Dining outside with friends and family is one of life’s great pleasures, especially outdoors in Southampton and Babylon, NY. Outdoor kitchens provide chefs, both amateur and professional, with the opportunity of showcasing their talents as well as the beauty of the backyard. Building the perfect outdoor kitchen can be a great passion project, so it’s important to start with some solid ideas.
Related: WHAT TYPE OF OUTDOOR KITCHEN DESIGN WOULD WORK BEST FOR A HUNTINGTON AND NORTHPORT, NY, BACKYARD?
Island Bar
You could open up the view plan of your outdoor kitchen with an island bar design. This design puts the bulk of the work area in the center of the space in a semicircle. On one side, the chef will do prep work, cook, or mix drinks. On the other side of the semicircle, bar seats give friends and family a front row to all of the action. This design also simplifies the tasks of serving and cleaning up by reducing the amount of space used. It’s an intimate design that’s very popular and used to great effect for small gatherings.
Task Lighting
Once the sun starts to dip down, you’ll want to make sure the work spaces of your outdoor kitchen are brightly illuminated.This is primarily for safety reasons, as cooking can sometimes be dangerous without careful attention to fire and knives. It’s also crucial for giving everyone a great view of the delicious meals that’s in the works. Task lighting can come in the form of overhead lights on a track pointed downward. Other techniques may involve integrating LED fixtures into the outdoor kitchen surfaces themselves, most commonly in the backsplash.
The Element of Fire
Installing the right cooking appliances is necessary to create certain dishes, so it’s a good idea to plan the outdoor kitchen around central features like the stove, grill, griddle, oven, and smoker, depending on your culinary preferences. The most exciting parts of cooking tend to revolve around the element of fire. If your outdoor kitchen is sheltered under a pavilion or porch, essential safety features such as ventilation hoods above grills can be concealed in elegant ways to give the cooking more chances to be seen. Once you’ve settled on the right cooking appliances, other portions of your outdoor kitchen are likely to fall into place.
Wood-Fired Pizza Oven
One of the most prominent, useful, and stunning features of any kitchen can be the wood-fired pizza oven. This magnificent structure will provide a wealth of incredible meals all done in various styles. The presence of a wood-burning oven will be a beautiful focal point in your outdoor kitchen as well as a great source of heat for those chillier nights. It’s even possible to combine a pizza oven with an outdoor fireplace to extend a gathering area.
A Permanent Shelter
Any outdoor dining experience can be suddenly cut short because of a change in the weather. Peaceful summer nights can turn into deluges, and no one wants to have to scurry inside carrying plates full of food. A permanent shelter such as a pavilion would give not only friends and family peace of mind but also the chef that the hard work can come to fruition. The pavilion can house the outdoor kitchen as well as a dining area and even a lounge area. Good lighting, an outdoor audio system, and some creative decoration can truly make this a magical place in your backyard.
