Category: Outdoor Kitchens

As highlighted in the 2020 State of the Industry Outdoor Living Report from Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens, the majority of designers are noticing a rising interest in outdoor living spaces. More specifically, homeowners are frequently opting for a contemporary aesthetic for their outdoor kitchen designs. A contemporary outdoor kitchen can be achieved by focusing on the cohesion of color, texture, layout, and lighting, and how they complement one another to create a modern and fresh space.

Contemporary Design Features

Here are features and things to consider in order to create the perfect contemporary look for your outdoor kitchen:

Color Palette

One of the most important elements of any design is the color palette, as it reflects your personal style and highlights the feel of the space. A contemporary color palette is defined by black, white, and other soft neutrals, such as grey and beige. The powder coat colors from Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens perfectly exemplify a modern appeal, offering a neutral and modern palette in shades of black, white, silver, and brown in various textures and metallics. The color combination adds to the backyard kitchen by giving it a clean and elegant look.

Textures and Materials

Matte finishes paired with stainless steel appliances and cabinets will provide a striking contrast. The stainless steel cabinetry and door styles offered by Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens are the best choice for this purpose. For instance, choosing bare stainless center panels and inserts in your powder coated Key West and Palm Beach cabinet door style allows you to create this look. Even better, powder coating your stainless steel cabinets or panels in the Platinum shade will give you the look of stainless steel while adding protection. Neutral and sleek stone countertops will also provide a modern appeal. Although Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens does not distribute countertops, there are plenty of materials and colors to suit this style.

Related – Eco-Friendly Outdoor Cabinet Material

Layout

Designing an open layout is essential for a modern feel. An open design is becoming increasingly popular for kitchens. This simple outdoor kitchen idea lets in more natural light, thus making your area appear larger and cleaner. Designing a kitchen for the outdoors is the best way to achieve an open concept, as you can leave your space as open to the elements as you would like, with the peace of mind that your powder coated cabinets will be protected. For all your layout needs, Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens cabinetry available in hundreds of sizes with dozens of styles, allowing for plenty of customization possibilities to fit any area.

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Related – Outdoor Kitchen Island Advantages

Shapes

Sharp edges and clean lines are key for a contemporary outdoor kitchen. The Hampton door style, which is a stainless steel slab, is perfect for a clean, sharp, and sleek look. Consider how you can mirror these clean lines with various elements in your kitchen, such as the Contemporary pull from Sun Valley Bronze. Each feature that adheres to these shapes and designs will enhance the feel of your contemporary kitchen design.

 Lighting

Soft, low lighting offers a cozy ambiance that is vital to any outdoor kitchen with a contemporary design. Plenty of outdoor lighting options are available, such as fire tables, string lights, and lanterns with modern designs. Try pairing your lighting with a metallic or textured powder coat color, such as Night (textured black) or Titanium (silvery beige metallic) for added depth and dimension, essential for modernity and elegance in your contemporary outdoor kitchen.

Transform the Outdoor Living Space with the Experts 

We hope you find these contemporary outdoor kitchen ideas helpful when creating your new outdoor space. We provide the best outdoor kitchen cabinets to complete your modern outdoor backyard or patio. Ready to take your indoor kitchen to the outdoors? For more outdoor kitchen design assistance, contact our expert design team today to learn more about transforming your backyard or patio into a luxury outdoor entertaining area.

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Creating or enhancing an outdoor living space includes careful planning, budgeting, selection and placement of amenities to bring an entertainment oasis to fruition. Growing in demand, is the addition of an outdoor kitchen that is proving to add value to the home and increase the homeowner’s investment in their property.

We took a close look at what it takes to elevate a simple BBQ island to a fully functioning outdoor kitchen – one that mirrors the indoor version, eliminates constant trips back into the house and keeps the party where it’s at – deck, patio, backyard or rooftop!

Here are 20 outdoor kitchen must-haves that will have you serving up plenty of fun and lasting memories:

1. Cabinetry – The foundation of the outdoor kitchen, cabinetry is available in wood, polymers, high density polyethylene (HDPE) and stainless steel. The latter is often overlooked as a sustainable, and recyclable material that is compatible with many appliances and resistant to bacteria and fungus. The cabinets also provide excellent storage space for the outdoor cooking accessories.

Hailed for its durability, stainless steel cabinets are available in a variety of finishes including powder coating with a specific color or wood grain finish. Along with many other benefits, adding powder coating to the outdoor kitchen finish protects the stainless steel from chips, spills, stains and unsightly finger prints and provides a strong defense against corrosion and environmental conditions.

2. Trash Pull-Out Cabinet – Keep trash out of sight yet within reach for easy clean up in the outdoor space. But, be sure to empty it at the end of the night!
3. BBQ & Outdoor Grill Hood – If your outdoor kitchen isn’t in open air, consider ventilating it with a grill hood. It’s perfect if you opt to have your outdoor living space as part of a lanais or transitional California/Florida room.
4. Float a shelf, or two – If your outdoor kitchen is placed against a back wall, floating shelves will provide additional storage or serve as a decorative element.
5. Smokers – Want that authentic barbeque flavor? Consider adding a smoker to complement your grill and use indirect heat to lock in that smoky flavor.
6. Sink – Adding a sink will encourage cleaning as you go and makes for easy prepping while eliminating trips indoors.
7. Grills – A variety of types of grills to complement cooking preferences await you with one that enables you to cook as much or as little food as you wish in a short amount of time. You can choose from infrared, propane or an electric built-in outdoor grill.
8. Pizza Oven – Growing in popularity, a pizza oven provides an additional cooking alternative – homemade pizza never tasted so good!
9. Side Burner – It easily accommodates a lobster pot and anything else you use a stove top for including sides like baked beans or sauerkraut.
10. Griddle – Serve up breakfast al fresco! Creative recipes include using a griddle vs. a grill, elevating your culinary skills
11. Counters – Think about the countertop material for your prep station space and consider creating an outdoor kitchen island layout, providing counter space for the non-cooking appliances such as the sink. Countertops are also important for food prep around the cooking area.
12. Seating – Although the tradition is to add guest seating nearby, keeping the cook “within the social circle” while working, today’s outdoor living areas and entertainment spaces feature low-seating areas away from the grill in configurations mirroring indoor living rooms.
13. Storage – Add storage around the back side of an island layout with cabinets. Related – Outdoor Kitchen Storage Ideas
14. Ice Maker/Ice Storage – Choose an ice maker or ice storage unit to conveniently chill beverages.
15. Outdoor Refrigerator – Eliminate constant indoor runs and portable coolers while keeping perishable ingredients safely chilled until cooking time.
16. Wine Cooler – A perfect addition to the end of a cabinet run for accommodating guests and allows for self-serving.
17. Kegerator – Keep beer cold, readily available and fresh for an extended period of time.
18. Glassware Storage – Serve up a tasty beverage with the perfect point-of-use storage area for glasses and stemware.
19. Get Shady – Add a roof top or pergola to enhance al fresco dining by providing a bit of shade and protect your outdoor kitchen investment from the elements.
20. Fire It Up – Heat stacks, small heaters, chimineas or fire pits will heat things up in your outdoor living space and keep the party going well after the sun goes down.

This list may feel like you have to keep up with the Jones’ but fear not, think of it as a guide to investing in the good life. Good times. Good food. Great memories.

Looking for outdoor kitchen design layout insight? Check out or blog on Spanish outdoor kitchen designs as well as our blog on country and urban outdoor kitchen ideas. We help bring the indoor kitchen to the outdoor space. Contact one of our in-house designers at info@brownjordanoutdoorkitchens.com or call 203-626-5625 to bring the indoor dining area to the outdoors.

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This post was originally published Dec. 21, 2018 and updated May 15, 2020.
The promise of a new year often evokes thoughts of lifestyle improvements. Getting outside more, unplugging, enjoying time alone or hosting family and friends can certainly warrant expanding the living space.

Choosing a home remodeling project that includes creating or adding to an outdoor living area can set the stage – patio, deck or rooftop – for an outdoor kitchen. The demand for this culinary amenity is increasing in demand according to Kitchen & Bath Design News, which cites requests for outdoor kitchens by homeowners are continuing to trend upward for the third year in a row.

As an entertainment hub, the outdoor living space has been proven to increase the value of a home making for an innovative and lucrative investment. This means there is plenty of opportunity for remodelers, architects and designers to expand the scope of their clients’ outdoor projects from a simple barbeque kitchen island to a fully-functional outdoor kitchen area. Having an outdoor kitchen has many benefits.

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Here’s a look at seven benefits of an outdoor kitchen for your home:

1. Increases the Value of the Home
2. Great for Entertaining
3. Expands the Living Space
4. Makes Cooking Easier
5. Convenience
6. Save on Utility Bills
7. Save Money on Eating Out

Increases the Value of the Home

According to Zillow, homes with outdoor kitchens sell for nearly 30 percent more than expected. Of the nearly four million homes nationwide that sold between January 2016 and December 2017, these outdoor features, amenities and design styles made the largest impact on sale price.

CNN Money, About.com and Remodeling Magazine support that outdoor kitchens nationally return 100% to 200% of the improvement cost. It is important to note that, with any home improvement, the ROI formula works providing the design and build of a kitchen is proportional to the home value and location.

Great for Entertaining

Outdoor entertainment spaces continue to top the list for both boomers and millennials. According to Rymer Strategies Company, 78% of boomers and 68% of millennials are willing to pay more than $5,000 extra for a great outdoor living space. Boomers are famous for their grill nights, while millennials love their outdoor yard games. And both generations enjoy prepping, cooking and eating their meals at home, alfresco-style, capturing the luxury of open-air dining.

Depending on the design layout such as an island configuration, guests can gather around the kitchen, socialize and watch the chef perform culinary magic.

Related: Advantages of Having an Outdoor Kitchen Island

In turn, it allows the chef to remain engaged with guests without disrupting the task at hand.

Expands the Living Space

Outdoor kitchen designs often mirror their indoor counterparts, successfully transitioning the indoors to the outdoors and making use of previously unused outdoor space or repurposing it. Many people stop at a grill or barbeque island, but an outdoor kitchen can be expanded to include other cooking appliances such as a pizza oven, flat-top grill and a smoker. Enhancing the outdoor kitchen layout with cabinets that accommodate kitchen appliances, hide trash, provide storage helps centralize culinary activity.

Adding counter space provides a prep area, a bartending center and a place to entertain guests and allow them to hover ‘round and socialize. Tack on a refrigerator, ice machine, mobile beverage cart, and an outdoor sink and it’s a full- on entertainment oasis. An outdoor dishwasher raises the bar on easy clean-ups and endless trips into the house, making the outdoor kitchen fully functional and super-efficient.

Makes Cooking Easier

Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth. Maybe, not. An outdoor kitchen allows for more cooks – or helping hands at the very least – to help with preparing food, mixing drinks, grilling and cleaning up. Depending on the layout of the outdoor kitchen, more bodies in an outdoor kitchen aren’t necessarily a bad thing as it can be less crowded than an indoor kitchen. Additionally, by placing a refrigerator, ice machine or wine cooler on the end of a cabinet run, guests are invited to help themselves without disrupting the chef’s work flow.

Cooking foods with strong odors that emanate? No problem. Let them disperse outside rather than within your indoor kitchen, which can permeate the rest of the home. Canning or cooking lobster? Great chance to undertake this task in an outdoor kitchen. A large pressure cooker pot on a burner will need some extra space for the assigned attendant and some extra space when it’s time to remove it. Any spills make for a quick hose down versus a mess on an indoor floor followed by a slip and fall hazard.

Convenience

As mentioned above, smelly foods can linger in indoor kitchens for days. Cooking errors can create rising smoke that travels throughout the entire house and sets off the detector. Cooking outdoors eliminates these issues resulting in more convenient cooking and a better household environment.

Save on Utility Bills

A hot kitchen in the summer months forces the air conditioning to work harder and can crank up utility bills usage. Give the utilities a rest and head outside!

Save Money on Eating Out

Going out for a meal can be expensive. If you have an outdoor entertaining space with a dining and cooking area, you are less likely to go to a restaurant for a meal, which will save you money.

Additionally, with a well-equipped outdoor kitchen, the prepping, cooking, cleaning, eating the meal, drinking and overall outdoor entertaining is centralized along with having the necessary items available to make it all happen. No need for transporting and setting up making it more of a chore to accommodate a stand- alone grill. Think of it as a permanent, pop-up party.

Finally, the design and layout of an outdoor kitchen comes with an air of creativity only achieved when custom building an indoor kitchen as part of constructing or renovating a home. Whether installing an outdoor kitchen on a deck, patio or roof, there are still less obstacles and considerations to work around as compared to indoors.

Related – Outdoor Kitchens on Decks: What You Need to Know

Looking for outdoor kitchen design insight to bring luxury living to your clients? Contact one of our in-house designers by calling 203-626-5625 or visit our gallery page for more outdoor kitchen ideas.

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Birds are happily chirping, pollen is wreaking havoc and the days are getting longer, indicating that spring is upon us. You know what that means…it’s time to dust off your patio furniture and prepare your backyard for relaxation and entertaining. But, have you thought about transforming your exterior space into more than just a typical outdoor room?

If so, you may be going back and forth deciding on whether or not you need a full outdoor kitchen or if you can sneak by with a simple grilling station. We may be a little bias, but if you’re planning to invest in your patio space, an outdoor kitchen may just be the right choice for you.

An outdoor kitchen combines all the elements of an interior kitchen, enabling you to store all your cooking and grilling utensils and groceries outside. This will allow you the freedom to socialize and join the fun while entertaining, instead of always needing to make treks back inside. In addition, the extra countertop space provides an option for a bar area, making it even easier to chat while preparing a feast. Outdoor kitchens provide a lifestyle experience; they offer more than just form and function.

Our design-build partners can help you create an outdoor kitchen that not only matches your existing exterior architecture and landscape, but also one that highlights your personal tastes. And, if you’re the type of homeowner that likes get involved with choosing the design elements right down to the cabinet door handles, then you’re in luck. Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens are available in multiple door styles and powder coat finishes that will knock your guests’ socks off. Not to mention the plethora of accessories that provides the finishing touches.

Now that we have you hooked, check out these backyard kitchen designs for inspiration…

For more outdoor kitchen photos and design ideas check out our gallery page or call 203-626-5625.

Related – Country and Urban Outdoor Kitchen Ideas

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