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Hey everybody, what’s going on? It’s James here with RTA Outdoor Living and we are back here with another valuepacked video for you. As you go through the process of planning an outdoor kitchen, the first milestone you need to achieve is getting a complete layout design. At first, figuring out
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your ideal outdoor kitchen design can feel overwhelming, but by the time you’re through with this video, you’ll be able to create your dream design with ease. In this video, we’ll discuss a few great tips and tricks to keep in mind for your design and follow up with a
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walkthrough of the easiest outdoor kitchen design software out there. All right, let’s get started. First and foremost, remember your why. It’s surprisingly easy to get distracted by all different possibilities, and in the process, you might lose your way and end
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up with a design that doesn’t match your reasoning for getting an outdoor kitchen in the first place. The why behind your outdoor kitchen can mean a few different things. You might want one to entertain large parties often. You might want one for a gourmet outdoor cooking experience
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or for another reason entirely. Regardless of your reason, your outdoor kitchen design should reflect how you intend to use it. As long as you keep this in mind, you’ll end up with a layout that’s perfectly suited to your desires. Give yourself plenty of space. When it
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comes to designing an outdoor kitchen, oftent times our eyes can be bigger than our stomachs. We get so excited about all the different appliance options on offer and forget to leave breathing room for other important features. If you pack every square inch of your outdoor kitchen with various appliances, you
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won’t have the space you need to keep your island truly functional. For example, counter space. Having adequate counter space might be one of the most underrated features of an outdoor kitchen design, but it’s absolutely essential for a stress-free cooking and
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entertaining experience. Make sure you include enough counter space in your layout for prepping, serving, and possibly even dining. Another thing you don’t want to neglect is storage. A huge draw of getting an outdoor kitchen is the convenience of being able to cook
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outside without running in and out of the house, which means you’ll need to store all your grilling tools outside to get the value out of that convenience. Although they’re not the most exciting features, including storage cabinets is an essential component for every design.
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If you’ve got big plans for your outdoor kitchen design that your budget can’t afford, there’s going to be temptation to cut corners on your project. It’s an understandable temptation. You want more appliances or a larger layout that you
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can afford. And it’s easy to start looking at ways to cut costs so you can have your cake and eat it too. Oftent times homeowners first consider using cheaper materials to cut down on the price tag. Unfortunately, this is a risky game to play.
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Cutting corners on materials might save you money immediately, but you’ll have an outdoor kitchen that’s not made to
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handle the wear and tear of harsh outdoor environments, which means in a few years you’ll be looking at the need for expensive repairs or even worse, a replacement for your original island.
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In our minds, when it comes to an outdoor kitchen, the phrase buy once, cry once, is one to live by. But this doesn’t mean you have to blow your budget to smitherines. You may just have to get a better expectation of what a truly high quality outdoor kitchen
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actually costs and downsize some of your original items on your wish list. You’d be surprised how much a few adjustments can bring the cost of your project down. So, now that you’ve got all these design tips and tricks in mind, let’s walk you through creating an outdoor kitchen
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design online for free. So, here we have RTA’s outdoor kitchen design tool. For the sake of example, we’re going to recreate the layout from our first episode of The Great Outdoor Kitchen Makeover. If you haven’t seen the video already, check it out at the link above or in the description box below. We
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demolished a California homeowner’s old dilapitated outdoor kitchen and replaced it with a brand new RTA outdoor kitchen, immaculately designed by our team. Speaking of which, let’s walk through how to recreate Kevin Chan’s masterful
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design. Step one, choose your outdoor kitchen layout. All right. The first thing you’ll see on your screen is a variety of layouts, which is where your new outdoor kitchen will begin to take shape. Think of the layout as simply the aesthetic arrangement of your outdoor
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kitchen, which will house all of your appliances and accessories. Right underneath, you can choose from a variety of options, including linear, L-shaped, U-shape, and even galley options. When you click on each of these categories, more options will appear.
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Stay with us. You’ll see what we mean in the images below. Kevin wanted plenty of space for his guests to sit and hang out near the action. So, for his design, we selected U-shaped with corner on the right. You’re probably wondering how the
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grill, smoker, and power burner fit into all of this. We’ll circle back on that later. For now, once you have the correct option selected, click the next button in the bottom center of your screen. Step two, select your grill
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island size. Next, we have to determine what size you want your grill island to be. You’ll notice in the upper center of your screen, one of the islands is highlighted. This is to remind you that you’re deciding on the size of your grill island,
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not the bar. In Kevin’s example, you’re working with a 7ft grill island. You’ll notice the blue slider in the center of your screen measures from 4 to 14 ft. Use your cursor to drag the black circle with arrows to the right until it reads
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7 ft. From there, click next. Now, you’ll notice the islands on the left side is highlighted. That’s because we will have to select the secondary bar island size. The bar island in this example is 11 ft. For the second island,
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the blue slider lists options between 5 and 14 ft. Again, drag the black circle to the right until your island reads 11 ft. Once you’re done, click next. Kevin’s kitchen design also included a corner island to mount the pizza oven.
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So, the design tool refers to the conjoining additional island as a fourth island to complete the U-shape. This fourth island was sized at 4 ft. From there, it’s time to place appliances.
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Step three, select your grill island appliance layout. This is where you may feel overwhelmed, but there’s no need to. This page is simply showing you all of the appliance options available for you on your grill add-ons. If you don’t like the option you selected, you can
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always go back and adjust. Let’s look at Kevin’s example. We have a built-in grill with storage access underneath and a medium accessory on the left side. For your own outdoor kitchen island, you’ll select an option that reflects the grill
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and accessory placement that you want. Once finished, click next. Now we have to select appliances for the bar island side. You’ll notice there’s less variety with the outdoor kitchen bar. Looking at the example, Kevin’s kitchen includes more storage and a small refrigerator.
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On the corner island, Kevin got the option for an add-on grill, which will eventually be where the pizza oven goes. After that, we’ll head on over to step four, choosing your appliance. Here’s where things start to get really
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interesting. At this stage, you’ll be able to select the appliances you want for your outdoor kitchen. As usual, we will begin working on the grill add. In Kevin’s example, he wanted a 36-in Coyote gas grill as well as a 24-in power burner. To select the appliances
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you want, you’ll simply click the rightmost arrow on the empty slot until you find the selection you want. Repeat this for the stainless steel grill access doors below the grill and any other appliances and accessories that you want. Some appliance combinations in the design tool will not work in
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reality. It’s not common, but if it does happen, you’ll see a red icon with an exclamation mark. Just choose another configuration and you’re good to go. To the right of your screen, you’ll also notice brief descriptions of each appliance. So, you’ll have a better idea
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of what exactly is featured on your island. Now, click next to start configuring the bar island. With this example, the choice is easy. We’re looking for the 24-in outdoor refrigerator with the addition of a three drawer cabinet and a front to back pull out
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trash and recycle bin. Kevin’s corner island offers a space for a pizza oven on top along with storage for wood underneath. Moving along to the shorter bar, you
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could go for another small accessory. This is where Kevin decided to hook up a 21in sink and some more storage. You could choose to add a shorter appliance stand off to the side of the island. In Kevin’s example, we’re working with an assado stand. You’ll see that you can
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select either one or two for the position you want. Being on either left or the right hand side of the island. And with all that, we’re nearly done. There’s just one more step to review. Step five, enjoy your outdoor kitchen
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layout. After clicking through the steps, it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. The 3D outdoor kitchen design tool will digitally render your new outdoor kitchen right in front of you. Pretty neat, right? By default, your design will appear in a weathered
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wood ash finish with chiseled smoky concrete countertop. You can easily switch up the finishes and countertops on the right hand side. Select either pick countertop or finish style to see which combination you prefer. You’ll
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find we offer granite countertops in addition to concrete. Feel free to play around with the options and see what suits your aesthetic. Since Kevin’s example finish appears in modern concrete bright, we’ll see that option as well as the alpha white countertop finish. From here, you can
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view your design from any angle. Click and drag on the screen to discover the full experience. You can also scroll your mouse to get a zoomed-in view of your island. And while this is amazing to see, you can take the visuals one
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step further. View your custom outdoor kitchen with augmented reality. On the right hand side of the screen, you’ll see a blue button that reads you an AR. Clicking this button will prompt you to request a free quote, which can be done via the bright orange button at the bottom center of your screen. Upon
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submitting your contact information, we’ll text a link to your phone, allowing you to preview your exact design in your very own backyard. If you’d like to start creating your very own outdoor kitchen design, you can access our free online design tool from
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the link above or in the description box below. And of course, if you got value out of this video, don’t forget to like and subscribe. Thank you for joining us today on our outdoor kitchen design tool walkthrough, and we’ll see you in the
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next video.
