Mulholland Brand designs, fabricates and installs custom outdoor kitchen pergolas across Orange County. It builds custom aluminum pergolas over outdoor kitchens, BBQ islands and dining and lounge areas for homes in Irvine, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Anaheim, Fullerton and the rest of the county. The pergola is Mulholland's part of the project. The kitchen, grill, counters, gas, plumbing and electrical are built by others: your landscaper, kitchen builder or electrician. If your outdoor kitchen is already built, under construction, or planned with a landscaper, get a quote for the pergola directly from Mulholland Brand.
At a glance
- Hire the maker for the pergola: we design, fabricate and install custom outdoor kitchen pergolas, while your kitchen builder, landscaper and electrician handle the kitchen and utilities.
- Pick the roof by what happens under it: solid for full cover over the cooking line, louvered to open for air or close for shade, glass to keep daylight in the house.
- Plan evening light early: the Prestige Pergola has motorized louvers with built-in LED lighting, and your electrician supplies the power.
- Size it to the kitchen plan: post positions and roof coverage are set around your grill, counters and seating at the on-site measurement.
- Choose a finish built for the coast: marine-grade aluminum with an electrostatic powder coat from our own facility, in 20+ colors or wood-look.
Who Does What on an Outdoor Kitchen Pergola Project
Mulholland Brand makes and installs the pergola. Anything that cooks, carries gas or water, or needs power belongs to your kitchen builder, landscaper and electrician.
Split the work clearly at the start and most surprises never happen. Here is how it divides.
Our part: the pergola
- We design the pergola around your kitchen and seating layout after an on-site measurement
- We design and manufacture it in-house at our Canoga Park factory, including the powder-coat finish
- Our own crew of W-2 employees installs it, not subcontractors
- We give you an itemized written quote after the on-site consultation and measurement
Your kitchen builder or landscaper
- The outdoor kitchen or BBQ island itself: grill, counters, cabinetry, sink and any built-in appliances
- Gas and plumbing lines
- Pavers and other hardscape
Your electrician
- Power for the Prestige Pergola's motorized louvers and built-in LED lighting
- Any other wiring, outlets or circuits in the space
We do not do electrical work, gas or plumbing, and we do not build kitchens. Site work such as concrete, electrical and demolition is identified at the measurement and listed on the quote, so you know before you sign what the project needs and who handles each part.
Choosing a Roof for Custom Outdoor Kitchen Pergolas
Choose a solid roof for full cover over the cooking and serving area, a louvered roof if you want to open it for air and sun or close it for shade, or a glass roof if you want cover overhead without darkening the rooms behind the kitchen.
Our custom aluminum pergolas come with louvered, solid or glass roofs. Each one changes what happens under it:
| Roof | What it does over the kitchen | Good fit when |
|---|---|---|
| Solid | Full overhead cover across the grill line, counters and serving area | You want the cooking side shaded all day, every day |
| Louvered | Louvers open for air and sun, close for shade | You use the space at different times of day and want to adjust it |
| Glass | Keeps the cover overhead while daylight comes through | The kitchen sits against the house and a solid roof would darken the rooms behind it |
Solid roof
A solid roof gives the cook and the serving counter steady shade. It suits kitchens out in the yard, away from the house, where blocking light costs nothing indoors. If your grill side takes full afternoon sun, a solid roof keeps whoever is cooking out of it.
Louvered roof
A louvered roof lets you change the space as the day goes. Open the louvers for air and sun around the table on a mild evening. Close them for shade at midday. For how the louvers work, read our guide on what a louvered pergola is.
Glass roof
A glass roof solves a problem a solid roof can create. Plenty of outdoor kitchens sit right off the family room or kitchen windows, and a solid roof there can leave the indoor room dim all day. Glass keeps the cover over the counters and lets daylight reach the house.
Whatever roof you pick, the grill and any hood set the limits. The distance between the grill, any hood and the roof above follows your grill and kitchen builder's requirements and the appliance manufacturer's installation instructions. We do not set those numbers. Bring them to the measurement and we plan the roof around them.
Can a Pergola Over an Entertaining Area Have Built-In Lighting?
Yes. Our Prestige Pergola has motorized louvers with built-in LED lighting, so the same roof that shades the table at noon lights it after sunset.
For a lot of owners, the outdoor kitchen earns its keep in the evening. Dinner runs past dark, guests stay at the bar counter, and the lounge corner fills up after the meal. Lighting built into the pergola puts light where people sit and cook, with no fixtures to add later. The motorized louvers let you open the roof to the evening air or close it, whichever the night calls for.
One point to settle before you choose the Prestige: motorized louvers and LED lighting need power, and your electrician arranges that power separately. Mulholland Brand does not run power, wiring or circuits. We identify where the power will come from at the on-site measurement, so your electrician knows what the pergola needs before our crew arrives instead of finding out on installation day. If your kitchen builder already has an electrician on the job, tell us who it is when you book.
Sizing the Pergola to Your Kitchen and Seating Layout
We design and fabricate the pergola in-house to the exact dimensions of your kitchen and seating layout, measured on site, then our own crew installs it. It is built to your layout, not picked from a size chart.
For custom outdoor kitchen pergolas, sizing comes down to three questions:
- Where do the posts go? Posts need to land clear of the counters, grill doors, sink and bar stools, and stay out of the path people walk between the house, the grill and the table.
- What does the roof cover? Some owners want cover over the cooking line only. Others want it to reach the dining table, or stretch across the lounge seating too. The answer changes the footprint and often the roof choice.
- How does it meet the house? A kitchen against the house wall raises the glass-roof question above. A kitchen out in the yard gives more freedom on roof type and size.
If your kitchen is still being built, you do not have to wait for it to be finished. We can fabricate the pergola to an architect's or builder's drawing, which suits projects where a landscaper or designer has already drawn the yard. The on-site measurement then checks the drawing against what is actually on the ground.
If your kitchen is already in place, we measure around it as it stands: the existing counters, the grill position, the slab or pavers, and the furniture you already own.
How the Finish Holds Up to Orange County Sun, Salt Air and Sprinklers
Our pergolas are made from marine-grade aluminum with an electrostatic powder coat applied in our own powder coating facility. Louvered and solid-roof pergolas are engineered to withstand sun, salt air and sprinklers without warping, rusting or fading.
An outdoor kitchen is a hard place for a finish. Near the water in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach or Huntington Beach, the structure sits in salt air. Inland in Irvine, Anaheim or Fullerton, it takes strong sun. In most yards, landscape sprinklers hit the lower posts. The finish has to handle all three.
The powder coat is a baked-on finish, offered in more than 20 colors or a wood-look finish, and we apply it in our own facility as part of the same in-house build.
Wood-look aluminum is for owners who want a timber feel next to stone counters without the upkeep. It comes in three wood-grain patterns: oak, walnut and cedar. It has the look of real wood without the rot, warping or splitting, and it needs less upkeep than wood. There is no staining or refinishing. We build pergolas in wood-look aluminum only, never real wood.
Upkeep for powder-coated aluminum is a fresh-water rinse, plus a check of the hardware and moving parts. On a louvered roof, that includes the louvers.
Warranty. Our pergolas come with a written warranty: one year for defects in manufacture or assembly, and three years against rust on the aluminum slats and posts. The full terms are on our warranties page.
To see how different styles look over a cooking and dining area, browse our Hi-Tech pergola and Profile 24 pergolas.
What to Bring to Your On-Site Measurement
Bring your kitchen plan, the grill and hood positions, your seating layout, and the name of your electrician if you want lighting or motorized louvers. With these in hand, the measurement turns into a quote that fits your kitchen.
Have these ready:
- The kitchen plan or drawing. It can come from your architect, landscaper or kitchen builder. For an existing kitchen, a hand sketch with measurements works.
- Grill and hood locations. Note where the grill sits, whether there is a hood, and the clearance requirements from your kitchen builder or the appliance manufacturer.
- Counters, sink and bar seating. These decide where posts cannot go.
- Dining table and lounge positions. These decide how far the roof needs to reach.
- The status of the kitchen. Built, under construction, or still on paper.
- Your electrician. If you want the Prestige Pergola, know who will supply power and roughly where it will come from.
- Your roof and finish preferences. Solid, louvered or glass. A color, or oak, walnut or cedar wood-look.
- Anything else you want to match. Tell us if you are also thinking about a fence or gate.
Before you build, check with your city and, if you have one, your HOA about what approval a pergola needs where you live.
Matching the Pergola to Your Fence and Gates
Our pergolas, gates and fences are all powder-coated aluminum offered in 20+ colors and a wood-look finish, so a backyard pergola can match the rest of the property.
If you are redoing the backyard, you may want the side gate or privacy fence to match too. Some of our styles, such as Hi-Tech, are made in gates, fencing and pergolas. Across Orange County, we can also design a matching front-yard fence, walk gate and driveway gate as one project. If that is on your list, our Orange County pergola, privacy fence and gate planning guide shows how to plan them together.
Design-Build Firm or Pergola Specialist: Who Fits Better?
Hire a full outdoor-living design-build firm if you want one company to design and build the whole backyard. Hire Mulholland Brand if the kitchen is handled and you want a custom aluminum pergola from the people who make it.
Here is the honest split. Some owners want the kitchen, pool, hardscape and cover under one contract with one team. A full outdoor-living design-build firm is set up for that. Mulholland does not build kitchens, pools or hardscape.
Other owners already have their kitchen, have already hired a landscaper or kitchen builder, or have a designer's drawing in hand. For them, the pergola is a separate decision, and it is worth buying from the company that designs it to the layout, manufactures and powder-coats it in-house, and installs it with its own crew. If that is you, get a quote from Mulholland Brand.
Common Questions About Outdoor Kitchen Pergolas
Can Mulholland Brand build a pergola over my existing outdoor kitchen or BBQ island? Yes. We measure on site, design the pergola around the counters, grill and seating already in place, and our own crew installs it.
Do you build the outdoor kitchen too? No. The kitchen, BBQ island, counters, gas, plumbing and electrical are built by your landscaper, kitchen builder or electrician. We design, fabricate and install the pergola.
Will you wire the lights and motorized louvers? No. Your electrician arranges power for the Prestige Pergola's motorized louvers and LED lighting separately. We identify where that power will come from at the on-site measurement.
Which Orange County cities do you serve? All of Orange County, including Irvine, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Anaheim and Fullerton. See our Orange County service area page for more.
Can you build to my kitchen designer's drawing? Yes. We can fabricate the pergola to an architect's or builder's drawing, and the on-site measurement checks it against the actual site.
Book Your On-Site Measurement
The next step for custom outdoor kitchen pergolas is an on-site measurement. Mulholland Brand visits your Orange County property, measures the kitchen and seating layout, and identifies any site work, such as concrete, electrical or demolition. You then get an itemized written quote for the exact pergola, roof and finish you choose. If your kitchen is still being built, booking the measurement now lets post positions and the power location be planned before the counters go in. If a kitchen builder, landscaper or designer is on your project, ask them to share their plan so we design the pergola around it from the start.
We are rated 4.5 stars on average across more than 850 Google and Yelp reviews as of October 2026, and we have been operating since 1994. Our pergolas are designed and manufactured in-house at our Canoga Park factory and installed by our own W-2 crew.
Our office: 7959 Deering Ave, Canoga Park, CA 91304. California contractor license CSLB #1061373. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM. Call (877) 616-2947 or (800) 562-5770.
