Creating the outdoor kitchen of your dreams will make a big improvement to your family’s outdoor lifestyle experience. With so many culinary opportunities and beautiful feasts to be had throughout the warm season, the design for your outdoor kitchen is open to ultimate customization. Before you settle on your outdoor kitchen design, let’s look at some fantastic options. Here are some of landscape contractors’ favorite outdoor kitchen designs this year in Wilmette, IL.
Related: Consider These 5 Outdoor Living Space Ideas For Your Patio Designs In Highland Park And Winnetka, IL
A Cozy Shelter
The outdoor kitchen is a place where friends and family can gather together and enjoy meals in the serenity of your backyard. Sometimes the weather doesn’t exactly agree with your plans, however. To make sure that the fun can continue, place your outdoor kitchen under the shelter of a pavilion. The closed roof will protect your guests as well as appliances, food, and furnishings from the worst of the weather. Meanwhile, the open walls help keep the feeling of the outdoors alive. A kitchen within a pavilion can be a simple island; L-shaped; U-shaped; or galley style depending on the size of the pavilion and the size of the kitchen itself.
Warmth, Light, and Delicious Eats
One of the most popular outdoor cooking appliances for millennia has been the wood-fired oven. It is used in cultures all over the world to create a huge variety of different foods. From hot and bubbly pizzas to baked casseroles to incredible braised meats and more, you can truly make some mouth-watering meals with a wood-fired oven in your outdoor kitchen. This beautiful masonry structure can be the central feature of the outdoor kitchen, but it can even be integrated into an outdoor fireplace right next to the cooking area, for the ultimate hearth feel that is an irresistible draw for everyone.
Watching the Action
Cooking can be an exciting activity to watch. Adding a bar with ample seating to your outdoor kitchen will give your friends and family the opportunity to watch all the action and get excited for what they’re about to eat and drink. The island bar will not only provide this seating, but it will help open up the kitchen, provide additional prep space, as well as an interactive space without any visual obstacles. Under the bar, there’s plenty of space for appliances and storage for everything you’ll need.
Garden to Table
Sometimes the greatest pride you can get in cooking is from using ingredients that you grow yourself. There are many delicious herbs, fruits, and vegetables that can come right from your backyard in either raised masonry planters or a vertical living wall. Raised masonry planters can make gardening much easier by bringing the surface of the ground closer to work with. You can also enhance them with an automatic drip irrigation system. A vertical living wall can house smaller plants like herbs or peppers, creating vertical interest as well as privacy for your beautiful outdoor kitchen area.
Tradition and Nostalgia
What says “home” to you? Get your landscaping professional to incorporate at least one element that makes the outdoor kitchen feel as homey as grandma’s, but with modern flair. This could be in the form of rustic materials, vintage-style light fixtures, flooring materials such as brick, and so on. Personalized touches will go a long way in enhancing the feel of the space, especially when combined with the best in modern appliances and technologies.
Related: Sleek Modern Outdoor Lighting Ideas For Your Outdoor Kitchen In Glenview IL
