Outdoor Kitchen Sink Air-Gap Pads

An outdoor kitchen sink needs an air gap so dirty water cannot siphon back into the potable line, and it needs a place for that discharge to land. On a Pinellas paver patio, the usual mistake is a loose pipe dripping onto the field. The joints wash out, the bedding sand pumps, and the border in front of the kitchen settles.

A pad, not a drip

We build a small pitched pad at the air-gap outlet, with a trapped drain or a channel that carries wash water to a pop-up or an existing yard drain. The pad uses the same paver as the kitchen floor so it reads as part of the field, and the drain frame is set to finished grade before polymeric sand goes in.

Clearance and service

The air gap itself stays above the flood rim of the receptor, where the plumber can see it. We leave a removable paver or an access panel at the trap so a clog does not require a tear-out. Heat from a nearby grill is kept off the drain body with the same setback we use on grill-island pads.

If the kitchen is still in framing, we sleeve the drain and the water stub before the base is compacted. Retrofit jobs cut a neat opening, rebuild the base under the pad only, and re-sand the cut joints.

How to start

Send a photo of the sink cabinet and the patio slope to 727-490-9798. PaverForge Hardscapes will mark the pad and the drain before we cut pavers.