The perfect outdoor kitchen strikes a balance between style and functionality and are true extensions of your home. There’s no limit to the luxury elements you can add, from high-tech cooking appliances, wine refrigerators, beverage dispensers, pizza ovens, fireplaces and even stereo systems, televisions and speakers. These suggestions do come with a warning: you may never want to cook inside again.
DESIGN DECISIONS
The luxury appliances in your outdoor kitchen are going to need a thoughtful design layout. Urban Bonfire’s custom modular outdoor kitchen systems have many functional and esthetic options with a vast array of material, colour and finishing choices. The system was created to be compatible with all major outdoor cooking equipment brands, and each kitchen layout is configured to maximize outdoor storage and entertainment spaces.
Available through urbanbonfire.com
COOKING WITH FIRE
Each of Wolf’s four styles of outdoor gas grills use two types of heat, direct and radiant, to achieve the ideal temperature range and uniform heat distribution that are the keys to flawless grilling. The grills are made from double-wall stainless steel and are precision-welded, so they don’t rust or hold water.
Available through Coast Appliances and Lansdowne Appliance Gallery
THE BIG CHILL
From refrigerated drawers and ice machines to beer taps and wine storage, Hestan Outdoor provides ways to keep your ingredients fresh and your guests refreshed.
Refrigerators and refrigerated drawers keep burgers or beverages handy. The wine refrigerator protects your wine from the elements with temperature zones for your reds and whites. And the ice machine produces up to 55 pounds of crystal-clear ice every 24 hours. So you’re always prepared for a couple dozen friends to drop by.
Available through Lansdowne Appliance Gallery and Capital Iron
THAT’S AMORE
It’s not all about grilling meat and veggies. Truly great pizza requires temperatures that conventional ovens can’t reach. Alfresco Grill’s Pizza Oven Plus reaches temperatures up to 1,000ºF, and its ceramic slab hearth and ceiling provides even radiating heat to give you the ideal balance of a thin, crisp base, and a perfectly charred artisan crust.
Available through Capital Iron
WHERE THERE’S SMOKE
Love the tradition of a charcoal grill? Available in a range of sizes, the kamado is an ancient, Asian-style grill, a thick-walled cooker that imparts rich, smoky flavor to meats, fish and vegetables. With lump charcoal providing the fuel, hot air flows through the grill’s ceramic body and out its vented dome. Its multilevel, half-rack design frees you to cook different foods in different styles at different temperatures—all at the same time. The Stand-Alone model is easily installed in a custom outdoor kitchen.
Visit kamadojoe.com for local dealers
A COOKING REVOLUTION
If you’re a fan of cooking whole chickens and roasts, or roasting big baskets of vegetables, a rotisserie is an ideal add-on. Some models of Lynx’s free-standing and built-in grills come with a rotisserie system, with a dedicated burner and optional rotisserie basket. This means you can cook smaller dishes and sides while preparing your main dish — you can even use the basket to roast your own coffee beans.
Available through Trail Appliances
BE PREPARED
No outdoor kitchen is complete without a prep area. It cuts down on trips between your indoor and outdoor kitchens and lets you spend more time outside socializing with your guests while the meal is being readied.
Alfresco’s functional restaurant-inspired prep and plating stations enable flow as you prepare your food.
A crucial element for any kitchen is a sink, and Alfresco’s prep and hand sink features a stainless steel design with hot and cold faucets, a removable cutting board and a C-fold towel dispenser.
For a more complete setup, Alfresco’s plating and garnish station includes food pans, a carving board and plate storage. And for complete convenience, its prep and waster chute includes a poly cutting board that slides up to reveal a convienient trash disposal.
Available through Capital Iron
