Building Barbecues & Outdoor Kitchens

Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait for delivery Down Under!
Review: Extremely user-friendly guide for building BBQ's and/or outside kitchens, particularly for the beginner. Sketches and drawings provided with precision detail (despite having to convert measurements from Imperial to Metric!!). Extremely insightful look into the variations of the simple outdoor BBQ and fireplace. Provides a thoroughly detailed journey from inception to completion and all the bits in between. Highly recommended to beginner's as a teaching platform and to professional's as a terrific refresher guide!!

Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait for delivery Down Under!
Review: Extremely user-friendly guide for building BBQ's and/or outside kitchens, particularly for the beginner. Sketches and drawings provided with precision detail (despite having to convert measurements from Imperial to Metric!!). Extremely insightful look into the variations of the simple outdoor BBQ and fireplace. Provides a thoroughly detailed journey from inception to completion and all the bits in between. Highly recommended to beginner's as a teaching platform and to professional's as a terrific refresher guide!!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Inspiring
Review: I bought this book about a year ago and was immediately captured by the possibilities of different types of barbeques. I would have never been able to dream up these types of structures. The stucco ones that you can purchase preassembled are a joke compared to these. Aside from the design ideas, this book only gives a brief description of different building techniques for masonry, electrical and plumbing. The reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because it is not thorough enough with the "how to" aspect, the depth of experience that you need to complete each project or the costs involved (some of them would easily be ten grand). The book should be called "Backyard Barbeque Ideas for Your Contractor". You will have to be experienced in several trades or do a TON of research in order to do these projects yourself (I learned the true meaning of the term "learning curve"). I had zero experience, so being tenacious (stubborn), as usual, I figured I would give it a shot. I looked through the book several times to decide which style I liked the most and then began drawing plans based on a space in my back patio. After working on and off for nine months...yada, yada, yada...I have a beautiful brick and slate summer kitchen (covering a forty sq ft area), fully accessorized with sink, fridge and stainless grill. I used a concrete block structure covered with facebrick, which may have been overkill. But, I live in Florida and am fully convinced that this will be the only structure left standing if a category 5 hurricane ever goes through my backyard. One last word of advice...if you decide to take on one of these projects yourself, be patient, work slow and do it right the first time. It was a great learning experience and I owe it all to the inspiration of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Inspiring
Review: I bought this book about a year ago and was immediately captured by the possibilities of different types of barbeques. I would have never been able to dream up these types of structures. The stucco ones that you can purchase preassembled are a joke compared to these. Aside from the design ideas, this book only gives a brief description of different building techniques for masonry, electrical and plumbing. The reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because it is not thorough enough with the "how to" aspect, the depth of experience that you need to complete each project or the costs involved (some of them would easily be ten grand). The book should be called "Backyard Barbeque Ideas for Your Contractor". You will have to be experienced in several trades or do a TON of research in order to do these projects yourself (I learned the true meaning of the term "learning curve"). I had zero experience, so being tenacious (stubborn), as usual, I figured I would give it a shot. I looked through the book several times to decide which style I liked the most and then began drawing plans based on a space in my back patio. After working on and off for nine months...yada, yada, yada...I have a beautiful brick and slate summer kitchen (covering a forty sq ft area), fully accessorized with sink, fridge and stainless grill. I used a concrete block structure covered with facebrick, which may have been overkill. But, I live in Florida and am fully convinced that this will be the only structure left standing if a category 5 hurricane ever goes through my backyard. One last word of advice...if you decide to take on one of these projects yourself, be patient, work slow and do it right the first time. It was a great learning experience and I owe it all to the inspiration of this book.

Rating:
Summary: A very good start for building built-ins
Review: I bought this book because I am planning a BBQ island for my backyard and intend to construct it myself. The book is centered around several BBQ islands that the authors (apparently) have seen built locally to them, and for each, there is a construction breakdown showing how it is constructed. The drawings are very good, however construction methods are only outlined in general terms (meaning, each step is outlined pretty broadly). I used to work various construction and remodel jobs, and feel capable of executing to these methods, However, it may be too much of a stretch for a beginning or intermediate do-it-yourselfer armed only with this book. I would say, if you don't already know what you want to build, or plan to have a pro do the actual construction, this book provides a great jumping-off point. I'd say it is well worth the purchase price. It also does a good job of describing many different types of construction, such as masonry, metal framing, etc. Also noteworthy is that the book stresses the importance of planning the project in terms of how it will be used, desired features, etc. ....As far as built-in grill projects in general, For a long time, built-in barbeques were pretty much isloated to the fancy, upscale backyards of more expensive homes, but they are becoming more mainstream all of the time. I applaud the authors for writing this book, for this should help accelerate this trend toward more do-it-yourself activity with built-ins. Be forewarned: Built-in Grills and the associated components are horrendously expensive today, considering what they are and what little manufacturing complexity is needed to build them. (Just visit a Barbeque-specialty store for a look). Soon enough, the major home-improvement chain stores will partner with the manufacturers and begin carrying these types of grills, moving them in volume, and helping retail prices move downward. (and probably put the specialty stores out of business). All in all, I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Ideas for Your Backyard BBQ
Review: I'm considering building a BBQ/firepit in my back yard and this book has been extremely helpful in presenting various designs and the pros and cons of each. It gives tips on the construction of various designs from the concrete slab to the chimney. Offers designs for gas grills and charcoal/wood grills. The only down side is that the books seem overweighted with luxury setups. This is unfortunate since more people who pick up this book are looking to either do it themselves or hire someone to do a simple backyard pit inexpensively. It's definately worth a look if you are interested in creating a backyard grill.