Outdoor kitchens have been an integral part of life in warmer climates for decades with residents in countries such as Australia and the US enjoying regular al fresco cooking using a full range of kitchen fixtures. More recently outdoor kitchens have emerged as a popular choice in the UK and Northern Europe too, despite our occasionally unreliable and cooler summer weather. So why are outdoor kitchens growing in popularity and why should you think about buying one?
Television shows about home design, self-build and gardening sprang up in the 1990’s, encouraging people to reimagine their homes and gardens based on popular trends and now, in the Instagram and Pinterest era, lifestyle and design inspiration is just a click away at any moment. Gardens are no longer simply a lawn, shed and washing line, they are an extension of our home and our design choices too. There’s a focus on ensuring leisure time is well spent and a feeling that time with our families is precious. Outdoor kitchens offer people another space in which to play with layout and design, impress with a culinary masterpiece or enjoy a simple meal with just their loved ones after a long week.
Outdoor Living
To begin with, it is important to understand what an outdoor kitchen brings to your home life that a BBQ doesn’t. One of our cookery demonstration chefs recently explained to a group of guests that the difference between a BBQ and an outdoor kitchen was that for a BBQ all the preparation takes place indoors. That means transporting ingredients to the BBQ to cook after creating dishes in your kitchen or having two people working concurrently to ensure the BBQ is manned and there is a steady supply of food to cook.
An outdoor kitchen allows you to enjoy the full experience of cooking in the open air with your friends and family, without having to keep running inside to prepare the food or hiding in the kitchen to use the hob. An outdoor kitchen is about so much more than just enjoyment of your time outdoors, it’s about quality of life, making things easier and being able to be more spontaneous.
An outdoor kitchen could be a very simple affair with a grill mounted in a worktop to provide plenty of space to assemble and serve simple food, or a wall mounted structure with the same fixtures and fittings you would find indoors, so that the only limit is your imagination.
What will a CENA kitchen do for the value of your house?
It’s our firm belief that the choice to invest in an outdoor kitchen should be driven by the pleasure you will derive from it, but it’s worth taking a look at whether building one in your garden will add value to your home. In a housing market where properties are often built or restored to an exceptional standard, any points of differentiation can help add to value (even if just notional) or help sell your property more quickly.
Creating more living space is another demonstrable trend of the last few decades, from loft, garage and basement conversions to adding a conservatory or a solid extension. An outdoor kitchen could be a very cost-effective way to increase the living space of your home.
Why choose a CENA outdoor kitchen?
The CENA team comprises of professionals who are passionate about sharing their love of outdoor living. We use an engineering approach to ensure that every single kitchen we craft is of a consistently high quality, whilst sourcing beautiful bespoke materials to deliver an exceptional, personal finish.
We have created a tailored service to match our bespoke outdoor kitchens and by putting our client at the centre of each design and build we ensure our customers get exactly what they are looking for. Contact us for more information on CENA kitchens and how we can help engineer your dream outdoor kitchen.
