Outdoor Kitchens

These are among the hottest new amenities in high-end homes, and buyers want much more than a place to grill steaks. Some trendsetters talk about how to do them right.

With backyard living all the rage, it wasn’t long before outdoor kitchens became hot sellers. In the past, most people thought it was a big deal to have a backyard cooking area with a barbecue and a prep island, but for a growing number of upscale buyers, nothing less than a full-scale food-preparation area will do. Outdoor kitchens are so popular that they’re becoming a specialty in their own right, and designers have some strong opinions on what makes a good one.

Work flow
When luxury builder Toll Brothers wanted to help the Brezza model stand out at its Aviano at Desert Ridge community in Phoenix, Ariz., it hired a designer to add an outdoor kitchen. Dan Waters of Creative Environments designed a covered area with a built-in propane barbecue grill, a refrigerator, a pizza oven and plenty of counter space.

Waters says that where you put the outdoor kitchen is as important as what you put in it. In particular, you need to think about how people in the outdoor and indoor kitchens will work together during large gatherings. Waters put the outdoor kitchen for the Brezza model just outside the main kitchen. While the outdoor kitchen is well-equipped and mostly self-sufficient, ample windows provide a visual connection between the two areas, letting them work together during dinner parties. The window can even be opened to pass food and other items back and forth.

Fire and water
Sergio de Paula, president of Fogazzo Wood Fired Ovens and Barbecues, has seen demand for outdoor kitchens explode in the last three years. “People are spending more time at their homes. It’s natural that they want to cook better food both indoors and outdoors,” he says. De Paula has developed such a flair for these spaces that he frequently designs the entire outdoor kitchen, not just the oven or grill. His designs, which have been featured on the Home and Garden Television network special “Great Outdoor Kitchens,” are impressive.

For a Glendale, Calif., residence, he designed an outdoor kitchen with a wood-fired oven with granite surround, a 27-inch DCS natural-gas barbecue with rotisserie, a single DCS natural-gas side burner, a stainless-steel sink with an instant water heater, and a GE refrigerator with stainless-steel door. It also features Italian ceramic tile countertops and stainless-steel cabinet doors and drawers.

In La Canada, Calif., de Paula designed an outdoor kitchen with a wood-fired oven, a gas barbecue, a sink with garbage disposal and instant water heater and a refrigerator with a stainless-steel door. The space also features granite countertops and extensive storage.

But important as these lists of great high-end appliances are to a successful design, de Paula’s notion of what defines the space is more mundane: the sink. “A sink is absolutely necessary,” he says. “Without a sink, it’s not really a kitchen.”

Think shelter
De Paula says the best designs shelter the cook and guests from the elements. “One of the things people overlook is a roof or cover to shade them from the sun,” he says. He often includes creative pergolas or Spanish-tile roofs in his projects.

It’s also important to think about how to keep people comfortable in early spring or late fall. “Consider features that help extend the outdoor cooking season a couple of weeks. An outdoor kitchen is like a swimming pool: if you don’t heat it, you won’t use it.” His suggestions include commercial propane heaters (available in many attractive designs) and structural elements that shield the space from cold winds.

De Paula sees signs that these spaces will only grow more popular. For instance, he has already remodeled an existing outdoor kitchen, replacing an open pit large enough to cook a suckling pig with a wood-fired oven and upgrading the existing gas cooktop with a newer, stainless-steel model. If homeowners are starting to remodel them, you know that outdoor kitchens have arrived as standard fixtures in the contemporary home.