Aside from taking advantage of an empty backyard space, an outdoor kitchen opens your living area to the outdoors and provides you with the perfect outdoor entertaining setting and means that no more will you be slaving away in the house while your guests enjoy themselves under your alfresco.  

Cooking outdoors will also let your house keep its temperature without extra heat from the kitchen. You’ll also notice a reduction in cooking smells in your home the more you cook outdoors. However, the benefits of a great outdoor kitchen will only materialise if you’ve put a lot of thought into it’s installation before you make any final decisions.

Let us share with you the things you need to consider in planning a stunning and most of all, a functional alfresco kitchen.

    Space

The key is to maintain balance in your alfresco. It’s ideal to have an outdoor kitchen that’s proportionate to the size of the patio so there’s enough space for your outdoor furniture. You should plan your kitchen based on the space you have available as well as what you want in the kitchen and how the kitchen will flow. Outdoor kitchens can be anything from a barbie and a bench to a full commercial grade stainless steel kitchen with ovens and fridges.  The most basic yet highly important step in planning is to decide what your outdoor kitchen will contain and measure all of the elements involved.

Covering

A lot of high-quality outdoor kitchen equipment is made to withstand weather, however, it’s  best not to have your kitchen exposed to the elements and to ensure that it is covered and in a relatively sheltered part of your alfresco. You may want to also add an exhaust fan to make sure that any smoke from cooking doesn’t affect the ceiling of your alfresco or you can design the structure so that smoke from cooking naturally flows out of the structure. Having an alfresco over your outdoor kitchen also allows you to light the area as you would like and extends the life of your kitchens appliances and fittings.  

Uses

More than style, considering the uses for your outdoor kitchen will let you enjoy your alfresco more. Knowing what you’ll frequently cook outdoors will serve as a guide in choosing the equipment and furniture which will also determine its structure.

For example, does your family love bbq, stir fries, baking or all three?  Do you feel like it’ll need an outdoor fridge or just a simple esky?  Will you be needing electrical outlets or just lighting? There are thousands of choices, gas or electric? Induction cooktops or wok fittings? We recommend taking the same amount of care you would in planning your kitchen indoors to get the best results.

Ember, Flame or Something Else

When we talk about alfresco, the first thing that comes to mind is a bbq. Which is great except that if you wanna cook up something else, you’ll probably need a stove top. However, gas flames usually don’t do as well outdoors as  wind can interfere with their effectiveness. A great alternative is an induction cooker. It is similar to an electric stove but it has better thermal efficiency compared to regular electric stoves and it also heats up pretty fast.

 Wood Fire Pizza Oven – the coolest outdoor kitchen idea!

The best thing about a wood fire pizza oven is that it can be custom-made. While your contractor is building the kitchen counters, you can have a fire brick oven made attached to it. Your family and friends will definitely love homemade pizza on demand. Aside from pizzas, you can also use it for stews, slow-cook meals or even bbq.

Give us a call and we’ll help you design an exquisite and fully functional alfresco kitchen!