Questions
Including the ones where the honest answer is not the one that sells. If a question you have is not here, ask it — we would rather answer it before you buy than after.
Usually not. The Great Lakes are freshwater — there's no constant airborne chloride the way there is on an ocean coast — so 304 stainless is the standard spec here. We'd upgrade specific components to 316 only if the kitchen sits in direct splash range of a driveway or road that gets heavy de-icing salt each winter.
A TSSA-licensed gas technician. In Ontario, a G3 certification covers supervised work; a G2 certification is what allows a technician to do unsupervised residential gas or propane work on equipment up to 400,000 BTUH, which covers a typical outdoor kitchen. We supply the appliances; the TSSA technician does the hookup and sign-off.
Any new circuit, outlet, or exterior wiring needs a notification of work filed with the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) and has to be done — or at minimum inspected — by a Licensed Electrical Contractor. ESA issues a Certificate of Acceptance once the work passes, including checks for proper GFCI protection on exterior kitchen circuits.
Below the frost line set by your local building department. That depth varies by municipality — shallower in the south, meaningfully deeper toward Ottawa and interior Muskoka — so it's confirmed at the permit stage, not assumed from a province-wide number.
Water lines get shut off and drained, and appliances get covered for winter storage. If the kitchen is new construction within 30 metres of a regulated shoreline, it also needs a Section 28 permit under Ontario Regulation 41/24 from the local conservation authority — that approval has to be in hand before the township issues a building permit, so it needs to happen well before cabinetry is ordered.
A single island built around a good grill starts around $8,000. Most full builds land between $30,000 and $150,000. Estate projects — long runs, several cooking stations, stone and a covered structure — go well beyond that. The spread is not vagueness: it is the difference between one appliance and an outdoor room. What moves the number most is rarely the grill; it is the cabinetry, the stone, and how far the utilities have to travel.
We design it and we supply it. We do not install it. You get the layout, the material specification for your site, and the cabinetry, appliances and stone delivered — and a licensed contractor sets it and makes the gas, electrical and plumbing connections. Some clients already have a contractor they trust; for everyone else we introduce one who works your area.
Because anything involving gas, electrical or plumbing must be performed by a contractor licensed in the state, and any company that tells you otherwise is telling you something that should worry you. Separating supply from installation is not a workaround — it is how this category is properly done, and it means the person connecting your gas line is licensed to do exactly that.
You can, and for a simple job you probably should. What a contractor rarely brings is the design and the material call: which cabinetry system suits your climate, what the appliance cutouts have to be, what the whole thing should cost. We do that part, supply the product, and hand a finished specification to whoever installs it — which is also why installers like working from our drawings.
Design and material selection usually takes two to four weeks. Lead times on cabinetry and appliances run four to twelve weeks depending on what is specified and what is in stock. Site work is measured in days once materials arrive. The honest answer is that appliance lead times, not our schedule, are usually what sets the date.
For a freestanding grill on a patio, you often should — and we will tell you so. The moment the appliance gets built into cabinetry, the decisions that matter are cutout dimensions, clearance to combustibles, ventilation, and whether the alloy suits your site. Those are the decisions that get expensive to correct after stone is cut.
No. We do not operate a public showroom, and we would rather say that plainly than list an address that turns out to be a mailbox. Every project starts with your site — photographs, dimensions and, where it matters, a visit — because that is where the decisions actually get made.
Appliances carry the manufacturer's warranty, which varies by brand and by component — burners, grates and igniters are frequently covered on different terms than the body. We put the specific terms for what you are buying in writing in your quotation rather than making a blanket claim here.
Still deciding? The consultation questions take about a minute and come back with a material specification for your site. Start there, or write to hello@bbqontario.com.