Modular and Prefab
Modular and Prefab Outdoor Kitchens
Built from ready-made sections and finished on site instead of laid brick by brick. Faster, and a good answer when your patio is already sound.
10 years building in Meridian
70+ outdoor kitchens completed
RCE-69511 Idaho registration
Reviewed by Janine Burrows Outdoor Kitchen Designer and Erica Jensen Office Manager, Outdoor Kitchen & Patio Last checked September 2026
Built from ready-made sections and finished on site, instead of laid brick by brick. Faster, easier to price, and a good answer when your patio is already sound and the shape is simple.
It is the same finished object either way. What changes is how the frame gets there, and how long your yard is a building site.
The Case
Is a modular outdoor kitchen worth it?
Worth it when your patio is already flat and sound. Worth less than the advertising suggests when it is not. The saving is in the frame, and the frame is not where most of the money goes.
What modular actually means
The panels are made in a shop to standard sizes, delivered, set in position, joined, and then finished with the same stone, stucco or tile a site-built run gets.
Modular, prefab and kit all describe the same idea. What is not modular is a rolling cart or a bolt-together stand from a big box store. Those are furniture. This is still a permanent structure on footings with a plumbed gas line.
Compared
Modular or custom?
Modular if your patio is sound, level and the shape is simple. Custom if it is not, or if the run has to fit an awkward space. Your yard decides this one, not your taste.
| Modular | Custom | |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | Standard modules. A straight run or a simple L. | Any shape, any angle, any length. |
| Time on site | Shorter. Most of the frame arrives finished. | Longer. The frame is built in place. |
| Awkward spaces | Fights them. | Designed around them. |
| Slopes and odd levels | Needs the ground corrected first. | Absorbed into the build. |
| Heavy appliances | Check the module is rated for a pizza oven before you order it. | Built for the load from the start. |
Modular is right when
The slab is flat, sound and thick enough. The run is straight or a simple corner. The appliances are standard sizes. You want the yard back quickly.
Custom is right when
The ground needs work anyway. The space has a corner, a step or a slope in it. You want a pizza oven, a smoker or anything heavy. The run has to meet the house in a particular way.
Find out what your yard allows
We come out and tell you what you are allowed to build before anything is drawn. On site, at no cost.
Or call (208) 856-3233Cost
Is a modular outdoor kitchen cheaper?
Less than you would think, because the expensive half of the job is identical either way.
Modular saves on the frame. Here is everything it does not save on.
The footings
They go just as deep. How the frame was made does not change what the ground does in winter.
The gas run
Priced by distance from the house. Identical on either frame.
Water and drainage
Same trench, same depth, same work.
The power
Same run, same outlets, same lighting.
The groundwork
If the patio has to come out, it comes out. This is the biggest line on most quotes.
The finish
The same stone and the same counters cost the same money whichever frame is underneath.
So a modular build lands in the same range as a comparable site-built one, usually toward the lower end of it. The saving is real, but it is a slice of one line rather than a different price bracket. How far below the custom band you land depends almost entirely on how much groundwork your yard needs, which is the line modular never touches.
What We Do
What we build
Modules or block, whichever your yard wants
We build both, so the recommendation is not a sales pitch for the only thing we do.
- Full custom buildsBuilt up from block on site when the shape or the ground calls for it.
- Design and layoutWhich route makes sense, settled before anything is ordered.
- Cooking islandsThe simplest run, modular or built, and the usual starting point.
- Covered kitchensA roof over either kind, which is the decision that changes the most.
- Bars and seatingRaised sections and overhangs, which modules handle to standard sizes only.
- RemodelsReworking what is already there rather than starting again.
Send a photo of the patio and we will tell you which one you are looking at.
Kits
Are prefab kits any good?
The good ones are genuinely good. The problem is that the word covers both a shop welded stainless frame and a flat pack of cement board.
The question nobody selling a kit will raise
Most national kits are written for a market that is warmer than this one, so they have no drainage detail worth the name.
Water sitting inside a module through a freezing winter is what splits it. We check that before recommending one, and it is the reason we turn some kits down.
- Frame material. Coated steel stud or welded stainless. Not timber, and not bare cement board.
- Rated for the appliance you want. A module sized for a standard grill will not carry a pizza oven.
- Marine grade stainless on the doors and drawers. The most common corner cut in the whole category.
- Delivered assembled or flat. This is what decides how much labor you are actually saving.
- Rated for freezing and thawing. The one most kits are silent about.
Nobody can tell which way it was built
The finish goes over either frame the same way, so the choice is made on the ground conditions rather than on looks.
That is the whole reason to ask what your slab is like before asking which product you want.
Buy or Build
Should you buy a kit or have one built?
Buy the kit if you have a sound patio, a simple straight run, and you are comfortable arranging the gas fitting separately. Have it built if any of those is untrue.
A kit is a product, and it arrives assuming everything else is ready: level ground, an adequate slab, gas at the right place, power where you need it. Where that is already true, a kit is an efficient way to spend your money.
Where kits go wrong is that you find out about the groundwork afterward, and groundwork after delivery costs more than groundwork before it. We build with modules and we build from block, and we will tell you which one your yard wants before either is ordered.
Common Questions
Common questions
A basic grill island runs $6,000 to $15,000 here, and a full custom build with refrigeration and a pizza oven runs $25,000 to $50,000. Where yours falls depends mostly on whether it needs a roof, how far we run gas and water, and what the ground under it is like. We give you a real number after we have seen the space.
Usually not, on the same rule as any uncovered run. Being modular changes nothing about the rules. What matters is what the finished structure is and what it is connected to, not how the frame was manufactured. Electrical work needs its own permit whatever the size, and putting a roof over it moves you into covered territory either way.
Only if the module is rated for it, and many are not. A pizza oven is heavy enough to need the load designed in from the footings up. Check it before ordering rather than after delivery, because a module that will not take one cannot be made to.
Yes, on site. Most of the frame arrives finished, so the messy part of the job is shorter. The groundwork, the utility runs and the finishing take the same time they always did, so the whole project is quicker rather than transformed.
Not really, and that is worth knowing before you buy one for that reason. It sits on footings and it is plumbed into gas. The modules come apart more easily than block does, but everything under and behind them is as permanent as any other build.
No. The finish is the same stone, stucco or tile over either frame. Nobody standing in your yard can tell which way it was built, which is the whole point of choosing on the ground conditions rather than on looks.
Get a price for your build
One call, one visit, and a quote that names what it covers.
Or call (208) 856-3233Next Step
How do you get a quote?
We come out, look at the slab, and tell you honestly which of the two your yard wants. Then we price it with the groundwork on its own line, because that is the line that decides whether modular saves you anything.
If the shape is not settled yet, start at outdoor kitchen design. If the ground already needs work, you are really looking at outdoor kitchen construction.
Get a quote for your outdoor kitchen
We measure the space, tell you what your yard allows, and build it so nothing shifts on you in winter. One visit, and a quote that names what it covers.
Get a Free Site Measure