Australians love their outdoor kitchens and with our beautiful sunny weather who can blame us? Whether you’re throwing a chilled Sunday afternoon barbecue or wanting to entertain guests in a completely decked out backyard kitchen, the outdoor kitchen island can help create a stylish and functional space for food preparation.

We’ve put together 14 great outdoor kitchen island ideas to suit any design preference, style, space and budget.

1. Natural Stone Blocks

We love natural stones and incorporating stone blocks into your backyard kitchen design in the form of an island is an excellent idea. Natural stone doesn’t just look amazing and perfectly match a natural backyard aesthetic, it’s also inherently durable when exposed to the outdoor elements.

There’s plenty of opportunity to still customise your natural stone kitchen island in terms of tabletop and other incorporated features. More on that later on.

2. Reclaimed Wood

Another way in which you can retain a natural aesthetic and design style in your outdoor kitchen is through reclaimed wood. There’s a lot to be said by using this building material. It’s an affordable and stylish option and of course gives previously used timber a new lease on life, making it a highly attractive environmentally-friendly option.

3. Stainless Steel

Like your indoor kitchen, an outdoor kitchen island is bound to see it’s fair share of liquid, spills, food and even rain. A stainless steel island topped with a concrete countertop or steel from top to toe offers peace of mind with unrivalled durability and resistance to wear, tear, corrosion, staining and damage. 

4. Outdoor Splashbacks

If your outdoor kitchen island design includes a sink area, an outdoor splashback offers an opportunity to inject style, colour and personality to the space. There’s plenty of scope to customise a splashback as well. Stone tiled splashbacks can come in all sorts of shades and tones and the tiles themselves can be arrayed in a variety of patterns and styles.

5. Waterfall Countertops

If you’re looking for big, bold outdoor kitchen island ideas you can make quite the statement by opting for a waterfall countertop. Popular indoors and outdoors, this impressive looking design turns your island benchtop into more than just a functional table. The flowing aesthetic is an impressive, sleek style of outdoor kitchen island you’ll be sure to love for many years. 

6. Multiple Tiers

A smart way to make the most use out of your outdoor kitchen island design is by incorporating multiple tiers. A two-or-more tiered island allows you to utilise space as a benchtop, introduce a bar-like area and make the most of both vertical and horizontal space.

When entertaining, it offers a perfect area for you to busy yourself with food prep while chatting to your visitors who are standing or–with the addition of outdoor bar stools–sitting at the island. 

7. Long, Curved Island

This outdoor kitchen island idea requires a bit of space but is an excellent solution if you’re wanting a ton of surface space to incorporate a food preparation area, dining room, a sink or two, grill and more.

A long curved island brings together the functionality of a stove (barbecue) top, kitchen benchtop, sink, and dining table. The curved shape is not just a nice little way to spice up the visual appeal of the island.

It means you can fit even more chairs or people around the island. Plus, if your backyard kitchen has a fire pit or some other central feature, you can effectively yet subtly highlight the centrepiece with a long, curved island running halfway around it. 

8. L-Shaped Island

There’s a minimalist quality to a stand-alone rectangular island and aesthetic and functional benefits to a long, curved kitchen island. Someway in between the two is a classic L-shaped kitchen island. You can easily fit in any extra features you want (think bar fridges, pizza ovens or an extra burner or two) with the additional space without having to sacrifice any of the space you need reserved for other essential activities. 

9. Built-In Barbecue

Built-in barbecues are very popular and there are a couple of ways in which you can incorporate a complete grill into your outdoor kitchen. If you’re tight on backyard space or find the thought of a self-contained kitchen island unit that can be completely closed up and shut off, you might want to consider putting your barbecue into the island itself. With some clever design and accompanied with smart storage solutions, it’s not necessary to compromise on too much of your food prep space either.

10. Integrated Bar Fridge

What’s a luxury outdoor kitchen without an integrated bar fridge? Whether for easy access to an ice-cold beer or chilled bottle of white wine, or convenient storage for various cooking condiments and ingredients, an integrated bar fridge is an excellent idea for your kitchen island. Subtle and practical, it’s a must-have.

11. Outdoor Kitchen Bar 

Turning your outdoor kitchen island into a bar might not be suitable for everyone, especially if you have young kids, but there’s a really appealing quality to a long, thin, high kitchen island looking over a pool area or backyard. Set up with some bar stools and delicately accessorised, you can easily picture you and some friends relaxing like you’re on holiday while the barbecue or pizza cooks away behind you. 

12. Highlight With A Skylight

If your outdoor kitchen is situated under cover, be it a pergola, patio or permanent shade fixture, one way to bring out the shine in your kitchen island is by placing a skylight directly overhead. You get all of the benefits of natural sunlight without exposing you and your outdoor kitchen to the weather. When the sun’s overhead, the natural light filtering through will also help you enjoy extra strong visibility while preparing food on the bench. 

13. Strip Lighting

There are many ways to incorporate lighting in your outdoor kitchen. Some stylishly arranged strip lighting, LED or similar, placed considerately along, beneath or above your outdoor kitchen island will kill two birds with one stone: it will add practical lighting to the space and also look amazing, especially when entertaining at night. Many strip lights offer different colour options so you can adjust the colour based on the type of event you’re hosting.

14. String Or Party Lights

An affordable way to bring some life as well as light to your outdoor kitchen island is through strung up party lights. Carefully hung above your kitchen island, much like the skylight, you’ll enjoy both the practical benefits of extra lighting (particularly necessary if your backyard isn’t well lit) and the ambient atmosphere that party lights can bring to an outdoor kitchen.

Let’s Talk About Your Backyard Kitchen Design

There you have it: 14 amazing outdoor kitchen island ideas to help inspire you. The Euro Marble team is always happy to chat about different ways you can improve your indoor or outdoor space. So why not contact us today and let’s talk about your outdoor kitchen design.

Wanting to update your kitchen while keeping the costs down is one thing but knowing how to update an old kitchen on a budget is something else. Your kitchen is a central space of the house and is likely to be frequented by family, friends, guests and visitors of all kinds.

So knowing how to upgrade your kitchen without overestimating how far your allocated funds can stretch is the key. Before you get started taking the sledgehammer to your kitchen, check out our top ten pieces of advice for updating kitchens on a budget.

1. Keep Your Existing Layout

An easy way to keep your kitchen upgrade costs under control is to refrain from extensive renovation in the form of changing your layout. When you start modifying the layout of your kitchen you start messing with the plumbing, electrical works and a whole lot more. By keeping the structure of your kitchen intact and the same you can focus on making your money go further by zeroing on the smaller things that still make a big difference.

2. Hold On To Your Appliances 

A lot of people who catch the renovation bug, start itching to replace everything in their kitchen on the inside and out. Before you start getting rid of the toaster, the sink and everything in between, consider using your budget on the smaller items that are going to last longer and have a greater aesthetic effect in your kitchen, such as the tap and finishings. 

3. Fittings and Powerpoints

The devil is in the details, and so is the best way to keep your kitchen upgrade costs down. Small changes to the seemingly insignificant aspects of your kitchen can work in tandem to create an overall amazing effect. Think brand new powerpoint covers, fresh switches for the light, covers for your windows and even some new fittings for your lights.

4. Paint, Paint, Paint

No surprises here: painting is probably the most simple and popular way to cheaply update your kitchen. A fresh coast of paint can inject new life into even a worn kitchen space. Depending on your budget you can opt for just a bright change of colour palette for your window and door frames. You can paint over timber cabinetry or add a splash of bold colour to the walls. In fact, you can even paint the floor of your kitchen with a bright yet neutral shade to add lightness and liveliness to the entire room.

5. Introduce A Splashback

Splashbacks offer a lot more than just a practical addition to your kitchen. It brings an affordable way to add a bit of personality to the space and refresh the overall look. There’s plenty of opportunity to customise your splashback too beyond just the colour:

You can use natural stone, stainless steel, or brick in a wide variety of patterns and layouts. All of this without breaking the bank as well.

6. Focus On The Cabinets

Your kitchen cabinetry offers a lot of surface area to work with. Replacing or resurfacing the cabinets, including the doors and the fronts of the drawers, enables you to transform your kitchen into something exciting, fresh and new without costing an arm and a leg.

The important thing to remember is to get cabinet doors and fronts that fit over your existing structures so that you minimise the amount of work that needs to be done and necessary structural changes.

7. The Benchtop Can Achieve Wonders

At the centre of your kitchen (if not physically than functionally) is your kitchen benchtop. Of course, it’s no secret that we don’t think anything looks quite as amazing as a marble or natural stone benchtop, but there are a ton of alternatives for homeowners. Even if you do nothing but redo your benchtop–whether a complete replacement or a simple resurfacing–you will be bowled over by the way it completely changes your entire kitchen.

8. Light It Up With Lighting

You need solid lighting to work in a kitchen, but your lighting also provides a perfect opportunity to change up the entire space without impacting the back pocket. Nowadays, fashionable and bold lighting options can be found online or instore at affordable prices. You can choose soft yet bright lights that infuse your kitchen with a welcome feel.

Or you can add a sophisticated design element in the form of a pendant light or similar. Alternatively, consider bringing the 21st century to your kitchen with smart-bulbs that are controllable through our phone. In truth, you can actually choose a combination of any of the above: it’s surprisingly affordable. 

9. Remove Impeding Walls

If you’re ready and willing to get stuck into some structural work, there’s an easy way to update an old kitchen on a budget: Remove some of the walls that get in the way of a wide, spacious-feeling kitchen. 

You’ll immediately feel the difference between having an open and easily accessible kitchen compared to the worn, tight, old kitchen you might be used to. Don’t worry, we know what you’re thinking: You don’t have to completely give up on the storage space those walls may have contained. Floating shelves, metal brackets and other smart storage solutions can help you have your storage cake and eat it too when it comes to your kitchen renovation on a budget. 

10. Add Some Decorative Accessories

An integral aspect of effective interior design is the choice of accessories and other decorative objects. There’s no limit to the options available to you and plenty to suit all preferences, budget sizes and kitchen spaces.

Lamps, artwork, mirrors, ornamental dishes, woven decorations or antique appliances are just some of the many, many options available. Of course, you can mix and match with styles and change your accessories whenever it suits you.

Contact Us Today To Find Out More

Would you like to discuss even more ways in which you can keep the costs associated with updating an old kitchen to a minimum? Or do you want to walk us through your plans and have our reno experts weigh in?

Either way, give the Euro Marble team a call today on (02) 8585 2999.

There’s a lot to consider when you’re looking to refurbish, replace or rejuvenate your kitchen. One popular way to breathe new life into an old and worn kitchen is by focusing on the kitchen cabinets.

Kitchen cabinets take a lot of beating over the course of their lives. Being the centre of the house and the hive of activity in the home, the kitchen sees its fair share of wear and tear. The kitchen cabinets are no different. 

Yet deciding that giving your kitchen cabinets a makeover is only the first of many decisions. You still need to decide whether or not to go down the replacing or refacing kitchen cabinets path.

Both options offer positive benefits and negatives, and both are good options for transforming your kitchen. So, what exactly is the difference?

What is Refacing?

Cabinet refacing has been a popular method of renovating kitchens for a long time. Basically, refacing your kitchen cabinets involves the installation of just new fronts to your drawers and doors. Instead of replacing the entire cabinetry, refacing is about replacing the exterior veneers. There are three main methods of refacing kitchen cabinets but we’ll go into that a little later.

What is Replacing?

Replacing kitchen cabinets involves the entire removal and–as it sounds–replacement of the existing cabinets and/or drawers.

Doors, drawers and the interior are all expertly removed (most often by professionals) and replaced from top to toe. While there are plenty of pros and cons to replacing, replacing is an effective way to gut and rebuild a kitchen into something completely new.

Resurfacing vs Replacing: A Breakdown of the Pros and Cons

Refacing Kitchen Cabinets: The Pros

Flexibility

There are multiple ways to reface cabinets and drawers in a kitchen depending on what suits you.

1. The simplest way is to just remove the doors and fronts of the drawers and replace them with an entirely new veneer. This of course comes ‘dangerously’ close to just plain kitchen cabinet replacing.
2. Alternatively one can just place new wood panelling or laminate sheeting/veneers over the front of the existing exterior.
3. One last method of refacing involves neither the replacement of panelling or veneers. Rather by refinishing and repainting the existing cabinetry you can rejuvenate it effectively through simple aesthetics.

Cost

Refacing kitchen cabinets is absolutely the cheaper of the two kitchen renovating methods we’re covering. Less material and less labour all adds up to savings of up to 50% with refacing cabinets costing as little as half the price of replacing.

Cosmetic and Aesthetic Only

If your kitchen is looking a bit worse for wear but isn’t actually compromised structurally or functionally, there may not be a reason to gut it from the inside out. Refacing your kitchen cabinets when the actual cabinet and drawer boxes are still in good shape and working fine is an effective, efficient way of making the most of your budget, time and energy.

Convenience

By refacing, you’re just replacing the outer, exterior part of the kitchen cabinets rather than the whole thing. This means that the entire renovation process is quicker and more pain-free. Moreover, you won’t have to move all your appliances, dishes and other items necessarily to get the work done.

More Eco-Friendly

With less material being ripped out and thrown out, cabinet refacing is the more environmentally friendly and less waste-causing option.

Refacing Kitchen Cabinets: The Cons

Expense

While still cheaper than replacing, the refacing kitchen cabinets cost you could be facing is still extensive if you’re re-doing the entire kitchen. While it will add value to your home, it won’t be quite as high a renovation in terms of value as full replacement.

Doing-it-yourself

Many people think that refacing their cabinets is going to be an easy job. The truth is that it can actually be quite difficult. It’s not as easy as simply taking off some doors and popping on some new ones. There’s a steep learning curve involved and doing a professional job can require a lot of skill and experience.

Finding Professionals

Refacing cabinets was once a much more popular way of renovating a kitchen. As full-scale replacements have increased in popularity, the number of professionals and companies offering quality refacing is becoming smaller and smaller. Finding the right professional tradespeople can be more difficult than expected.

May Not Work

All of the pros of refacing only apply if it’s even an option. Kitchen cabinets that are just too old, worn, broken or rotted may not even be in a state that can be saved through refacing. Replacement may be the only option in those instances.

Replacing Kitchen Cabinets: The Pros

Effective For Broken Cabinets

If your kitchen cabinets are broken, ruined, worn, rotted or just unusable, replacing them can be your best option. It doesn’t matter whether the interior structure or boxes are still solid. If you have the budget for a full-scale replacement, you can bring your kitchen back from the brink.

Flexibility In Layout

Unlike refacing kitchen cabinets, replacing allows you to restructure the entire layout. You can add on, re-shape or just tweak the kitchen however you see fit. Refacing is just the replacing of the veneers of the cabinetry, whereas with replacement there are far fewer restrictions in what you can achieve and do.

Complete Refresh

If you have the budget for a full cabinet replacement, nothing will quite refresh your kitchen like a cabinet replacing. From the appearance to the feel to the layout, your kitchen will feel like an entirely new space with all new living opportunities. 

Add Value

More so than just refacing, cabinet replacement will add significant value to your home. Replacing will add valuable functionality and aesthetics to your everyday living but also prove to be a smart and worthwhile investment down the line.

Professional Availability

While you can try do-it-yourself, if you prefer the safer route of going with professional installers there are plenty of available experts in the industry to help you get the job done.

Replacing Kitchen Cabinets: The Cons

Cost

While we included the price discrepancy in the pros of refacing, it’s worth restarting here. The cost of replacing kitchen cabinets is going to be significantly more than the alternative. There’s a lot more work to be done, a lot more effort involved and a lot more material that needs to be bought, sourced and installed. The flip side as we mentioned is of course the extra value it will inject into your home.

DIY Difficulty

Yes, it might be possible but cabinet replacement is anything but easy. From the sourcing of the actual drawers and cabinetry, to the heavy lifting and installation involved, you’ll need to have adequate skill and experience in do-it-yourself projects.

Plus, remember that ensuring the precise levelling of cabinets beneath structurally sound benches is very, very important. So if you’re going to do it yourself, make sure to do it right.

Still Not Sure? Give Euro Marble A Call!

There are plenty of pros and cons to both replacing and refacing your kitchen cabinets and drawers. Your preferences, budget and objectives will all help determine which option is right for you.

Need some help? We’re here for you. Just give us a call on (02) 8585 2999 or get in touch online today.