An outdoor kitchen? We call that the ultimate home upgrade here at Gallery 77. It’s fun to cook in. It’s fun to entertain in. It keeps your home massively cooler during the summer. It enables you to deep-fry walleye without listening to your spouse complain about the smell. It will make your already outstanding home even more outstanding.
So long as it has the right countertops, that is. You need a surface that can stand up to the Upper Midwest’s unkindest weather – ice, rain, humidity, Arctic lows, and dog day highs – as well as one that can withstand the fast-paced, high-impact grilling needs of the average Midwestern family.
If you’re building or renovating an outdoor kitchen, give Gallery 77 of Hudson, WI a call today. We carry all the best stone and stone products for outdoor countertops and backsplashes. And these stones aren’t just durable. They are gorgeous – like your outdoor kitchen is certain to be once you’ve chosen the surfaces.
Best Natural Stone for Outdoor Kitchens
Let’s actually start with the worst natural stone for outdoor kitchens: marble. It is porous, so it holds on to stains. Worse yet, outdoor marble can become a breeding ground for algae, bacteria, lichens, fungi, and even more gross microorganisms. Marble also doesn’t hold up very well under extreme heat or UV light.
Limestone, bluestone and engineered quartz also aren’t fit for outdoor kitchen use. Laminate and formica? Well, one could argue that those surfaces aren’t even fit for indoor kitchen use.
Granite. Quartzite. Soapstone. These stones are all tough and beautiful enough for any outdoor kitchen. Tile works great also – especially porcelain tile, which is probably the first truly weatherproof material ever invented.
Sintered Stone for Outdoor Kitchens
Engineered quartz is manufactured by mixing quartz particles and resin. It is extremely hard and resistant to scratching. It is completely nonporous and nearly immune to staining. Even harsh cleaning chemicals don’t harm it. And perhaps best of all, it’s generally more affordable than natural stone.
So why is quartz no good for outdoor kitchens? Because its quartz/resin composition breaks down when it is exposed to prolonged heat – i.e. the summer sun’s specialty. Worse yet, without window glass to shield it against UV light, engineered quartz quickly loses its color.
Don’t blame quartz’s silica crystals for its vulnerability to the elements. The problem is its resin, which destabilizes in response to sunlight. That’s why Gallery 77 offers natural stone from local quarries that don’t resin products for outdoor use, such as Coldspring of Minnesota. It is also why we send in products for special refinishing that removes their resin, making them safe for outdoor in the process.
Fortunately, you can still have all the same benefits of quartz at your outdoor kitchen. The product you want is called sintered stone, which is manufactured by heating and compressing powdered minerals until they form a solid, impenetrable mass.
Sintered stone commonly contains granite, quartz, feldspar, silica, and other tough minerals, as well as materials like glass and natural oxides. Different compositions create different colors and patterns, which is why sintered stone is available in so many distinctive styles. But regardless of its appearance, sintered stone is remarkably resistant to breaking, scratching, staining, fading and microbial growth.
Dekton: The Technical Ultracompact Stone
Beauty and functionality coexist in every Dekton sintered stone countertop. It’s made of more than 20 natural materials, all compacted into a seamless surface by 25,000 tons of uniform pressure. No weak points. No pores. No resin. Whether you choose a naturalistic countertop from Dekton’s Pietra Kode product line or a dreamlike one from their Onirika line, your outdoor kitchen will look alluring for decades to come.
Our natural stone and sintered stone countertops are already featured in countless outdoor kitchens across the Twin Cities metro. If you’d like to learn more about how Gallery 77 can complete your culinary oasis, then we welcome you to contact us today!
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