchen on an existing patio, expect to pay between $20,000 to $50,000. If you want to add an overhead structure to the kitchen area, you should budget an extra $5,000 to $10,000.
Do Outdoor Kitchens Increase Property Value?
A well-built outdoor kitchen can significantly increase your property value. Generally speaking, the larger and more complex the kitchen, the higher the increase in property value. According to the National Association of REALTORS, most outdoor kitchens can yield a 71% return on investment.
Outdoor Kitchen Maintenance
Like all hardscapes and appliances, your outdoor kitchen also requires regular maintenance. Common outdoor kitchen maintenance routines include appliance inspection and repair, regular cleaning, and paver sealing and maintenance.
In the Midwest, you will also need to winterize your outdoor sinks to prevent freezing. This can be done when your sprinklers are blown out, using a similar process by blowing air through the lines to prevent freeze damage during the off-season.
Another May, another graduation season. Before diving into your next chapter, make sure to spend some time celebrating all the hard work you’ve put into completing your degree program. Here are 10 backyard graduation party ideas for Kansas City Grads to make some unforgettable memories:
1. Graduation Cookout
A backyard graduation cookout is probably the most iconic graduation party idea for summer grads, especially in a city that loves its BBQ. After all, part of growing up is being able to man the grill yourself.
Prepare a balanced mixture of meat, veggies, and pre-made sides like salads and cheesy corn. Combine it with some cold beer or canned cocktails; you’re sure to remember your last party with classmates before diving into your futures.
2. Add Some Sporting Flare
For the athletic grads, embrace your school’s sporting team one last time. Decorate your deck with school colors. Don’t forget the mascot, too! If you’ve won a couple of trophies and medals during your time on the team, this is the perfect time to put them on the table as a centerpiece to highlight your accomplishments.
Not an athlete yourself? No worries. Chief’s and Royal’s themes never get old.
Photo from Unsplash
3. Build a Memory Board
We all get sentimental after a few drinks, especially during graduation. Bring your notebooks, old textbooks, and other memorable objects. While this can be easily done digitally, putting together a memory board physically is different. After all, this could be your last time doing a group assignment with your classmates for a long time.
Prepare some Post-it notes, scrapbook papers, markers, and highlighters. You are ready to build a one-of-a-kind memory board. If you want to make it more special, get a Polaroid camera and capture your backyard graduation party to add to the board.
4. Graduation Picnic or Potluck
Bring your own picnic basket, or prepare one dish per person for a fun graduation potluck. This can be done in the backyard or inside the dining area. To add more challenge, you can require everybody to bring something inspired by their time at the school. For example, a charcuterie board spelling out the year of graduation.
Photo: Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping
5. Graduation Pool Party
You can easily put on a graduation pool party with college color pool floaties. Pool parties always bring out the inner child, so it’s the perfect choice for recent grads transitioning into the more serious grown-up world. Don’t forget to add some college-themed floaties, balloons, towels, and other decorations.
6. Backyard Mixer
A simple backyard mixer is a quick, easy graduation party idea for Kansas City. Hang some string lights, bring in some of Kansas City’s talented local caterers. You can even rent a smart selfie station and create your own hashtag to document every moment on social media. Backyard mixers can also turn into a great networking opportunity sometimes, so make sure you get the contact information from your peers before you part ways.
7. Hollywood Night
For reasons unknown, a Hollywood-themed party is considered a must for the graduation season. Maybe it’s about having one last crazy hurrah? Either way, we’ve got the perfect checklist for you.
For a graduation Hollywood night, you’ll need solid outdoor lighting and audio: a lighted sign is the minimum. Colorful, changing lights and a powerful sound system would be even better. You can even turn this into a Hollywood masquerade with glittering paper masks.
8. Dream Destination Travel Party
Graduation parties are the best time to dream wildly, so what’s more fitting than a travel-themed party? Maybe you won’t get to travel together this year, but you can plan everything and decorate your patio with a Tuscany seaside vibe or eloquent French artistry.
9. Movie Under the Stars
An outdoor movie would be perfect for the nerdy friends who are not into the party scene, especially with Kansas City’s cool and nice evening weather in late May and early June. A portable projector with a basic screen would work, or you can connect your movie audio to Bluetooth speakers for a more elevated experience.
As the weather cools down, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the outdoors in Kansas City. While we can’t cover everything, here are some of our favorite spots to spend time outdoors.
The Ernie Miller Nature Center features a new gallery showcasing live plants and animals, highlighting the botanical history of the Kansas City area. The center is open Monday to Saturday from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM. You can even host a birthday party there! Ernie Miller Park offers nature trails and a family-friendly scavenger hunt to explore local wildlife. Remember: take only pictures and leave only footprints. Admission is free.
Address: Swope Park, 4701 E Gregory Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64132 Phone: (816) 513-8960 Website:Lakeside Nature Center
Located in Swope Park, Lakeside Nature Center features the Fox Hollow Trail, a nature center, and Missouri’s largest wildlife rehabilitation center. Enjoy native plant gardens adjacent to the center. Admission is free, and while the center is closed on Mondays, it is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The trails are accessible from dawn to dusk.
Covering 300 acres, the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens primarily features plants native to the region. The arboretum includes themed spaces such as the Monet Garden, Children’s Garden, and Sculpture Garden. Various events are hosted throughout the year, including wine tastings, movie nights, and immersive performances like Terra Luna. Admission is free on the first Tuesday of each month; otherwise, children five and under are free, children aged 6-17 are $2, and adults are $5. Tickets can be purchased at the Longhouse Visitors Center or online.
Burr Oak Woods Conservation Area encompasses 1,071.4 acres of diverse landscapes, including steep hills, prairies, and restored woodlands. The nature center is open Tuesday to Saturday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, while the trails are accessible from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM. To reach Burr Oak Woods, take Highway 7 north of I-70 for 1.1 miles, then west on Park Road for 1 mile. Admission is free.
Park Layout Map – Powell Gardens
Powell Gardens
Address: 1609 N.W. U.S. Highway 50, Kingsville, MO 64061 Website:Powell Gardens
Powell Gardens features 970 acres of managed gardens and trails, with various themed areas such as The Heartland Harvest Garden and The Fountain Garden. The garden hosts numerous events, including pumpkin painting and immersive performances like “Dark Forest.” Currently, the Gardens are open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, but hours may vary seasonally. Admission fees vary; please check their website for the latest information and events.
Football season is here, and the town is painted red every weekend. One of the best places to hold a watch party is in your outdoor living area. As you get ready to entertain, here are some things you can do to be prepared.
Lighting
The sun has started going down earlier. Check all your lights to make sure your guests won’t get lost, stumble over a plant, or end up in the pool. If the lights have gotten knocked about while you enjoyed your landscape during the summer, spend some time aiming the lights so they illuminate the correct spots again. Now is also a good time to run a damp cloth over the lights while they are off and cool to clean the lens. You want them as bright as possible, and a dirty lens prevents that.
Gas
Do you have a gas BBQ grill or fireplace? Now is a good time to check that the gas in each works. If you use propane, don’t forget to fill the tanks and get some extra. You don’t want the BBQ grill to stop cooking at the worst time possible.
Food
What is a party without food? With an outdoor kitchen, you can cook while you visit with your guests. A BBQ island is another good move so you can cook and talk to the boys.
Drinks
BBQ goes best with beer. We can install a beer trough that you can fill with ice and beer so your guests can grab one and go. Sodas and water will work, too, for the little ones. Beer troughs keep guests out of your refrigerator while you are trying to cook.
Entertainment Center
Of course, the entertainment center is key to watching football. We can mount a giant television on a wall so your friends can see every detail of the game and each play. We can mount one over a fireplace if you want to enjoy a nice fire while you watch the Chiefs win.
Stereo
Television isn’t much fun without sound. You will want a world-class stereo system to play music during the day and broadcast the television sound during the watch party. We can install a great outdoor system, which uses special weatherproof components to withstand the various elements of our Midwest climate.
We Can Help
Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can help check your lighting, gas, entertainment center, and stereo. We can install everything from a wall to a complete kitchen and living room for you and your friends to use. Give us a call at (816) 825-2524 or schedule a consultation for more information. Go Chiefs!
With football season starting up, we know you will be having watch parties at home. Want to up your game this year? Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can help you put on a great party in your outdoor living space!
BBQ
What is a party without food? In Kansas City, that means BBQ! The best BBQ is made outdoors on a grill or in a smoker. We build standalone grill stations with room for storage or full kitchens with grills and smokers included. The full kitchen has a roof on it, so if it rains, your food won’t get soggy. You can also use it to make the other dishes for your party without missing the action.
Beer
Good BBQ is best enjoyed with an ice-cold beer. We can put a beer trough in your kitchen where your beer will stay ice cold. Your guests can grab one without having to get in line at the refrigerator! Beer troughs keep other drinks cold, too.
Big Screen TV
What is a watch party without a big screen TV? Nobody wants to have to crowd around a small screen. We build walls that can hold a big screen TV complete with a waterproof covering over it. You can choose from a retractable mounting or a permanently visible one. We often build a fireplace and mount a big screen TV over the mantelpiece.
Audio
A big-screen TV is worthless without a great audio system. We can build a system that includes audio for the TV, radio, and other music. When the big game isn’t on, your guests can rock to whatever tunes you like. We use outdoor audio systems with heavy-duty, concealed cables, so your system will work for years to come.
Comfortable Seating
Nobody wants to sit on hard, uncomfortable seats. For a great party, you need great furnishings. Check out our article on furnishing and staging your outdoor space. Be sure to buy furnishings designed for the outdoors so they last longer.
Shade for Day Games
Sitting in the hot sun gets very uncomfortable very fast. Plan on some shade for your guests to sit under. Don’t rent a tent. We can build you everything from a full roof to a pagoda you can cover with vines for extra shade. We can even build walls or enclose your room with a screen to keep out the cold and insects.
Light for Night Games
You don’t want your guests to stumble around in the dark. That isn’t fun, and someone could hurt themselves. We can install great lighting options so your guests can see, but the light doesn’t overwhelm the TV screen or cause glare. We even have some options you can turn red for game day.
Outdoor Games
Outdoor games are a great way to pass the time while you wait for the game to begin. Games also give kids a way to burn off energy so they will be quiet during the game. Great outdoor games include flag football, corn hole, and bocce ball. Scavenger hunts are fun for all ages, depending on the difficulty of the hunt.
Guests
You can’t have a party without guests. Are you going to have a small, intimate gathering or a large event? Family and close friends or the neighborhood? Plan to have an entrance into your outdoor living area where guests don’t have to go through the house. We can build paths to lead your guests right where they need to be.
We Can Help
Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping is a full-service landscape design, landscape construction, and landscape management company. We can design and install your landscape as well as maintain it for you. Schedule a consult today.
Need your landscape spruced up before a big event? Contact Lauryn Pitts, our garden care specialist, to get on our schedule.
“I have to hand it to you; I have had a lot of landscapers out here. This is the best experience I have had with any of them, and you do the best job, too.”
Royal Creations was founded in the summer of 2013 with a vision and a mission. As Andrew Wright explains,
“We started the business to better serve our clients as well as our employees. We believe that the customer experience is as important as the design and craftsmanship of the project, and we are continually striving to improve the experience for our clients through our core values. We also believe that our team members inherently want to succeed and that it is our responsibility to define how success looks. Therefore, we are continually developing our team’s skills in the field as well as the culture and mindset which directly reflects in the customer’s experience.”
Relationships First
We believe in building strong relationships with our clients, staff, vendors, and referral partners. Together we are all working to create great experiences for one another and help one another grow and improve over time. We know that we could not build such wonderful outdoor spaces without a successful collaboration between all involved.
To that end, our company promise is “We strive to give our clients the best experience and craftsmanship possible.” In service of that, we:
Meet deadlines
Are on time for our appointments
Do it right the first time
Are careful not to damage your landscape while working
Work hard from arrival to leaving
Leave your landscape better than we found it
Connecting Clients With Nature
More and more research shows that a connection with the earth, nature, and each other benefits the mind, body, and spirit. Our vision is to help people develop stronger relationships with the outdoors and each other. The best way we have found to do that is to design and implement a superior landscape that our customers can enjoy. We feel so strongly about this that we have made it our mission to make the exterior spaces of homes more livable and enjoyable for the families that we serve.
C.R.O.W.N. Values
During our relationship with you, we will follow our C.R.O.W.N. values in our interactions with each other and with you. These values are:
Communication Priority – If we don’t communicate well, it causes problems. We will make sure we understand what you want. In addition, all communications within our company will give every employee that information. If someone has a question, they are empowered to speak up and ask it. There are no stupid questions.
Respectful Attitude – we do not tolerate rude or disrespectful behavior from our employees or clients. Everyone should be treated as a valued person, whether they are the boss, the client, or a ditch digger.
Ownership Mentality – we encourage our employees to own the installation. If they see a mistake or know how to make an installation run smoother, they are encouraged to speak to their supervisor. Employee innovation helps us grow better.
Willingness to Serve – we lead from the front. If we see a need, every one of our employees is willing to pitch in to help. Our employees are in it for the long haul and genuinely want to serve our customers.
Never-Ending Pursuit of Our Potential – our employees continue to grow as people and as skilled craftsmen. We take continuing education units (C.E.U.s) every year to maintain our certifications or gain new ones. We know the latest best practices for our craft. If there is a better way to do things, we want to learn it. We also support employees that want to advance in our company.
Lots of people can put in and maintain a landscape. We put in the training and work to ensure we put in the best landscape for your needs. We also make sure we maintain that landscape to give you endless enjoyment. You should not have to leave home to enjoy nature. Contact Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping today to schedule a consultation.
Know someone looking for a career in landscaping? Be one of the best. We are hiring.
