Top design trends that elevate the outdoor entertaining experience.
By Matt Lee
Summer is here — and homeowners want to maximize use of their properties. But many find their home’s exterior lacking. Although they may have a great plot of green, and possibly even beautiful flower beds and a veggie garden, often they don’t have great outdoor entertainment spaces.
Outdoor kitchens have boomed into popularity over the past two years. After tackling many indoor projects during time spent more or less in COVID confinement, homeowners have turned their attention to sprucing their exteriors as well.
Why Build an Outdoor Kitchen?
Spending time outside with loved ones can boost your mood, allow you to feel more connected with nature and each other, and offer a more active lifestyle. This goes further if you create activities and spaces to accommodate the entire group, including building an outdoor kitchen.
Cooking keeps families and friends together, sharing our food and skills to nurture them. With an outdoor kitchen, the homeowner doesn’t have to worry about being sequestered in the indoor kitchen while everyone else is socializing outside, and can instead enjoy spending time with guests while preparing the meal.
Here are a few ways to make your design for a client’s outdoor entertaining area a success, in both utility and style.
1. Start With a Level Surface
When you’re building your exterior kitchen, it’s vital that you do so on a level and firm surface that can handle the weight of a stove, grill, oven, sink, mini-fridge, cabinetry or storage units and other features. Solid concrete pavers can be laid to keep a level and predictable surface that will be usable for years.
You can add an attractive touch to these by buying ashlar pattern pavers, which are functional and beautiful. Don’t skimp on the appropriate base for the pavers. For a patio, this is traditionally 4 to 6 inches of compacted gravel — any surface that will support vehicles, like a driveway, requires double that. This will keep pavers even and prevent sinking or popping up in years to come.
2. Battle the Bugs
Nobody wants to deal with insects and bug life outside, especially around food. When designing an outdoor kitchen, it’s a good idea to consider planting a specific garden of bug-repelling plants. These can be classics like citronella, but did you know basil also wards off mosquitoes and other insects?
Although mint also deters insects, make sure that if your client grows this type of plant, it’s in pots only. Mint can quickly overtake a yard and leave the homeowner having to fight to get grass to grow or allow other plants to thrive.
3. Update With Wood Stain
All wood that’s outside will eventually fade and go gray. This process moves even faster near a pool or in an especially humid environment. Instead of allowing furniture to look dull and lifeless, suggest clients refinish furniture with wood stains. This helps the homeowner save a few bucks or divert funds to upgrading outdoor kitchen appliances.
4. Create Multi-Use Fire Pits
Fire pits are a great focal point for any home’s exterior. Not only do they allow the client to control the burn to one area of the yard, but they also create a space to gather, talk, roast marshmallows or hot dogs. They make a fun addition to an outdoor kitchen — because not everything needs 30,000 BTUs of power. Add a grill top that can be placed over the pit for a camping-style experience.
5. Keeping Moisture at Bay Protects Everything
Moisture is one of the most destructive things on earth, able to carve deep canyons into rock and rot wood that causes homes to tumble. When designing an exterior kitchen, it’s vital that you use moisture-resistant exterior paint and building materials. This protects cabinetry and other exterior elements.
Of course, you should still create a covering to go above the exterior kitchen to protect surfaces, appliances and hardware, as well as create shade, but moisture-resistant paint will give you the opportunity to create a space that’s safe from water’s destructive force.
Outdoor kitchens deserve all the popularity they’re finding recently. Creating an awesome space for your client offers an extension of the interior, a hub for maximizing enjoyment of the outdoors, and is a solid investment that adds value to the home.
Matt Lee is the owner of the Innovative Building Materials blog and a content writer for the building materials industry. He is focused on helping fellow homeowners, contractors, and architects discover materials and methods of construction that save money, improve energy efficiency, and increase property value.
