Location
The area where you decide to build your outdoor kitchen or entertainment space can influence how much you use it. If it’s far away from your home and indoor kitchen, bringing out supplies could seem like a chore. Prepping, cooking, and cleaning in your outdoor kitchen should be just as easy as if you were inside.
If your landscaping only allows for an inconvenient placement of your kitchen, you should ensure it’s as self-sufficient as possible. Install a sink with hot running water, a refrigerator, and storage areas for goods, dishware, and cooking utensils. It might cost you more money during construction, and for additional utility costs, but will save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.
Access
You also need to figure out how you and your guests can access all of your outdoor features. You want your outdoor space to flow effortlessly from your home, without obstructions. Also, your kitchen and entertainment areas shouldn’t create barriers that your guests have to walk around to get to the pool, a seating area, or the fire pit.
When you pick the perfect spot for your exterior structures, you should take full advantage of the natural landscaping around your property. Incorporate trees, flowers, and bushes into the design to create the perfect outdoor ambience.
Personal touches
Make sure you build something that suits your needs. Create an area that you’ll actually use and want to spend time in. Add unique touches and a personalized design that you’ll always enjoy. Read the most common hardscaping and landscaping mistakes to avoid some common pitfalls.
Layout
Start building your outdoor kitchen with zone planning. Whether you go with an L-shape, island, or galley, make sure that your plan allows for both optimal flow and maximum productivity. If you plan to do a lot of food preparation in your outdoor kitchen, you should have adequate counter space for chopping, measuring, etc., and have easy access to the sink, trash, and cooking appliances.
- Here’s a closer look at the different zones to consider. Our Naperville outdoor kitchen contractors can customize each zone depending on what you hope to accomplish in your outdoor kitchen.
- Preparation Zone: This is where the behind-the-scenes work happens: chopping veggies for the chili, making your dough for homemade pizza, or assembling kabobs for the grill. You’ll likely want a sink, plenty of counter space, and perhaps a refrigerator.
- Cooking Zone: This is where you’ll turn up the heat. Maybe you want a pizza oven, smoker, or a deluxe grill with side burners.
- Serving Zone: Before your kitchen flows into the guest area, you’ll want a place to put everything together. This could include warming trays as well as storage for plates, silverware, and serving pieces. You can use this zone to take everything from the cooking area and make picture perfect platters and plates for your guests.
- Entertaining Zone: This is where memories are made as you eat, drink, watch the game on a big screen, swap stories and roast marshmallows around the fire pit, play board games, or get up and dance! Think of the groups and activities you want to accommodate; that will help you decide how much space you need and the proper configuration.
You’ll also want to decide how to work with your existing hardscapes. If you have a patio, do you want to build on what’s currently there or create a separate kitchen that flows seamlessly into your existing patio?
At Ware Landscaping, we can help you design your kitchen in the way that best meets your needs and preferences and create a digital layout to help you visualize as you plan.
Weather Planning
Chicagoland is a magnet for harsh weather and dramatic temperature swings. We know how to optimize your layout and features so that you can spend as much time as possible in your outdoor kitchen throughout the year. This may mean adding fans for summer and heating lamps for winter.
Coverings are important to consider, too. Ask yourself:
- Do you want full sun in the summer?
- Do you want a covering to maintain constant shade?
- What do you do about rain and snow? Do you mind staying inside when it rains, or do you want to be able to enjoy your outdoor kitchen every day of the year?
- Do you want a pergola to let you control how much sun exposure your outdoor kitchen gets?
These questions will help you make important decisions about your outdoor kitchen’s design. Our experts can also help you choose materials for flooring, cabinetry, counters, and more that will stand up to the weather for years to come.
Utilities
Access to power and water sources will determine where and how we build your kitchen. We’ll make sure that we can tap into your home’s electricity, gas, waste systems, water lines, and more. We’ll secure all of the necessary permits to make sure this happens exactly according to code. We do the hard work upfront so you don’t have any surprises later.
Appliances
Outdoor appliances will vary greatly from your indoor ones. Many would be considered too dangerous or impractical for an indoor space. You have some intriguing options that can make selecting the perfect appliances for an outdoor kitchen area a lot of fun:
- Beer fridge
- Wine cooler
- Ice maker
- Wood-burning pizza oven
- Tandoori oven
- Smoker
- Gas or charcoal grill
Although gas is the most popular choice, some homeowners prefer cooking over hot coals. An outdoor kitchen gives you space to broaden your scope with creative new kitchen appliances that may not function or fit in your indoor space.
Furnishings
Even though furniture will be one of the last things you place in your outdoor kitchen and dining area, you’ll want a general idea of what appeals to you before you start building. If you want a large dining table, your design will look much different than if you simply want a bistro table.
If you entertain a lot and want to make your bar the focus, you can design with that in mind, and make sure your outdoor kitchen can accommodate the desired number of bar stools. If formal dining is less important but you want to prioritize comfort, chaise lounges may be a better fit.
If you want to spend a lot of time by the fire, a fire pit table and chairs are a great addition to any outdoor kitchen.
Storage
We can install beautiful cabinetry for storage, including drawers or cabinets under the counter or incorporated into your outdoor kitchen island.
A refrigerator can hold your drinks and ingredients, while our built-in storage can hold your silverware, plates, cups, cooking tools, pots and pans, grill tools and baskets, aluminum foil, table covers, trash bags, and more.
Lighting
The sky’s the limit for lighting options for your outdoor kitchen. Pathway lights can help your guests navigate safely without adding overpowering light. If you have a patio cover, ceiling fans with lights can add overhead lighting.
String lights can drip with ambience, while task lights can provide just enough brightness to help you prepare food and drinks as the sun is setting. There are also tiki torches to give your outdoor kitchen a tropical island feeling.
