Outdoor kitchen construction field guide for outdoor-living contractors

What an outdoor kitchen actually is

An outdoor kitchen is a multi-trade build that takes a structure, a gas system, electrical, plumbing, counters, and appliances and stands them out in the weather, year round, with nobody indoors to notice when something starts to go wrong. That is the whole problem in one sentence. Indoors a kitchen is built once and lives in a climate-controlled box. Outside it gets rained on, frozen, baked by UV, and asked to hold combustion and live gas in a cabinet that sits in a yard.

Two things decide whether the build is safe and whether it lasts, and almost every serious outdoor kitchen failure traces back to one of them. The first is the gas, done to code, with the cabinet vented so a gas leak cannot pool inside the enclosure. The deadly failure on an outdoor kitchen is not the grill. It is gas leaking into an unvented island and finding an ignition source. The second is materials built for the outdoors, because an indoor cabinet, an indoor counter, or an indoor appliance rusts, cracks in freeze-thaw, and turns into a hazard outside faster than people expect.

Get those two right and the rest is good carpentry and good trade coordination. Get either one wrong and you have either a fire and explosion risk or a kitchen that is falling apart by its second winter. This guide is built around that order of priority.

The gas and the outdoor-rated materials make or break it

Everything else on an outdoor kitchen is recoverable. A counter you do not like can be swapped. A layout that eats too much counter space is a design regret, not a danger. The gas and the materials are different, because one is a safety system and the other is what stands between the build and the weather.

On the gas side, the work is to run the right fuel at the right pressure, size the line for the connected BTU load, give it a shutoff, prove it with a leak test, and vent the cabinet so any leak escapes instead of collecting. This is licensed gas work tied to the fuel gas code and the appliance manufacturer's instructions, and it is the part to never improvise. See the natural gas piping guide for how the line itself gets sized and tested.

On the materials side, the rule is plain: build non-combustible, and use outdoor-rated everything. A masonry or galvanized-steel frame with cement board, an outdoor-rated counter, and appliances listed for outdoor built-in use. Put indoor materials outside and you are not saving money. You are scheduling the callback. The two jobs run together: get the gas to code and vent the cabinet so gas cannot pool, and build non-combustible with outdoor-rated materials and appliances.

A multi-trade build, not a grill in a box

Treat an outdoor kitchen as one finished object and you will miss what it actually is: six trades stacked into a cabinet in the yard. There is the structure, the gas, the electrical, the plumbing, the counters, and the appliances, and they have to be sequenced so the later trades are not tearing into the earlier ones.

The coordination is where margin and quality leak out. The gas and the electrical rough-in have to land before the cement board and finish go on, because nobody is chasing a line through a finished masonry island. The appliance cutouts have to be sized to the actual units on the order, not a generic hole, so the grill and the fridge drop in with their required clearances. The counter overhang has to be supported before the slab goes on, not after. Drainage has to be planned into the slab and the cabinet before the first block is laid.

The trades that have to be licensed are licensed: the gas and the electrical, in most jurisdictions, full stop. The structure, the plumbing, and the finish work are yours to build, but they get built around the gas and electrical rough-in, not over it. Plan the sequence on paper before anyone mixes mortar.

The structure: non-combustible, and not wood

The cabinet that holds an outdoor kitchen has two real choices, and wood is not one of them anywhere near the heat. Build with masonry, concrete masonry units (CMU block), or a galvanized steel stud frame skinned with cement board. Both give you a non-combustible structure that can carry a stone counter and survive being outdoors.

Masonry block is the heavier, more weather-tolerant option. It needs a poured footing or slab under it, and the finish, stone, stucco, or tile, can be adhered directly to the block with no cement board in between. It shrugs off freeze-thaw better than a clad steel frame, which is why it is the common choice in cold climates.

Galvanized steel studs with cement board (the HardieBacker or Durock type substrate) go up faster and lighter, and they work well in mild and dry climates. The catch is real: in a hard freeze-thaw climate, the expansion and contraction can pop the finish off a clad steel frame and leave the metal exposed to the weather, where even galvanized steel eventually corrodes. Pick the structure for the climate, not the schedule.

Whatever the frame, treated lumber is not a substitute. It is combustible, it moves with moisture, and it has no business carrying a stone counter or sitting next to a grill that throws heat. If you see a wood-framed island near a built-in burner, that is a finding, not a style choice.

The foundation: slab, footing, and the frost line

The counter cracks where the cabinet moves, and the cabinet moves when the foundation under it is wrong. A built-in outdoor kitchen carries real weight: block, stone, appliances, and a slab counter, all of it concentrated on a small footprint. That load wants a stable base.

In a freezing climate the foundation has to deal with frost. Soil that holds water heaves when it freezes, and an island sitting on a shallow base rides that heave up and down through the seasons until the joints crack and the counter splits. The standard answer is to carry the foundation below the local frost line on footings, or to build on a properly bedded and compacted base that drains, the same base logic that carries a paver field. The hardscape patio guide covers building that compacted, draining base in depth; the cabinet load just makes getting it right less forgiving.

An existing slab patio can work if it is sound, thick enough, and not already cracked or settling, but inherit a marginal slab and you inherit its movement. Settle is the failure that shows up as a hairline in the counter a year later, and by then it is expensive to chase. Get the base right before the first course goes down, because everything above it is along for the ride.

The gas: the number one safety system

The gas is the part of an outdoor kitchen that can hurt someone, so it gets treated like it. Run it to the fuel gas code, by a licensed gas fitter, on a permit, and prove it before it goes into service. This is not a place to hedge or to learn on the job.

First decide the fuel: natural gas piped from the utility, or propane (LP) from a tank. The two are not interchangeable. They run at different pressures, they take different appliance orifices, and they behave differently if they leak, which drives how the cabinet gets vented. Converting an appliance between the two is a manufacturer-specified procedure with the correct orifice and regulator, not a field improvisation.

Then size the line for the connected BTU load. Total the input of every gas appliance, the grill, the side burner, any power burner, and size each section of pipe so each appliance gets its full demand at the right pressure without excessive drop. That sizing comes off the fuel gas code tables (NFPA 54 for natural gas, NFPA 58 for LP) by the longest-length method. The natural gas piping guide walks through that calculation; do not eyeball it.

Give the system an accessible shutoff so the kitchen can be isolated, and prove the whole thing with a pressure or leak test before anything is lit. A leak found on a gauge in the yard is a non-event. The same leak found by smell, or not found at all, is the headline. The adopted gas code, the gas utility or propane supplier, and the appliance manufacturer's instructions control the install, and the AHJ inspects it.

Why does an outdoor kitchen cabinet need ventilation?

An enclosed outdoor kitchen cabinet needs ventilation because gas can leak from a fitting, a valve, or a connection, and inside a sealed island that gas has nowhere to go. It collects. A leak into an unvented enclosure can reach an explosive concentration in minutes, and then it only needs a spark, a relay, or the grill's own igniter to set it off. The vents exist so a leak escapes to open air instead of pooling where it can ignite. This is the single most important gas-safety detail on the whole build.

How the vents are placed depends on the fuel, because the two gases behave oppositely. Propane (LP) is heavier than air, so it sinks and pools at the lowest point of the cabinet. LP cabinets get vents low, near the floor, so the heavy gas can flow out at the bottom. Natural gas is lighter than air and rises, so natural-gas cabinets vent high to let it escape at the top. Many real islands get vents both low and high, low so leaked LP drains out, high so heat and any rising gas escape, but the low vents are the ones that matter most where LP is in play.

Vent placement and area are not a guess. Common practice runs cross-ventilation on opposing walls and scales the vent count to the cabinet size, with one source of guidance being a vent panel for every few feet of cabinet, but the controlling numbers come from the appliance manufacturer's installation manual and the fuel gas code (NFPA 54 and NFPA 58), confirmed with the AHJ. Where an LP tank lives inside the island, the code also wants a barrier between the tank compartment and the burner's combustion-air compartment. Build the venting to the manual and the code, not to what looks like enough.

LP versus natural gas, and why it changes the build

Propane and natural gas both burn clean in a grill, but they are different fuels and the difference shows up in the cabinet, not just at the burner. The behavior on a leak is the part that decides safety.

Propane is heavier than air. A leak settles into the bottom of the enclosure and stays there, which is exactly why LP cabinets vent low and why an unvented LP island is the more dangerous case. Natural gas is lighter than air and a leak rises and disperses, which is why natural-gas cabinets vent high. Same hazard, opposite geometry, so the venting cannot be copied from one fuel to the other.

The appliances differ too. LP runs at a higher pressure than natural gas, and a burner set up for one fuel uses a different orifice than the other. A natural-gas grill fed propane through the wrong orifice runs dangerously rich; the reverse runs starved. If the fuel changes, the appliance has to be converted by the manufacturer's kit and procedure, and the venting reconsidered. Treat fuel selection as a decision made at design, with the gas pro, against the fuel gas code, not a swap made later.

Combustible clearances around the heat

A built-in grill and a side burner throw real heat into the cabinet and into whatever sits beside them, and the clearance to combustibles is what keeps that heat from starting a fire or cooking the unit next door. The cabinet around the heat has to be non-combustible, and the clearances come from the appliance manufacturer, every time.

The manufacturer's installation manual lists the required clearance from the appliance to combustible construction, the cutout dimensions, and any required insulating jacket. Those numbers are not interchangeable between brands or models, and they are not a suggestion. A grill rated for a non-combustible enclosure with a stated clearance is only safe inside that envelope. Build the opening and the surrounding structure to the manual.

Heat transfer to the neighbors is the part people miss. A refrigerator or an ice maker set tight against a grill cabinet bakes, runs hard, and fails early, so the manufacturers call for a buffer of counter or a divider, commonly several inches of separation, between the grill and a refrigerated unit, and an insulated jacket where the grill sits in a combustible-adjacent island. When the manual and the field disagree, the manual wins, and the AHJ confirms it.

The electrical: GFCI, wet-rated, in-use covers

Electricity and standing water share the outdoor kitchen, so the electrical is built wet from the start and protected by GFCI. A licensed electrician runs it on a permit, because the failure here is a shock hazard, not a flickering light.

Outdoor receptacles in a food-prep and cooking area require GFCI protection, and recent code cycles have pulled more of those circuits under the GFCI requirement, including the outdoor refrigerator receptacle that older habits used to leave unprotected. The adopted edition of the electrical code (NEC, NFPA 70) and local amendments control which circuits need it, so confirm the current requirement rather than working from memory. An outdoor refrigerator typically wants its own GFCI-protected circuit sized to the appliance.

Outdoors, the box and the cover matter as much as the wire. Use weather-resistant, outdoor-rated receptacles, and where anything stays plugged in, a while-in-use (in-use) cover that keeps the connection protected with a cord plugged in, not just a flat weatherproof flap that only seals when nothing is connected. Lighting, switches, and any low-voltage runs get the same wet-location treatment. The whole point is that this assembly lives in the rain and gets touched by wet hands, so everything in it is rated for that.

The plumbing: supply, drain, and backflow

If the kitchen has a sink, it brings a water supply and a drain into the build, and both have to be handled to the plumbing code with the cold climate in mind. A hose-bibb-only setup is the simplest case; a full sink with a drain is a real plumbing rough-in.

The supply needs an accessible shutoff so the line can be killed and drained for winter. The drain has to go somewhere approved, to the sanitary system or another method the local plumbing code (IPC or UPC, by jurisdiction) and the AHJ allow, not just spilled onto the ground where codes prohibit it. Where the outdoor supply ties to potable water, backflow protection keeps yard and sink water from siphoning back into the house supply; the required device and arrangement come from the plumbing code.

Plan the plumbing for the season it will sit unused. Lines that cannot be isolated and drained will freeze, and a frozen line in a masonry island is a demolition job to fix. Route the supply and drain so they can be shut off and emptied, and build that access in before the cabinet closes up.

Winterizing the water lines in a cold climate

Water expands when it freezes, and a pipe full of trapped water in an unheated outdoor cabinet splits when the cold comes. In any freezing climate, winterizing the plumbing is not optional maintenance. It is the difference between opening the kitchen in spring and rebuilding part of it.

The routine is straightforward. Shut off the water supply at the indoor or accessible valve, open the outdoor faucet, and let the lines drain. Blow the remaining water out of the supply lines with compressed air, because the low spots hold enough to crack a fitting even after the faucet stops dripping. Then deal with the drain trap: either pour a little RV antifreeze into the P-trap so the residual water cannot freeze and break it, or pull the trap entirely so rain and meltwater do not collect and freeze in it.

The damage from skipping this does not stop at the pipe. Water that freezes against the cabinet and the counter underside contributes to the cracking and spalling you see on islands that were left wet through a hard winter. Drain it, blow it, and protect the trap before the first hard freeze, not after the first thaw shows you the split.

The counters: outdoor-rated stone, not laminate

An outdoor counter takes UV, rain, freeze-thaw, and grill heat, so it has to be a dense, weather-tolerant material. Laminate is out, full stop, because the substrate swells and the surface delaminates outside. The real choices are granite, porcelain slab, concrete, and a few dense stones.

Porcelain slab (the Dekton and Neolith type product) holds up best overall outdoors. It resists UV fading, takes grill heat, survives freeze-thaw, and does not need sealing. Granite is the popular, durable natural stone and stands up well, but outdoors it wants resealing on a regular cycle, commonly every several months to a year, because the weather works it harder than an indoor counter. Soapstone is non-porous and skips the sealing. Concrete gives a clean look but cracks if it is not mixed, reinforced, and installed right, so it is the least forgiving option.

Two materials people reach for indoors do not belong outside. Marble stains and etches in the weather, and quartz (the engineered resin-and-stone product) discolors and degrades under UV, which is a different thing from natural quartzite. Whatever the slab, support the overhang properly, because an unsupported run over a cabinet opening cracks at the load, and seal what needs sealing on schedule. Even the durable materials last longer covered through the off-season.

The appliances: outdoor-rated, or they rust and become a hazard

An indoor grill, refrigerator, or burner put outside is two problems at once: it rusts, and it is a gas and electrical hazard. Outdoor-rated appliances are not a marketing tier. They are built with corrosion-resistant materials, sealed and protected electrical, and venting and gas components designed for an outdoor enclosure. The indoor versions are not.

An indoor stainless refrigerator outside corrodes at the seams and the compressor, and its electrical was never sealed for rain. An indoor gas appliance run in an outdoor cabinet was never tested for that combustion environment, which is a real gas hazard, not a warranty quibble. A burner or grill listed for outdoor built-in use carries the materials, the clearances, and the venting requirements that make it safe in the cabinet you are building.

Spec the appliances by their input and their listing before the cabinet is designed. Total the grill, side burner, and any power burner BTU input so the gas line can be sized to it, and confirm each unit is listed for outdoor built-in installation. The refrigerator, ice maker, and any electrical appliance get the same test: rated for outdoor use, on the right circuit, with the right clearances. If a unit is not listed for outdoor built-in service, it does not go in the island.

Appliance cutouts and their clearances

Every built-in appliance has an exact cutout, and the manufacturer publishes it: the opening width, depth, and height, plus the clearance to combustibles and the ventilation the unit needs around it. Build the opening to those dimensions, not to a round number that looks close.

The trap is ordering the structure before the appliances. Frame the openings to a generic size and the real grill arrives a half inch off, and now you are cutting masonry or shimming a gap that should not exist. Get the spec sheets for the actual units on the order, mark the cutouts from them, and verify the surround gives the unit its required clearance and airflow. A built-in grill that needs an air gap around its firebox to shed heat does not get one if the opening was framed tight.

Cutout, clearance, and venting are one package per appliance. Miss the clearance and you have a heat or fire problem; miss the venting and you have a gas-pooling or overheating problem; miss the cutout and the unit does not seat. Follow the manufacturer's installation manual for each appliance, and let those sheets drive the framing.

Drainage and slope: keep water off and out

Water that sits in or on an outdoor kitchen finds the weak spot and works it, so the build sheds water on purpose. The counter gets a slight slope or the right edge detail so rain runs off instead of pooling against the slab and the seams. The cabinet interior gets a way for water to drain out rather than collecting on the floor of the enclosure.

Weep holes and low-point drainage in the cabinet keep rain and washdown water from standing inside, where it would rust appliance housings, sit against the structure, and freeze in winter. The slab under the cabinet should drain away from the build, not hold a puddle at the base of the block.

This ties straight back to freeze damage. Standing water that freezes is the agent behind a lot of cracked counters, spalled masonry, and corroded hardware. A dry cabinet survives the winter. A wet one comes apart at the seams, which is one more reason the drainage and the winterizing are part of the build, not an afterthought.

The vent hood: only when the grill is under a roof

An open-air outdoor kitchen does not need a vent hood, because the sky is the hood. The smoke and combustion byproducts rise and disperse. The question changes the moment the grill goes under a solid roof, a pergola with a solid top, or a screened lanai, because now the smoke and carbon monoxide have a ceiling to collect against.

Under cover, treat it like a real ventilation problem. Some building departments consider a covered or enclosed cooking area closer to indoor space and require a vent hood and makeup air; a wood or faux-wood ceiling over the grill is the case where the manufacturers call for a hood regardless of ceiling height. A common rule of thumb is that a non-combustible ceiling a comfortable height above the cooking surface, on the order of 6 ft or more, may not need a hood, but the controlling answer comes from the AHJ and the appliance manufacturer, not the rule of thumb.

If a hood goes in, size it to the grill. Outdoor hoods get sized to the grill's BTU output, run wider than the grill so they actually catch the smoke, and a semi-enclosed space needs makeup air so the hood is not fighting a smoke trap. The covered-cooking ventilation is its own design, and it crosses into the same makeup-air logic as any vented cooking appliance.

Layout: work zones, smoke, and wind

A good outdoor kitchen layout puts counter space where the cook actually needs it and keeps the smoke and the people apart. The work-triangle idea from indoor kitchens still applies loosely, but outdoors the dominant constraints are the grill heat, the smoke, and the wind.

Set the grill so the prevailing wind carries smoke away from the dining and gathering area, not into it, and not back at the cook. Leave landing counter on both sides of the grill so there is somewhere to set a hot tray. Keep the refrigerator and any cold storage out of the grill's heat shadow so it is not baked by the burner next door. Give every appliance door and drawer room to open, and leave aisle space for people to pass behind the cook without crowding the heat.

The layout decisions ride on top of the structural and gas decisions, so settle them early. Where the grill sits drives where the gas line and the cabinet venting go, where the smoke rises drives whether a hood is in play, and where the sink sits drives the plumbing run. Design the use and the build together.

Do you need a permit for an outdoor kitchen?

In most jurisdictions, yes, an outdoor kitchen needs permits, and the gas and electrical work almost always requires them along with licensed trades. The specific permits depend on the AHJ, but the gas line, the electrical, and often the structure each fall under a permit and an inspection. Building without them is how an unsafe install stays hidden until it fails or until the house is sold.

The gas permit and inspection are the ones to never skip. A licensed gas fitter pulls the gas permit, sizes and runs the line to the fuel gas code, and the inspector verifies the line, the shutoff, the leak test, and the cabinet venting. The electrical permit covers the GFCI protection, the wet-rated devices, and the circuits, inspected by the AHJ. The structure may need its own permit depending on size, footing, and whether it is attached to the house.

Confirm the requirements with the local building department before the work starts, not after. Codes are adopted and amended by jurisdiction, the inspections are real, and the licensed gas and electrical trades are there because those two systems are the ones that hurt people. Do it on the permit, with the licensed pros, and let the inspector confirm it.

The build sequence

An outdoor kitchen goes together in an order that keeps the later trades out of the earlier work, and skipping or reordering steps is how rough-ins end up buried or finishes get torn back open.

The sequence runs foundation, then structure, then the gas, electrical, and plumbing rough-in, then the cement board and finish, then the counters, then the appliances, then the test. The foundation and footing go in first and get the base right below frost where the climate demands it. The non-combustible cabinet goes up. The gas line, the electrical, and the plumbing get roughed in while the cabinet is still open, with the cabinet venting built in. Then the cement board and the stone or stucco finish close it up. The counter goes on with the overhang supported. The appliances drop into their verified cutouts. Last, everything gets tested and inspected: the gas leak test, the GFCI and circuits, the plumbing, before anything goes into service.

The order is the safeguard. Build it this way and every system is accessible when it is being installed and proven before it is covered.

• Pour or verify the foundation and footing, below frost line where the climate requires it.
• Build the non-combustible cabinet in masonry or galvanized steel stud with cement board.
• Rough in the gas, electrical, and plumbing while the cabinet is open, with cabinet venting built in.
• Apply cement board and the outdoor-rated finish.
• Set the counter with the overhang supported.
• Install appliances into the manufacturer's verified cutouts with required clearances.
• Pressure or leak test the gas, test the GFCI and circuits, and check the plumbing before service.
• Pass the gas, electrical, and structure inspections with the AHJ.

Maintenance and the seasons

An outdoor kitchen lives outdoors, so it needs upkeep that an indoor kitchen never does. The cover is the cheapest insurance there is: cover the appliances and the counter through the off-season to cut the moisture, the UV, and the freeze damage that work the build apart.

Through the year, keep the counter sealed on its schedule if the material needs it, clean the grill and burners so grease does not build into a flare hazard, and keep the cabinet interior dry and the weep holes clear. Have the gas system checked periodically: the connections, the shutoff, and the venting that keeps a leak from pooling. A leak test is not a one-time event at install; it is worth repeating if anything is disturbed.

In a cold climate the seasonal item is the winterizing covered above: shut off and drain the water, blow the lines, protect the trap, and cover the build before the freeze. The kitchens that look new after ten years are the ones that got covered and winterized every single season.

What to document

An outdoor kitchen carries two systems that someone may need to verify years later, the gas and the electrical, plus a stack of appliance requirements that drove the build. Record them so the next person, an inspector, a service tech, or a buyer's home inspector, can see what was done and why.

Capture the fuel type and the gas line sizing against the connected BTU load, the leak test result, the cabinet venting arrangement and which fuel it was built for, the combustible clearances held to each appliance, the electrical circuits and GFCI protection, the appliance models with their listings and cutout sheets, and the permits and inspections. A field tool like FieldOS keeps that record, with photos of the rough-in before it was covered, attached to the job instead of living in someone's memory.

Common mistakes

• Leaving an enclosed cabinet unvented so a gas leak can pool, the deadly case especially with heavier-than-air propane.
• Building the cabinet with wood or other indoor materials that rot, burn, and fail outdoors.
• Putting indoor appliances outside, where they rust and become a gas and electrical hazard.
• Holding no clearance to combustibles around the grill and burner heat.
• Copying LP venting onto a natural-gas cabinet, or the reverse, instead of matching the fuel.
• Skipping the winterizing so the water lines and trap freeze and split.
• Running the gas or electrical without a permit, a licensed trade, and an inspection.

Standards and references

The gas is governed by the fuel gas code, NFPA 54 (the National Fuel Gas Code) for natural gas and NFPA 58 for liquefied petroleum gas, adopted in many places through the International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC). Those codes plus the appliance manufacturer's installation manual control the line sizing, the shutoff, the leak test, the appliance clearances, and the cabinet venting. The natural gas piping guide covers the sizing and test in depth; treat the gas as licensed work on a permit.

The electrical follows the National Electrical Code (NEC, NFPA 70) for GFCI protection, wet-location devices, and the circuits, in the edition the jurisdiction has adopted with local amendments. The plumbing follows the IPC or UPC by jurisdiction for the supply, drain, and backflow. The structure and any required permits follow the local building code and the AHJ.

Three things carry the build, and they get hedged to the right authority every time. Get the gas to code and vent the cabinet so gas cannot pool, per the fuel gas code, the manufacturer, and the AHJ. Build non-combustible and use outdoor-rated materials and appliances, per their listings. And hold the combustible clearances and winterize the plumbing, per the manufacturer and the local code. Confirm the adopted editions and local amendments with the building department before the work starts.

Units and terms

Outdoor kitchen work pulls vocabulary from several trades, so the same idea can read differently across a gas spec, an appliance manual, and a plan set. These are the terms that carry the safety and the durability.

Fuel is natural gas (piped, lighter than air) or propane, also called LP or LPG (tanked, heavier than air). Appliance input is given in BTU per hour, which sizes the gas line. Cabinet ventilation refers to the vent openings that let a leak escape instead of pooling, placed low for LP and high for natural gas.

Outdoor kitchen

A built-in cooking and prep cabinet outdoors, combining structure, gas, electrical, plumbing, counters, and appliances in the weather

Cabinet ventilation / gas pooling

Vent openings that let leaked gas escape the enclosure; without them gas pools and can reach an explosive concentration

LP vs natural gas

Propane (LP) is heavier than air and pools low, vented low; natural gas is lighter and rises, vented high; orifices and pressure differ

Combustible clearance

The manufacturer-required distance from a grill or burner to combustible construction, held with a non-combustible enclosure

Outdoor-rated appliance

A grill, refrigerator, or burner listed for outdoor built-in use, with corrosion-resistant materials and sealed components; indoor units are not

Non-combustible cabinet

A structure of masonry or galvanized steel stud with cement board, not wood, that carries the counter and resists heat and weather

Winterizing

Shutting off, draining, and blowing out the water lines and protecting the trap so they do not freeze and split in a cold climate

Outdoor counter material

A dense, weather-tolerant surface such as porcelain slab, granite, soapstone, or concrete; not laminate, marble, or engineered quartz

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