Summer is nearly here, and you might be thinking about celebrating by making a bold alteration to the exterior of your property in the form of an outdoor dining area. Outdoor kitchens have become the latest must have remodel for properties, and it’s not hard to see why people are drawn to them. With an outdoor kitchen, you can give your home the perfect place for dining in warm summer evenings or enjoy the view of your beautiful backyard. There are plenty of ideas and possibilities if you decide to build your own beautiful outdoor kitchen area.
Back To The Stone Age
One possibility is to use stone to create a unique and bold aesthetic for your outdoor kitchen. For instance, in the center of your kitchen, you can have an incredible, vast, stone pizza oven. This would look absolutely amazing, and it would certainly impress any guests you invited over for a slice or two.
Photo by Harrison’s Landscaping
You don’t have to stop there either. You can also build the floor from stone too, giving it a rugged look. The only issue with stone is that it will be quite cold in the winter months. As such, you may want to consider building in heated pads underneath the floor.
Short And Chic
An outdoor kitchen area doesn’t have to be a massive extension of your home. You can build a small wooden structure, adding a few countertops with a modern grill underneath it. If you’re just looking for preparing and cooking food out in the open, this could be the perfect idea without taking up a lot of space. You might also want to have a dining area in a different spot on the patio for use in the summer.
Celebrate The View
You might have an elevated home that overlooks an absolutely stunning surrounding area. If that’s the case, you should think about building an extended veranda for your outdoor kitchen that could be the perfect place to dine. Leave the sides and front completely open for gorgeous views of the scenery on every side when you’re sharing a meal with friends and family.
Photo by Zakrzewski + Hyde Architects
Retreat To The Kitchen
Perhaps, you want your new outdoor kitchen separate from the rest of the home. That’s certainly a possibility, and you can have the optimum spot to prepare food at the bottom of your garden, complete with countertops, cooker, and grill. A great idea would be to design your kitchen and place it at the bottom of your garden, with a nice windy road to access it. This way you can have your own little retreat, with plenty of space.
Best Of Both Worlds
Having an outdoor kitchen doesn’t mean you have to give up part of your garden. Instead, you can have a dual purpose kitchen with an area on the deck for growing herbs and flowers. Next, to those flowers, you can have a dining and food preparation area that overlooks your garden. The benefit here is that you will get some absolutely incredible scents while cooking and dining.
Eating In The Pool
A unique idea if you have a sunken pool would be to build the countertop right next to the shallow end. In the pool, you can build small stone stools that will be perfect for sharing a cocktail with friends while breaking from swimming – The only question you will need to ask is; what cocktail should I have?
Photo by Howard Torn Construction
Evening Entertainment
Of course, an outdoor kitchen doesn’t have to just be about food preparation and dining. You can make it the perfect place for evening entertainment with a stone gazebo complete with comfortable sofas and a large flatscreen. When the weather turns, just close the thick curtains, and you’ll have the perfect place to retreat in the evenings, no matter what the season brings.
Photo by Donna Wax, Architect