About 4 years ago a customer approached Mark Concrete about a counter top for an outdoor kitchen and dining bar which was a typical type of project that we were doing at the time. When I met with the clients at their residence to tie down some details the discussion turned to what the structure supporting the counter was going to be. The owner wanted the structure to be wood or have a wood cladding, but little thought had been given to the structural frame that would carry the load.
After some deliberation, driven by wanting this project to proceed at a quicker pace, I approached the customer about building a steel tubular frame that would support the counter and provide an easy attachment for the wood cladding.
This was accepted, we proceeded with the work and finished the project quickly and successfully and the homeowner with the help of his son easily installed the wood cladding.
From our success with this project the idea of building the cabinets for outdoor kitchens from concrete was born. Soon after we met with our first client that accepted our idea of an all concrete outdoor kitchen.
On this first project we developed a system for building the cabinets used a “dry pack” GFRC wall design and built monolithic all concrete cabinets. Since then we have refined our design increasing the efficiency and improving the strength, lowering the cost and offering several finish options.
Design and Specifications
Our cabinets are constructed from GFRC (glass fiber reinforced concrete) they have ¾” thick walls, a ¾” thick bottom and have a continuous top beam to distribute the counter load and attach the counter to. All door and appliance openings have a 2” thickened edge for attachment purposes and additional reinforcing around the opening.
For our custom projects the cabinets are designed to the customer’s specific needs, shop drawings are produced and submitted for the client’s approval before any work is started.
Advantages to concrete cabinets and counters
• With ¾” wall thickness the cabinets have the largest net storage area in the industry
• They are delivered finished, no messy construction necessary like framing, masonry stucco, painting etc…
• They are permanent and require virtually no maintenance the finishes are designed to withstand all exterior conditions and will weather beautifully.
• They are lightweight and extremely strong the concrete surface is many times harder than stucco or plaster with extremely high impact resistance.
• The cabinets can be produced in a variety of colors and surface textures, standard drawers and access doors are stainless steel, with upgrades available for wood doors and custom doors as an option.
• All our outdoor Kitchen Cabinets are supplied with our concrete counters.
References
Sumpter Construction
RJL Construction
Samscaping
Garden Sense
