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
We template, cut, fit and seal the counter, including the notch around your grill. The surface is the part you touch every time you use the kitchen, and it is the one most likely to be chosen for the wrong reason.
One thing before anything else: engineered quartz and natural quartzite are not the same material, and only one of them belongs outside.
Which Material
Porcelain or granite for most builds here. Quartzite if you want natural stone and will pay for it. Concrete if you want the look and accept the maintenance.
| Material | How it behaves in a Meridian winter |
|---|---|
| Porcelain | Non-porous, no sealing, UV stable, takes freeze-thaw without complaint. Thin slabs need a substrate and careful handling at the edges |
| Granite | Hard, heat-tolerant, widely available. Porous, so it wants sealing, and a darker stone hides less than people expect |
| Quartzite | Natural stone, harder than granite, excellent outdoors. Costs more and there is less of it about |
| Concrete | Any shape, any colour, poured or precast. Stains and hairline-cracks unless it is sealed properly and re-sealed |
| Tile over a substrate | The cheap route that genuinely works if the grout and the substrate are outdoor-rated. More joints to keep clean |
| Soapstone | Non-porous and heat-proof, ages to a patina, scratches easily. A taste choice more than a performance one |
| Engineered quartz | No. See the next section |
The two that decide most jobs are porcelain and granite, and the honest split is that porcelain is the lower-maintenance surface and granite is the one more people already know they like.
Quartz Warning
Yes, and it is the single most expensive mistake in this category, because the name sounds like the material that works.
Engineered quartz is crushed stone held together with a polymer resin. That resin is what fails: ultraviolet light breaks it down, so the surface yellows, fades unevenly and can warp. Manufacturers exclude outdoor use from their warranties for exactly this reason, which is worth checking yourself on the brand you are being offered.
Natural quartzite is a different thing entirely. It is quarried stone, no resin in it, harder than granite, and it is genuinely one of the better outdoor surfaces. The words are nearly identical and the outcomes are opposite.
We do not fit engineered quartz outdoors, covered or not. A roof reduces direct sun; it does not eliminate ultraviolet, and it does nothing about the temperature swing a slab sees between a July afternoon and a 10°F winter night.
We come out and tell you what you are allowed to build before anything is drawn. On site, at no cost.
Or call (208) 856-3233Cheapest
Tile over an outdoor-rated substrate, then concrete, then granite in a standard colour.
Tile is cheapest because the material comes in small pieces, so there is no large slab to buy, transport or lift. It works outdoors when the substrate is cement board rather than plywood and the grout is rated for it. What you accept is grout lines to keep clean and a look that reads as tile.
Where the cheap options actually go wrong is never the material. It is the substrate underneath and the sealing after, and both are labour rather than stone.
Ask what is under it. A tiled counter on the wrong board is a repair in two winters, and it looks identical on the day it is finished.
Cost
Priced by the slab, the cuts and the edge, not by the square foot alone.
What moves it:
Get the fabrication quoted separately from the material. Two quotes on the same granite can differ by more than the stone costs, and the difference is almost always the cuts. A contractor who will not itemise it is quoting a number rather than a job, and that is the estimate that moves later.
Sealing
Granite, concrete and most natural stone, yes. Porcelain and soapstone, no.
Sealing fills the pores so water, wine and grease sit on the surface long enough to be wiped off instead of soaking in. Outdoors it matters more than it does in a kitchen, because rain lands on the counter and stays there.
How often depends on the stone and how exposed it is. A simple test: put a tablespoon of water on the counter and leave it fifteen minutes. If the stone darkens where the water sat, it wants resealing.
Meridian is rated severe for weathering in Climate Zone 5B, per the City of Meridian design criteria. Water that soaks into a porous surface and then freezes is what breaks stone here. Sealing is the cheap half of preventing it; drainage under the counter is the other half.
Thickness
Three centimetres for outdoor stone, and support anything past 12 inches.
Two-centimetre slabs are common indoors and marginal outdoors, because the counter spans a frame rather than a continuous cabinet run and it takes weather on both faces. Three centimetres is what we specify.
Overhang is where counters actually break. Up to about 12 inches, stone carries itself over a well-built frame. Past that, it wants steel brackets or a corbel taking the load back into the structure, fitted before the slab goes on. The failure is sudden rather than gradual, and it usually happens with somebody leaning on it.
Those numbers match the bar seating on the outdoor kitchen bar page, and they are the same numbers because it is the same slab.
On code: the counter itself is not a permitted item, but what passes under it is. Any electrical work sits under the 2017 National Electrical Code and gas under the 2018 International Fuel and Gas Code, both named in the City of Meridian design criteria, and both get filed by whoever holds the build.
Indoor Tops
Only if it is a natural stone that was going to be fine anyway. Everything else is a false economy.
Laminate delaminates the first time water reaches the core. Butcher block moves with every wet-dry cycle and greys within a season. Engineered quartz fails on ultraviolet as above. Solid surface acrylics soften in direct sun and are not rated for it.
The one that catches people is a remnant from an indoor job. If it is granite or quartzite, a remnant is a genuinely good buy and we will fit it. If it is quartz, the price is not a bargain, it is a countdown.
What To Avoid
Water, ultraviolet and unsupported spans, in that order.
Common Questions
Yes, and it is one of the best surfaces you can choose. It is natural stone, harder than granite, and it has no resin in it to break down in sun. Confirm you are being sold quartzite and not quartz, in writing.
Something non-porous, because a bar top takes drinks rather than hot pans. Porcelain or sealed granite. The bar seating dimensions sit on the outdoor kitchen bar page.
Sometimes, and the crack tells you. A hairline in concrete fills. A crack across a stone slab at the overhang is structural and the slab gets replaced, because whatever caused it is still there.
Past about 12 inches, yes. Under that, a properly built frame carries it. The brackets go in before the slab, which is why this gets decided at design rather than discovered on fitting day.
Templating to fitting is usually two to three weeks, and almost all of it is fabrication. The fit itself is a single visit once the frame is ready.
One call, one visit, and a quote that names what it covers.
Or call (208) 856-3233Next Step
Tell us the run, the appliances going into it and how much overhang you want, and we will template it. No charge for the visit.
You get the material and the fabrication priced as separate lines, the joins placed where you will not look at them, and confirmation in writing of exactly which stone you are buying.
If the frame underneath is not built yet, that starts at outdoor kitchen construction, and the storage below it is on outdoor kitchen cabinets.
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 MeasureFour things and we can call you back with something useful. No obligation.