16 Inexpensive Covered Outdoor Kitchen Ideas

Do you have a spacious backyard that is void? And you’re thinking of transforming part of it into a kitchen? These 16 inexpensive covered outdoor kitchen ideas should help you fulfill your dream.

Let’s face it: nothing is more boring than being kept in the backyard as a guest while the host and hostess are preparing food in the interior kitchen. You feel abandoned and unattended.

However, if you’re the host and hostess, you can give wonderful bonding to your guests and friends by having a covered kitchen right in the backyard.

This way you will be chilling and laughing with your guests and friends while preparing meals outdoors. Your guests, friends, and family members will feel loved and honored.

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Before exploring these ideas, let’s first get a few things out of the way.

What is a Covered Outdoor Kitchen?

This is any kitchen that is situated in an area with only a roof cover but without a wall cover. It can be located in the backyard, on the porch, by the pool, or in the front yard.

It’s an ideal kitchen in summer and a blazing state or country. Look at the benefits of a covered kitchen, you won’t hesitate to have one in your backyard.

Benefits of a Covered Outdoor Kitchen

Here are some of the benefits of a covered outdoor kitchen

• Provides tons of entertainment: covered kitchen situated outside makes it easy to throw a party in your backyard.
• Adds aesthetic value: in states or areas that experience hot weather for the majority of the days in a year, an outdoor kitchen creates a wonderful piece of home décor.
• Declutter Interior Space: the outdoor kitchen materials, furniture, and appliances would have been inside the house if you had no outdoor kitchen. This means you’ve created extra space inside your home.
• Increases the value of your property: houses of similar size, age, location, and design will have different values at the marketplace if one of them has a wonderful outdoor covered kitchen at the corner of the backyard.

Inexpensive Covered Outdoor Kitchen Ideas

Let’s look at various ideas for a cheap outdoor kitchen with a cover. If you’re about to do a backyard makeover, pick one or combine some of these ideas to create an outdoor kitchen your love.

1. Portable Outdoor Kitchen

If you’re looking for a simple outdoor kitchen that you can move around, the portable outdoor kitchen is the one. It exists in different designs and is made from different materials.

The simplest one is an outdoor kitchen that you can make a side DIY project if you’re handy. It’s not a super complicated DIY wood project. It consists of a sink, some shelves, and a grill.

Alternatively, you can get a full-set portable kitchen. It consists of a cooker, cabinet, sink, small table(s), and containers. All of which can be folded into a wheeled container.

As for the cover, you can get large umbrellas to provide you with shade in case of sun. Or you can set this kitchen on the porch allowing the porch to provide roof cover.

2. L Shaped Outdoor Covered Kitchen

The next inexpensive covered outdoor kitchen idea is an L-shaped exterior kitchen. As you might have guessed, this kitchen is arranged to resemble the letter L.

It’s pretty easy to achieve this layout. It’s similar to an L-shaped interior kitchen. However, the main difference is that, in the outdoor L-shaped kitchen, L is mostly created by concrete base cabinets as opposed to the wooden ones in the indoor kitchen.

The base cabinets for an outdoor kitchen are mainly made from bricks, stones, or tiles. Wooden cabinets for outdoor base cabinets are discouraged because they may expand when exposed to water or rain slashes.

Note: if you can control its exposure to rain slashes, go ahead to create L-shaped wooden base cabinets for your outdoor kitchen.

3. Repurposed Outdoor Kitchen Cabinet

If you’re new to the world of DIY, you may be asking yourself: what the heck is repurposed cabinet? Well, this is a cabinet that has been redone, repainted, refinished, or reupholstered.

It can be a cabinet that has just been painted or completely remade into a small cabinet that will fit an outdoor space. You can also change an old cabinet into an outdoor bar with a small cabinet.

Either way, this is perfect for a person who is into wood DIY. If you’re into it, repurpose the old cabinet and other furniture in your garage and place them in your backyard or porch.

4. Pergola kitchen

A pergola kitchen is another great option if you’re looking for a covered outdoor kitchen that will only shelter you from the blazing sun. Just so you know, a pergola is a wooden or steel arched structure that provides support to outdoor climbing plants.

Although a pergola is not constructed with a lot of covers, the climbing and trilling plants can provide you with enough shade and fresh air. You can create a wonderful outdoor kitchen by bringing cabinets, grills, oven, and other kitchen room necessities that will be okay being outside.

You can also take a step further and bring in chairs like patio black chairs or a minimalist dining set. This way you can take your meals there on sunny days.

5. Covered Kitchen with Concrete Countertop

This idea is one that I would recommend for a countertop. Instead of having a wooden countertop, go for a concrete one. This should not be a problem if you created the cabinets using concrete too.

Even if you have wooden or repurposed cabinets, you can still install concrete countertops. This will relieve you of the worry of rain splashes causing the expansion of the cabinet’s wood.

Although you can just keep it uncovered, it’s imperative to create a roof over your kitchen. This will prevent damaging the kitchen appliances and will make the kitchen habitable even during the rainy season.

6.  Covered Outdoor Kitchenette

This is definitely one of the inexpensive covered outdoor kitchen ideas.  Instead of building a large kitchen in the backyard, construct a small kitchen that will take up a small portion of your backyard.

You can construct the countertops using tiles or concrete and repurpose some of your old furniture into cabinets. Include an oven and grill, you’ll be good to go.

As for the cover, you can construct a simple iron or tiled roof. You can also try to construct the kitchenette on the porch. If you go for the former, check out 17 Inexpensive Porch Ceiling Ideas for an Adorable Porch Experience

7. Covered Backyard Grilling Area

A covered backyard grilling island is the next fairly cheap covered outdoor kitchen idea. You don’t need to construct an expensive structure or buy expensive kitchen items.

You can have a covered backyard grilling island with just a small covered structure, grill, and countertop. This is possible even with a small backyard or porch.

Alternatively, if you’ve got a structure like a pergola, you can add a roof cover and use it as a grilling area. Since some grills are mobile, you can move them into a climbing-plants-covered pergola whenever you want to party.

8.   Corrugated DIY Rustic Outdoor Farmhouse Kitchen

If your property is located in the countryside, you can construct an Iron-sheet DIY rustic farmhouse kitchen. This is one of the outdoor kitchen ideas that won’t require you to break the bank to have it.

Basically, with some timber, nails, and iron-sheet, you should be able to construct this structure. If you’re not wood-DIY savvy, you can have a carpenter make it for you.

Once, the structure is complete, you’ll need some of the outdoor kitchen items like the grill, pizza oven, regular oven, cabinets, and countertops. Of course, you can take it to the next level by hiring an electrician and a plumber to install cable and water pipelines.

9. Covered Outdoor Deck Kitchen

This idea is similar to the one of having a concrete countertop. However, it’s not always that you can create a concrete deck.

Just so you know, a deck in the kitchen is a flat surface area that is usually connected to a house and elevated higher than the house foundation. This can be constructed using timber, rocks, bricks, or concrete.

10. Outdoor Kitchen Connected to the Fence

The other simple and inexpensive outdoor kitchen idea is an outdoor kitchen connected to a fence.

If you’ve got a brick or rock fence and you can’t afford a separate outdoor kitchen, you select an area of your fence and set up a roof, and bring in some outdoor kitchen items. The fence is enough to provide privacy.

You’re going to have two side cover if you choose an area at the corner of your fence.

11.  Covered Grill Area with a Bar

I’ve already talked about how you can create a grill island. However, meat goes well with some bottles of beer. This is when the covered grill area with a bar becomes so useful.

You can repurpose furniture to create a bar counter, bar cabinets, and counter chairs. Or you can create these features using concrete and tiles. You need a compact refrigerator, and grill as well as a trash bin or trash compact.

This way, you’ll be able to enjoy a cool beer, hot steak, or pizza. You can host a party or have a family dinner in the backyard.

12. White Brick Backyard Kitchen

If you and your family like to hang out in the backyard, you can invest a little more in your happiness. You can do this by improving your backyard with a white brick backyard kitchen.

The ordinary bricks are fine, but there are just that, fine. If you want a more elegant look in your outdoor kitchen, go for white bricks.  You can use them to construct the pillars supporting the roof, the countertop as well as the cabinets.

13.  Outdoor Kitchen with Pizza Oven

Are you a huge fan of pizza? I know I heart pizza. If you’re like me, you’ll love this next idea. Installing a pizza oven in the corner of your backyard kitchen is such a timesaver.

This oven will help you cook your favorite pizza right at home. You can buy an electric pizza oven and install it in your outdoor kitchen. Or you can create a wooden pizza oven.

Not knowing how to prepare homemade pizza is no longer an excuse, with the right appliances like a pizza oven, you can learn how to make pizza online.

14. U-shaped Backyard Kitchen

A U-shaped backyard kitchen is one of the inexpensive covered outdoor kitchen ideas. It consists of the base cabinets with concrete or tiled countertops that together form a U shape at the center of a kitchen.

In the same way, you create an L-shaped kitchen, you can also build a U-shaped backyard kitchen. It’s the countertops and cabinets that help achieve this shape. Arrange two base cabinets facing each other and have another one connect them at the end of each of the cabinets.

If you started installing these pieces of furniture and outdoor kitchen items in an open field, you need to install a floor to provide shelter to you and everyone when eating or cooking. You can install a corrugated or iron roof.

15.  Outdoor Kitchen with Seats

If you live in a state or country that experiences hot weather most days of the year, you probably spend most of your free day times in the backyard. You can create a kitchen with permanent or temporally minimalist dining tables and patio chairs.

You can build a permanent countertop in the middle of your kitchen that will act as a dining table. Luxurious strong tiles can be put on top to get rid of the void in the cement flooring. Or you can opt for movable, stacking, or folding chairs.

In terms of the actual kitchen, you can create a full outdoor kitchen or just a kitchenette. Either way, just make sure the basic elements like grill, oven, and/or pizza oven are available.

Obviously, all these items and furniture pieces need to be covered by at least a simple roof. The roof can be in the form of a summer hat or made of tiles, iron sheets, or an umbrella.

16.  Covered Kitchen By the Pool

Are living on a property that has a swimming pool in the backyard? If so, you can erect a simple kitchen close to the pool to enhance your outdoor experience.

Imagine swimming in your swimming pool while one of your family members or friends is smoking steak in a kitchen next to your pool. Really convenient!

Since most outdoor living happens on hot days, you’ll need a structure with a covered roof to protect your cook from the blazing sun escalate with the kitchen heat. The roof can be just a large umbrella or tiles or iron sheets.  

FAQs about Inexpensive Covered Outdoor Kitchen Ideas

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about these inexpensive covered outdoor kitchen ideas.

Final words on Inexpensive Covered Outdoor Kitchen Ideas

Living indoors is ideal during lockdowns or in freezing cold weather. However, it’s a no-go for summer and other cool seasons.

You need to stay outdoors to enjoy the sun and more importantly the fresh air in your backyard. One of the best ways to make sure you’re addicted to outdoor life is by having an outdoor kitchen.

Whether you’re planning to install a kitchen in your backyard at a low cost or if you were just doing investigative research, I believe you’ve found this post helpful.

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Otherwise, I wish you the best of luck!

Xoxo!