Heating sauces, boiling pasta or seafood, deep frying — these are not done easily on a BBQ grill, so adding a side burner or a power burner can making cooking outdoors even more enjoyable than it already is. When deciding if a side burner is a necessary addition to your outdoor kitchen, don’t just think about what you’ve cooked on the side burner in the past, instead think about what you can cook on it that you don’t. A good side burner will allow you stir-fry your veggies in a wok, or how about some fajitas on a cast iron griddle?
Burners are typically divided into 3 categories, Side Burners provide 10-30,000 BTUs, (About the same as your inside gas range) great for cooking pasta, corn, making sauces and keeping meals warm. Power Burners provide up to 100,000BTUs and are used to heat large pots and pans and also steaming crabs. Sear Burners for intense heat up to 1200F for searing meats to lock in the natural flavors.
When designing an Outdoor Kitchen it is important to have some working space between your appliances and also to keep your cooking appliances together. Leaving 12-15″ of space between the main grill and the side burner will keep some of the intense heat down and allow you to work between the 2 appliances. Also leaving some space allows another person to prepare a dish while you are tending to the grill. Just like the gas grill it is important to have air vents in the cabinet and also to install maintaining safe distances to combustible materials. If you are installing a power burner and need to use large pots it is highly recommended to build the enclosure for the power burner 6″-12″ LOWER than your countertop.