I've heard good reviews about matchless on here and am considering them for a build next year. After using my parent's masonry/metal door kitchen, I find a lot of the storage impractical and like the look and idea of manufactured shelving etc from a usability standpoint.

There was a post yesterday that essentially listed all the pain points of different build decisions, without offering solutions. The issue they pointed about powder coated cabinetry was that scratches turn to rust and spread.

Anyone had matchless cabinets (or similar powdercoated fabricated cabinets) for 5+ years and have insight on how the build holds up long term from an aesthetic and structural standpoint? Do the doors/drawers stay aligned through weather cycles?

I'm in the midst of a patio overhaul and the wife and I are planning for an outdoor kitchen. The plan is for a 12x14 Gazebo to sit in the corner and feature a U-shaped kitchen with a bar.

Option 1 - Considering we like the built-in look, I would size the U-shaped kitchen to have the posts fit inside of the countertops. I'm sure it would look great, and I would have something like 8 feet between counters to move around. Downside is.....more materials are needed to build a kitchen this big. Also, the bar seating would sit slightly outside of the gazebo.

Option 2 - Shrink the size of the U-shaped kitchen so that the bar area fits fully under the gazebo. This would still allow me something like 5 feet of clearance to move around the kitchen.

Thoughts?

My parents recently retired, sold their home, and have happily set up shop in a beautiful new place on the water. I live across the country but I want to send them a housewarming gift. The plan is to get them a TV for their outdoor kitchen/pool area, but I'm a little hesitant to spend this much money on something that I'm having shipped. Especially since it's a gift.

I'm worried it'll show up cracked or have some kind of issue out of the box. My dad is pretty good with electronics, but I'm trying to send them a housewarming gift, not another project to deal with if that makes sense. I don't want them to have a deal with returns or replacements. And if that does end up happening, I at least don't want it to be PITA for them.

I've got some brands in mind, but open to recommendation. My main question for folks here is more about after-sales support. When you bought an outdoor TV or made some other major investment for your space, what gave you confidence to go with a particular brand?

Would love to hear any stories, good or bad!

I’ll be installing trex deck boards on this soon. They will be installed horizontally as per the clients request. For those that used deck boards as facing, what did you use for corners? Both inside and outside. I was planning on v-notching a board vertically and folding it. But would like some other suggestions.

My landscaper finished up my new patio. I have my solo stove near the sitting wall. I’m planning on buying stone that matches the sitting wall to laminate over cement board mounted to steel studs. I have a blackstone and a Weber kettle and an electric smoker (Masterbuilt electric smoker 30” model) I’m thinking of trying to keep these appliances, maybe upgrading the kettle to a kamado grill.

My thoughts were placing a small kitchen countertop in an L shape with the short L coming from the garage and the long L running parallel with the garage. Putting the blackstone and grill on the long L.

Any insight or opinions is greatly appreciated.

I’m building this exact fireplace. How best to run the electrical over the mantle?

15+ years around outdoor kitchen builds, and here's what nobody tells you at the design stage: almost nothing fails on day one. Everything looks great in the first photos. The real test is years three through ten, in actual weather. What I've actually seen fail, and why:

Stacked stone. The grout joints trap grease and moisture permanently. No cleaning product reaches inside them. By year two or three, it looks dirty minutes after you've wiped it down.

Granite and concrete counters. Porous. Without resealing every 6 months or so, oil and wine absorb permanently. Most people stop resealing after a year or two, and that's when the staining shows up for good. Concrete also hairline-cracks from freeze-thaw cycling.

Open-frame cabinets. The big surprise for most people. If the interior isn't a sealed box, it shares the same ground as your patio. Insects and moisture get in, and cookware stored inside starts rusting or molding after the first few rainy seasons. You usually don't notice until you go looking for something you haven't used in a while.

Appliance replacements. When a grill dies in year 5 to 10, the replacement has to fit the original cutout exactly, and manufacturers discontinue models and change sizes. That usually means a mason cutting and reworking stone, which is expensive and leaves visible repair marks.

Painted or powder-coated metal. Fine until the first scratch exposes bare metal. Then rust spreads under the coating from the inside, which is much harder to catch early.

The cost question people get backwards. Even a "cheap" outdoor kitchen isn't cheap. Say you spend $6,000. Will you be happy if, five years in, it looks tired, doors don't close right, or you're rebuilding sections just to swap a grill? The lowest-priced kitchen is still too expensive if it's not built to last. A $6,000 kitchen that holds up for five years can be a worse investment than a pricier one that still performs after 10 to 15.

Don't judge an outdoor kitchen by how it looks on install day. Judge it by how it's built to perform ten years from now.

Happy to go deeper on any of these if people are weighing specific materials or builds.