If you grill all year, you will definitely get your money's worth out of a built in. However, if it's not in your budget right now, get the $800 freestanding and plan to sell it and put in the outdoor kitchen in a few years. If you go with the freestanding now, it will be a great way to tide you over until you feel comfortable paying for a whole outdoor kitchen.

If you do go with the whole kitchen, make sure you aren't spending 4k on a boring granite. Get something that is beautiful to you and will make you smile everytime you walk outdoors to grill.

You could also do a compromise between the two ideas: Create a nice outdoor counter area that accommodates a freestanding grill.

My comment would be that anyone is thinking they are getting a quality outdoor grill for $800.00 Unless it is used and was originally 3 times that.....no way. It is simply not possible to manufacture a Stainless Steel cooking product (using high grades of SS) and then sell it for a profit for that price. Do a lot of homework on any cooking appliance that you purchase before you pull the trigger. My suggestions are the brand should have always made outdoor cooking products, not one that started in the home then went outside later. It should be made entirely in the US, not because I'm a crazy "only the in the US" guy but because the US does have better standards for measuring SS and you will get a better product. The burner should be made of high grade cast SS or at least heavy gauge tubular SS. The warranty on the burner should exceed 10 years. As for the design question if you aren't sure how your going to use the space purchase the landfill grill and once you determine exactly how you will use the space put in a built in product and pick a high quality long lasting grill head.

When you go grill shopping, you may be able to find a freestanding grill that will better lend itself to a "roll-in" installation than the budget model pictured above.A grill with removable side shelves is a good start. We've done a few installations where the freestanding grill and the surrounding island were separate entities, but looked custom built together

Be careful to observe the required clearances when you do something like this . . . unlike good quality built-in grills that have optional insulating jackets to protect combustible materials nearby, freestanding grills usually require 24"-36" to anything combustible. The first photo is an example where the contractor did not observe the required clearances to wood, although the set-up is pretty nice otherwise.

So what did you end up doing and looking back do you feel you made the right choice?

Is that a Weber Genesis? Do you recommend it? You have a lovely home.

We had free-standing Weber charcoal grill for years & it worked for us. The original owners poured the patio themselves, & it was breaking up, so we s decided to re do it, demo the Jacuzzi we no longer used & its failing redwood deck. We used gas & electric from Jacuzzi for a new island w/ gas grill. We got FireMagic grill & side burner. Super decision! We don't use side burner as often as we thought we would, but we use grill all the time. We don't have A/C so my wife cooks out in summer probably 5 nights/wk. on avg. to avoid heating up house. The island is so handy for food prep & staging. It's easy to keep things organized when she's cooking meat, roasting potatoes & veggies. Our grill has back-burners, which few, if any, free-standing do. We have definitely gotten our money's worth out of it. Additionally, night cooking in winter is easier. We have halogen that connects next to rotesserie mount, a tabletop halogen w/ gooseneck lamp, plus lighting under umbrellas.

Thanks solidpaulie. It is not a Genesis, it is a Spirit with a side burner. There are only two of us, so we wanted the smaller grill. We love it. We use it all year. It is aging well but we do keep it covered.