Various things come to mind when pondering outdoor entertaining. Outdoor living spaces run the gamut from expansive oases with a pool, hot tub and room to lounge to smaller areas with some seating that allows hosts and guests to enjoy some fresh air. One common theme in most outdoor living spaces, regardless of their size, is an area to cook, typically over an open flame.
Grilling is wildly popular. According to the grilling experts at Traeger, roughly 128 million households across the United States owned a grill in 2020. Grills are similarly popular in Canada, where a 2023 poll from Ipsos-Reid found that 78 percent of Canadians own a grill. Outdoor cooking is a staple of life in the U.S. and Canada, and this popular means to meal preparation can be made even more enjoyable with a few simple upgrades to an outdoor living space.
• Natural gas grill: Natural gas grills are designed to be connected with a home’s natural gas line. That can make it more convenient to grill, particularly for people who grill often and do not want to deal with charcoal and propane tanks that require routine trips to a grocery store or other retailer to resupply. With a natural gas grill, cooks can fire up the grill at any time just like they would when using a gas stove indoors.
• Refrigerator: Incorporating a refrigerator into an outdoor living space can make outdoor cooking more convenient. Depending on the size of the appliance, an outdoor refrigerator can store condiments and sauces, saving cooks the trouble of walking back and forth between indoor and outdoor living spaces to gather supplies for cooking. A slightly larger outdoor refrigerator also can be used to store the food that will be cooked on the grill, affording cooks more time to spend outdoors.
• Outdoor pantry: An outdoor living space that incorporates a pantry to store dishes and tools of the barbecuing trade, like spatulas and tongs, can make grill sessions easier for cooks. When planning a new outdoor living space, a pantry can be incorporated into the design. If augmenting an existing space, standalone pantries can provide similar functionality as built-in alternatives.
• Outdoor sink: All those utensils and cooking instruments will ultimately need to be washed. An outdoor sink ensures utensils and tools can be washed and dried outside, saving hosts the trouble of carrying items in at the end of the night only to return them to the outdoor pantry the following morning. An outdoor sink also makes it easier to rinse vegetables before cooking them over an open flame.
• Garden bar: Grilling can be a rewarding but lonely undertaking. Grills often are set away from outdoor dining tables so guests can comfortably converse and eat without being drowned out by the sizzle of the grill or overwhelmed by smoke that can come pouring out when opening the grill lid. A garden bar that’s adjacent to the grill can provide a gathering space for guests and ensure cooks aren’t spending the duration of a get-together going it alone.
Outdoor cooking is wildly popular, and might prove even more so when incorporating various convenient features into an exterior living space.
Recent Comments