An outdoor kitchen with Talenti Tikal

An outdoor kitchen turns a terrace into the room where the evening happens. Talenti, the outdoor furniture house in Amelia, Umbria, launched its Tikal line in 2019 and calls it the first Talenti line for the outdoor kitchen. We quote Talenti for American addresses, so this story sticks to what the factory publishes and tells you where you need to ask.

The Tikal pieces in the catalog

The English catalog we work from lists three Tikal pieces. Two are shelf modules, 80 and 122 cm wide, both 35 cm deep and 190 cm tall. The third, a column module, takes 77 by 60 cm of floor and also stands 190 cm tall. The factory builds all three in steel, zinc, magnesium and aluminum.

The factory describes Tikal as a line for homes and for contract work such as hotels and restaurants, with clean surfaces and a sober look. A run of tall shelves and a column gives a cooking wall its structure: storage at hand height, a place for plates, and a tall block that frames the counter.

The cooking units themselves, the counters with a grill or a sink, do not appear in that English catalog. If you want them, tell us through the form. We put the question to Amelia and send back what the factory offers for your project, with sizes and finishes.

See the Tikal collection.

Plan the space before the modules

A kitchen outside follows the same rules as one inside, with weather added. Draw the terrace first and mark the door to the house, since plates and food travel that route more than any other.

A few general numbers help. Leave a path of about 3 feet in front of a counter so the cook can open a door or step back from the heat. A working counter is usually about 36 inches high, a raised bar about 42. If people will eat at the counter, give each person about 24 to 30 inches of edge.

Keep the smoke in mind. Put the cooking wall downwind of the lounge, so the sofa stays out of it on a normal evening. Salt air and cooking grease both land on the metal, and the care section below deals with them.

Seats a few steps away

The kitchen draws people in, and they need a place to sit that keeps them close without standing in the cook's way. Talenti Salinas works well here.

Talenti Salinas by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba takes its cue from Ibiza. The factory set out to bring indoor comfort outside, so fabric dominates the sofas and armchairs, with padded belts and metal details at the ends of the backs. The collection has 21 pieces, seven of them tables. The Salinas Bench runs 187 cm long and 95 cm deep, a low seat for the lounge side, and there are benches with one or two armrests at 210 and 233 cm. For the lounge side, the three seat sofa measures 285 by 105 cm. See the Salinas collection.

A pouf is the useful extra. The Salinas Pouf is 94 cm square, a spare seat you can move toward the counter when a friend wants to talk to the cook.

Care for steel outside

Talenti treats its steel against the weather: the factory describes an alloy of iron and carbon, protected by cataphoresis and powder coating. That protection lasts longer with plain care. Wipe the surfaces with a soft cloth, water and a neutral detergent, more often if you live by the sea or somewhere humid. Long, strong sun and hard frost can change the colored coating over time, so the factory advises cleaning the pieces and storing them under cover through long breaks and in winter.

For a cooking wall that stays in place, a fitted cover does the same job as a garage. Ask us about covers when you order.

Ask about the full kitchen

The catalog in English shows only the storage pieces of Tikal. Send us the drawing of your terrace and what you want to cook on on the poster form at the foot of this page. We return the Tikal and Salinas pieces that fit, what the factory can add, and a price that covers freight and customs work.