Vantage Materials
We design and manufacture our outdoor kitchens right here in England. For everything we make, our mantra is simple: It has to be tough. It has to be beautiful. It has to be low maintenance.
IROKO HARDWOOD
A structural iroko seam forms the backbone of Vantage cabinetry. Iroko is, quite simply, one of the toughest hardwoods available, requiring no treatment for outdoor use and silvering gracefully with age.
MARINE-GRADE ALUMINIUM CABINETRY
Vantage outdoor kitchen cabinetry is constructed from heavy-gauge aluminium with a beautifully textured marine-grade coating. Tested to automotive standards, it can be safely pressure washed.
GRILLO PLATEAU™ SINTERED STONE
Our worksurfaces are made from Grillo Plateau sintered stone. In addition to being immensely strong, they are stainproof, weatherproof, scratchproof and non-bleaching.
Engineers' notes:
For so many garden lifestyle products out there, material choices are dictated by cost, not by longevity. We reject that approach. From the outset, the Vantage kitchen was developed by our designers and engineers – not by accountants.
Iroko is, quite simply, one of the most durable and low-maintenance hardwoods available. It is enormously strong and highly resistant to rot and insect attack.
Along with other tropical hardwoods, it’s used untreated in groynes – part of the landscape of England’s coastline for more than a century. In this application, the life expectancy is 25 years (though 50+ years can occur) – just short of reinforced concrete at 30 years. Unlike any native timber, iroko requires no treatment to maintain structural integrity in harsh environments.
The iroko in a Grillo cabinet is only ever a single, solid, planed 40mm board. We never use laminated timber. Each piece is unique, with its own natural imperfections and character.
Fresh-planed iroko is warm yellow to bronze and, like cedar, silvers beautifully with UV exposure. Treatment can slow this, but requires periodic refinishing to maintain an attractive, uniform finish. We recommend leaving it untreated.
Until 2024, our cabinetry was made from carbon steel. Properly coated, it offered class-leading corrosion resistance, passing all tests detailed below. But we found specific instances where compounding factors caused corrosion – most notably when sheltered from rain in severe or direct-sea-spray marine environments. This is because rain (or regular rinsing) inhibits salt build-up. An upgrade to aluminium was the solution, allowing us to offer a 10-year warranty on cabinetry materials.
As a result, almost all cabinet components are now 1050 aluminium, a wrought alloy known for its excellent corrosion resistance. Where the average metal cabinet is made from 0.6–1.2mm material, Grillo Vantage aluminium is 3mm thick – making it structurally rigid enough to park a car on.
The black finish is a marine-grade, textured powder coat. The term ‘marine-grade’ is not used lightly. All parts undergo accelerated-weather testing in a British lab that serves car manufacturers, including Aston Martin.
In accordance with ISO 9227, heavily scratched parts are placed in a salt spray chamber for 1,000 hours of extreme corrosion testing. The aim is to force either the coating or the base metal to fail. Components are also put through a months-long “Florida test” in accordance with ISO 16474-2, combining constant intense UV with cycles of extreme heat and humidity. The tested parts consistently come out virtually indistinguishable from new parts. From Newcastle to Newcastle, from Perth to Perth – this cabinetry is built to outlast its 10-year warranty, withstanding the rigours of Anglo-Australian sun, sand, and storms.
We mentioned automotive-grade testing – now for automotive-style cleaning: Grillo cabinetry benefits from being regularly cleaned with a pressure washer or hose, using a sponge and mild detergent for any stubborn grime. A clean kitchen’s a happy kitchen.
Our Plateau worksurfaces are 20mm sintered stone, rectified for consistency and finely bevelled, with a neutral through-body colour and patterning.
Sintered stone is made by fusing minerals under extreme heat and pressure, in a process that emulates natural metamorphic rock formation. Its 100% mineral composition is unique amongst engineered stones, with Plateau containing a blend of raw and recycled minerals – quartz, glass, zircon, haematite, and albite.
The final vitrified slab has some extraordinary properties, with sintered stone outperforming all other architectural surfacing materials for UV stability, heat resistance, stain/chemical resistance, scratch resistance, porosity and weatherproofing. Plateau’s hardness and strength are exceptional: a knife won’t scratch it (it will damage the blade), and we once parked a car on it…
Iroko is used in groynes
Iroko is, quite simply, one of the most durable and low-maintenance hardwoods available. It is enormously strong and highly resistant to rot and insect attack.
Along with other tropical hardwoods, it’s used untreated in groynes – part of the landscape of England’s coastline for more than a century. In this application, the life expectancy is 25 years (though 50+ years can occur) – just short of reinforced concrete at 30 years. Unlike any native timber, iroko requires no treatment to maintain structural integrity in harsh environments.
The iroko in a Grillo cabinet is only ever a single, solid, planed 40mm board. We never use laminated timber – each piece is unique, with its own natural imperfections and character.
Fresh-planed iroko is warm yellow to bronze and, like cedar, silvers beautifully with UV exposure. Treatment can slow this, but requires periodic refinishing to maintain an attractive, uniform finish. We recommend leaving it untreated.
We switched to aluminium
Until 2024, our cabinetry was made from carbon steel. Properly coated, it offered class-leading corrosion resistance, passing all tests detailed below. But we found specific instances where compounding factors caused corrosion – most notably when sheltered from rain in severe or direct-sea-spray marine environments. This is because rain (or regular rinsing) inhibits salt build-up. An upgrade to aluminium was the solution, allowing us to offer a 10-year warranty on cabinetry materials.
As a result, almost all cabinet components are now 1050 aluminium, a wrought alloy known for its excellent corrosion resistance. Where the average metal cabinet is made from 0.6–1.2mm material, Grillo Vantage aluminium is 3mm thick – making it structurally rigid enough to park a car on. See the film further down the page.
Pressure-washable cabinetry
Our black cabinetry finish is a marine-grade, textured powder coat. The term ‘marine-grade’ is not used lightly. All parts undergo accelerated-weather testing in a British lab that serves car manufacturers, including Aston Martin.
In accordance with ISO 9227, heavily scratched parts are put in a salt spray chamber for 1,000 hours of extreme corrosion testing. The aim is to force either the coating or the base metal to fail. Components are also put through a months-long “Florida test” in accordance with ISO 16474-2, combining constant intense UV with cycles of extreme heat and humidity. The tested parts consistently come out virtually indistinguishable from new parts. From Newcastle to Newcastle, from Perth to Perth – this cabinetry is built to outlast its 10-year warranty, withstanding the rigours of Anglo-Australian sun, sand, and storms.
We mentioned automotive-grade testing – now for automotive-style cleaning: Grillo cabinetry benefits from being regularly cleaned with a pressure washer or hose, using a sponge and mild detergent for any stubborn grime. A clean kitchen’s a happy kitchen.
We use sintered stone
Our Plateau worksurfaces are 20mm sintered stone, rectified for consistency and finely bevelled, with a neutral through-body colour and patterning.
Sintered stone is made by fusing minerals under extreme heat and pressure, in a process that emulates natural metamorphic rock formation. Its 100% mineral composition is unique amongst engineered stones, with Plateau containing a blend of raw and recycled minerals – quartz, glass, zircon, haematite, and albite.
The final vitrified slab has some extraordinary properties, with sintered stone outperforming all other architectural surfacing materials for UV stability, heat resistance, stain/chemical resistance, scratch resistance, porosity and weatherproofing. Plateau’s hardness and strength are exceptional: a knife won’t scratch it (it will damage the blade), and we once parked a car on it…
See how our coatings and components are weather tested
Automotive-grade weather testing
Decades ago, corrosion was a major concern for vehicle durability. Today, thanks in part to the expertise of accelerated-weathering labs, materials and coating technology have consigned these problems to the past. Using this know-how, our components undergo a rigorous corrosion-testing program to ensure they meet real-world durability standards – in the same labs trusted by premium British car manufacturers. The ISO-accredited testing protocols put both coatings and base materials through accelerated salt spray and UV-weathering tests, simulating years of real-world exposure over months.
Dougal Donald, Founder
"The materials we use, and the way we engineer them, make our kitchens legendarily tough. As one of our engineers puts it, 'Belt and braces, hands in pockets'."
Built British.
Built strong.
Back when we launched Vantage, we needed a way to demonstrate its rock-solid construction. Using a forklift and a degree of poetic licence with what the car’s insurers might consider to be ‘business use’, we parked a Corsa (VXR Nürburgring Edition) on four unmodified shelf cabinets. A lot has changed since then, but the engineers’ ironclad design approach hasn’t.
Lasts for years. Cleans in minutes.
10 year warranty
Every Vantage kitchen we sell comes with a Limited 10 Year Warranty for materials and workmanship. Barbeques, appliances and other accessories are covered by manufacturer’s warranties.
Grillo Care Kit
A Grillo Care Kit is supplied as standard with every Vantage kitchen. This includes our recommended cleaning products and touch-up paint in case a mishap causes a scratch or chip in the coating.
Request a sample pack
The Vantage sample pack showcases our three main materials. Inside you’ll find a 20mm Plateau sintered stone slab, a heavy-gauge aluminium sample with our textured coating, and a 20mm solid iroko plank – half the thickness of the iroko in our cabinetry. Fill in the form and the sample pack will be sent out in 1-2 working days.
