Outdoor Kitchen Ideas for Built-In Grills, Bars, and Appliances

Here in the good ole USA, we spend an average of 67 minutes every day our kitchens. Preparing and cooking meals takes up 400 hours a year of your time… and when you’ve got a gorgeous day looking at you, I doubt you want to invest those 67 minutes inside when you could have been prepping and cooking in the fresh air.

Outdoor kitchens are all the rage these days, and with good reason. When you have an outdoor kitchen, you get a long list of benefits:

• Spend more time outdoors – This is our favorite benefit. Hard to see a bald eagle swoop down seemingly out of nowhere when you’re inside watching reruns of reruns of Seinfeld. Breath in the great outdoors and prep that salmon for an amazing meal at the same time.
• Keep smells outside – Once you’re cooking that salmon, it won’t “fish up” the house for a day or so because mother nature will carry that fishiness away with the breeze.
• Add value to your home – Building your outdoor kitchen with high quality materials is a significant draw for home buyers... they can easily see themselves enjoying evenings with family and friends in your outdoor space.
• Entertaining friends and family – An outdoor kitchen just screams BBQ cookout, and who doesn’t love that? Entertaining family and friends is easy when you’ve got amazing food, frosty beverages, and great conversations.
• Lower your cooling bills – Cooking meals outdoors keeps the heat outdoors, which will save between $315 and $720 a year in cooling costs.
• Extend living space – You don’t need a mansion to enjoy an outdoor kitchen… even a small home can significantly expand its living and entertaining space by adding an outdoor kitchen.
• Healthier eating – Grilling food outdoors is a healthier alternative because grilled meats drip fats during grilling, lowering the calory content as it cooks. High grill heats also allow food to retain its moisture and creates significantly better flavor that food cooked indoors.
• Say “no” to restaurants – Having an attractive and inviting outdoor space will prompt you to spend more time (and eat more meals) at home, lowering your restaurant budget significantly.
• Increase resale value – Outdoor kitchens aren’t a “need” on most people’s house shopping list… but they’re certainly a “want” on most of them! Make your house stand out by showing potential buyers what it would be like for them to entertain in the great outdoors.
• Did we mention spend more time outdoors?

We’ve put together some ideas to spark your imagination into overdrive. Look at each one and think of how it would work in your own back yard… how can you employ this idea to really kick your outdoor kitchen up a notch?

Let’s take a look at some of our favorite outdoor kitchen ideas…

1. Add counters with bar seating to a compact outdoor kitchen to make the most of limited space

2. Love a good pie? Consider adding a pizza oven to your backyard outdoor kitchen

PRO TIP: When building a pizza oven, be absolutely sure it’s at least 3’ from any structures.

3. Create a deluxe covered outdoor kitchen by building a protective structure over it

4. Building an outdoor patio kitchen against an exterior wall? Install a backsplash for some added visual flair

5. Add warmth, light and ambience with a fire table built directly into your outdoor kitchen countertop

6. Short on space? Get creative with compact seating arrangements for outdoor dining

7. Add a home bar to your outdoor kitchen setup for enjoying your favorite cocktails

8. Outdoor fridges are great for storing cold drinks – why not go for one with a built-in beer keg?

9. Simplify your outdoor BBQ kitchen build by investing in a full outdoor kitchen kit, with everything you need included

Wrap-Up