One of the most wanted home improvements today for a homeowner is the addition of an outdoor kitchen. They are not only great for entertaining outdoors, but just to use when you do not want those extra odors that you do not want in your home three days after you cook salmon patties on the range top. Actually most people that have the luxuries of an exterior cooking area with all the bells and whistles, will normally do all of their cooking outdoors to facilitate the clean up process when through. Before modern plumbing and electricity making its way into the home, mansions, and southern plantations had external kitchens that were located in a separate building next to the main house. It would keep the heat from overwhelming the house since there was no such thing as air conditioning.
Outdoor kitchens have been gaining popularity since the late 1990s and have become the second most important feature that custom home builders include in their floor pans, the first being a chef’s kitchen inside the home. Initially they considered an exterior cooking area little more than a stainless steel grill built into some custom cabinetry, and possibly a sink near the grill. Now they are just as sophisticated as their indoor counterparts, and cost just as much or more than what they have inside their home. Add this with other specialized outdoor products like living room furniture that is weatherproof, and plasma or flat-screen LCD television that are made specifically to handle the outdoor humidity, and extreme weather in any season.
When you hear the phrase outdoor kitchen accessories, most would normally think of tongs, and spatulas for the barbecue grill. This is just the tip of the iceberg as custom covers for all the appliances, stainless steel firmware, and separate plates, serving dishes, pots and pans, plus glass or stemware all fall into this category now. Some items are of course interchangeable from the interior of the home, but with an automatic dishwasher at your disposal on the back porch, it is just as convenient to have duplicate items so you do not have move them back and forth as needed. The storage of your accessories is a little more advance in an exterior kitchen, as you have to keep the elements, and nasty little crawling and flying creature from crawling all over them and have to clean more often than would normally be necessary. The doors and openings have gaskets to prevent all of this from invading areas that need to stay clean.
Turn your stereo typical idea generator off as things like outdoor kitchen grills are not the old Weber grill that dad sweated over in the past, as their are companies that specialize in natural gas, and electric outdoor grills for these unique cooking areas. Companies like Viking, Cal Fame, Bull Outdoor, and Kenmore make grills that are either have their own built in island type cabinetry, or require a substructure such as outdoor custom cabinetry to be built around them. Cal-Flame models have the island built around their grill with additional storage, work and serving area.
Much like a custom home, there are outdoor kitchen designs from hundreds if not thousands of sources. You ultimately will be responsible for how you want your version of cooking paradise to turn out. Getting ideas from the Internet is very easy, and by printing out or book marking the photos graphs and videos you find, that have a piece of the puzzle to bring your design together is a great idea before having a designer draw your plans for construction. Take a gander at HGTV, and DIY Network’s websites for the latest in Outdoor Kitchen Heaven.
Related posts: