What We Build
Outdoor Kitchens & Fire PitsHow We Build Them
An outdoor kitchen sits in the weather all year: sun, salt air, rain and a Cape Cod winter, with a hot grill built into it. Most of the ones that crack or shift were framed in wood or stacked block with nothing inside. Ours are built like our retaining walls, on a reinforced concrete footing with a concrete-filled core, and the stone goes on the outside. Here is exactly how.
Get a Free Estimate- 5-Star Rated on Google
- Licensed & Insured in MA
- 3D Design Before We Build
- All 15 Cape Cod Towns
Step 1
Design around how you cook and gather
We walk the space first. Where the grill should face, where the sun and the wind come from, how far it is from the kitchen door, and how many people you want to seat. Then we produce a custom 3D design of the kitchen or fire pit in your own yard.
You approve the layout, the stone, the countertop and the appliance openings before anything is dug. Changing your mind on a screen costs nothing. Changing it once the stone is set costs a great deal.
Step 2
Dig twelve inches for the footing
We excavate twelve inches down under the full footprint, below the topsoil and anything organic, so the kitchen sits on firm ground and below the reach of surface frost heave.
A countertop is only as level as what is under it. A kitchen that settles cracks its stone and its countertop.
Step 3
Six inches of reinforced concrete
The footing is six inches of poured concrete with steel rebar running through it, so the whole kitchen moves as one piece, if it moves at all.
Step 4
A concrete-filled core
The body of the kitchen is CMU block filled with concrete and rebar, not a wood or metal stud frame. The openings for the grill, the doors and any appliances are built into the block from the start, sized to the equipment you choose.
The natural stone or stone veneer is set against that core with concrete between the stones. The core carries the weight; the stone is what you see.
Step 5
The countertop you want
The countertop is your choice: granite, bluestone, quartzite or another stone. We help you pick one that handles sun, salt air, grease and a Cape Cod winter, and we set it level and sealed tight to the structure below.
The countertop is what everyone leans on and puts a drink on. It should look as good in year ten as it did the first night.
Step 6
Fire pits, built the same way
A fire pit gets a smaller footing of its own, and its block core is filled with concrete as well, so it does not heave or crack after a few winters of heat and frost.
We finish it in fieldstone, stone veneer or block to match the patio, with a stone cap around the top.
Step 7
Clean-up and handover
We backfill the edges, bring in loam and seed where we disturbed grass, and take the debris with us. On the last day the space should be ready for the first fire, not look like a job that stopped.
Materials
What we build in
Natural fieldstone is the classic Cape Cod look, and because it is set over a concrete-filled core it stays tight around a hot grill for years. For countertops we steer toward stone that stays cool enough to touch in the sun and does not stain from grease or salt air. If the material you like is wrong for an outdoor kitchen, we will say so before you buy it.
Recent work
Outdoor kitchens we have built
Fieldstone, stone veneer and granite veneer kitchens on Cape Cod — grills, fridges, sinks, vent hoods, pizza ovens and a Brazilian churrasco rotisserie, all set in a concrete-filled core.
Fire pits & seat walls
Wood-burning and gas fire pits, most of them with a curved seat wall so the whole family has a place to sit.
Ask any contractor
Four questions worth asking
Whoever you hire, these four answers tell you most of what you need to know:
What is the kitchen standing on?
You want a poured concrete footing with rebar under the whole footprint. A kitchen set on pavers or gravel will settle unevenly and crack its countertop.
What is inside the walls?
Ask whether the body is concrete-filled block or a wood or metal stud frame covered in board. Wood rots and steel rusts behind stone; concrete does not.
Is the countertop stone made for outdoors?
Some stones stain from grease, fade in the sun or get too hot to touch. Ask what the stone is and how it holds up outside on the Cape.
Does the fire pit have its own footing?
It should. A fire pit set on the patio surface heaves with the frost and cracks from the heat.
Get in touch
Free outdoor kitchen & fire pit estimate
No commitment. We will respond within 24 hours and schedule a visit to your property within 48.
Get a Free EstimateMain: (508) 360-2151 · Office: (508) 373-3495
Masonry and hardscaping contractor serving all of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Licensed and insured in MA.
(508) 360-2151(508) 373-3495contact@bridimasonryservices.comWhat We Build
- Custom Patios
- Pool Decks
- Walkways
- Stone Steps & Stairs
- Retaining Walls
- Cobblestone Aprons
- Paver Driveways
- Chimney Repair