Somebody asks us this about once a week, usually standing in their backyard pointing at the spot where the grill goes. Fair question. The honest answer is a range, because no two kitchens are the same size or use the same stone. Here are the numbers we actually see on jobs around Emory, Lake Fork, and the rest of East Texas.
The Short Answer
Most outdoor kitchens we build run between $8,000 and $30,000. A simple stone grill island lands at the bottom of that range. A full kitchen with a smoker station, sink, fridge, and bar seating lands at the top, and can go past it if you pick premium stone and appliances.
What moves the number is pretty simple: how many linear feet of masonry we're building, what stone goes on it, what counters go on top, and how many appliances get built in. Everything else is small compared to those four.
Cost by Size
These are typical ranges from our recent work, not fixed prices. Every job gets quoted individually, in writing, for free.
| Project | Typical Range | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| Basic grill island | $8,000–$12,000 | Stone or brick island, built-in grill, counter space on both sides |
| Mid-size kitchen with bar seating | $12,000–$20,000 | L-shaped layout, raised bar top, grill plus storage doors |
| Full kitchen with smoker station, sink, fridge | $20,000–$30,000+ | Full masonry kitchen with plumbing, power, and multiple cook stations |
If your yard already has a good slab in the right spot, you can come in under these numbers. If we're pouring new concrete and trenching utility lines across the yard, expect the higher end.
What Drives the Price
Stone choice. This is the biggest swing after size. Manufactured stone keeps the budget down and looks good doing it. Natural stone like Oklahoma flagstone or chopped limestone costs more per square foot and takes longer to lay, but nothing else looks quite like it. Brick usually falls in the middle, and it's the easy pick when we're matching the house.
Counters. Poured concrete counters are the workhorse: tough, good-looking, and reasonable. Granite and other stone slabs cost more, and outdoor-rated slab material costs more still. Counter footage adds up fast on a big bar top, so this line item surprises people.
Appliances. A quality built-in grill alone runs from around a thousand dollars to five figures before we ever touch it. Add a smoker, a fridge, a sink, and storage doors and the appliance package can rival the masonry. We build around what you buy, or help you pick units that hold up outdoors. Cheap indoor-grade appliances rust out here in a couple of summers.
Slab work. Every kitchen we build sits on a reinforced footing or slab. If one exists and it's sound, great. If not, pouring one adds real money, and there's no honest way around it. Masonry is heavy. Set it on dirt or a thin patio pour and East Texas clay will crack it apart.
Where People Overspend, and Where Not to Cheap Out
The most common overspend we see is appliances. A six-burner grill with a rotisserie and blue LED knobs cooks the same burger as a solid three-burner that costs half as much. Buy the grill that matches how you actually cook. Same goes for square footage: a kitchen sized for the party you throw twice a year sits mostly empty the other 363 days.
The place you should never save money is the slab and footing. It's buried, nobody compliments it at the cookout, and it decides whether your kitchen is standing straight in twenty years. When we see a failed outdoor kitchen, cracked counters, separating stone, doors that won't close, the problem is almost always under the ground, not on top of it. Skimp on stone finish if the budget's tight. Don't skimp on what holds it up.
What's Included in Our Quotes
When we quote an outdoor kitchen, the number covers the whole job: site prep, the reinforced slab or footing if you need one, the block core, your stone or brick finish, counters, and setting the appliances. We put it all in writing, line by line, so you can see exactly where the money goes.
The quote is free and there's no game to it. We walk the yard, talk through how you cook and how many people you feed, measure the space, and put a real number on it. If we hit something unexpected once work starts, we call you before we touch it. No padded "contingency" line, no surprise invoice at the end.
If you're pricing an outdoor kitchen, start with our outdoor kitchen page to see how we build them, then request a free estimate. Send a photo of your backyard and a rough idea of what you want, and we'll take it from there.