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Who doesn't love a warm summer night spent surrounded by friends and family sipping drinks and grilling outside? While many of us have only dreamed of having the perfect outdoor kitchen for cooking and entertaining, now there's a way to make that dream a reality. In The New Outdoor Kitchen, design expert Deborah Krasner takes you through the step-by-step process of building your very own outdoor kitchen from scratch. Krasner walks you through everything from finding the perfect stove option - whether a grill, a smoker, or a wood-fired oven would work best - to picking out the right cabinet and countertop fixtures to designing a cozy sitting arrangement for your guests. She even provides tips on bug control and where to place lighting and sound systems, plantings, and water features. Through the examples of ten unique kitchens, including Krasner's very own, The New Outdoor Kitchen is the ultimate guide to creating the outdoor kitchen of your dreams.
Turn cooking and entertaining "inside out" for boundless pleasure.
Imagine the sun on your skin and a breeze in your hair . . . as you put a meal in the oven! For years we've dreamed up ways to bring the outdoors into our homes. Now here is the know-how to bring the indoors out. And the best news? You can create a glorious al fresco kitchen no matter how limited your "good weather" season, yard size or budget.
First you'll be inspired by beautiful outdoor kitchen photos and profiles. Then this unique new guide will help you create your own, with expert advice on everything from floors to shelter tops and stoves to sinks.
Discover firsthand the new meaning of "Let's go out for dinner!"
- Guidance every step of the way for planning an outdoor kitchen ideally suited to your site, style, needs, finances. (Setup, or built in - modest, or - forgive the pun - all out? We'll help you make the right choices right from the start.)
- 300 full-color photos show you outdoor kitchens all over the country, from "Italy in Texas" to "Urban Oasis." (See what's cooking in some celebrity chef backyards along the way.)
- Your exciting new options in equipment and materials like task and ambient lighting, outdoor refrigerators, ovens of all sizes, counters to rival the finest indoor models (Remember when outdoor cooking was pretty much limited to Dad's trusty grill and a redwood picnic table? No more!)
- A complete resource list with contact information for designers and suppliers.
- Wonderful "extras" to enhance your outdoor living area - portable fireplaces, heaters, even backyard sound systems.
"An outdoor kitchen invites you to revel in the pleasures of the natural world." - Deborah Krasner
A one-of-a-kind book with all you need to spark your imagination and fire up plans for your own outdoor kitchen.
From the Introduction
Welcome to the Pleasures of the Outdoor Kitchen.
Whether you live in a climate where outdoor living is possible for most of the year, or, as I do, in a place where spring and summer merge into a bare three-month-long window, cooking and dining outside has enormous appeal. Although lean-to "summer kitchens" used to be built outdoors to keep the house cool, these days we all want to cook and live outside for the sheer pleasure of it.
Living outside - and living well - is the reason for this book. The great suburban migration of the mid-20th century produced outdoor kitchens furnished with modest barbecues and wooden picnic tables, but our standards and aspirations have grown into a desire for outdoor kitchens and dining areas that match our homes in quality, style, performance, and attractiveness.
Manufacturers have taken note. These days, the equipment available for outdoor living includes restaurant-level high-BTU gas grills; outdoor refrigerators; sinks of all styles and sizes; task and ambient lighting; stone, tile, and cast-cement counters the equal of their interior kitchen cousins; and ovens up to the job of cooking everything from bread and pizza to a whole pig. Amenities for outdoor social spaces include portable fireplaces and heaters, outdoor furniture that rivals interior models for comfort and visual appeal, garden structures from gazebos to antique barns, and even carpets and sound systems designed for backyard use.
Confronted by all these possibilities, what is a homeowner to do? Where should you begin? How can you start planning, or researching, or even considering a budget? This book will answer all of your questions. We'll show you lots of great dream material and specific details, but we'll also tell you how to get from dream to reality.
We'll also show you lots of equipment choices, as well as offering information on materials and styles for everything from patio and deck flooring to counters and trellises. We'll give you sources for everything in the book, and Websites for designers and manufacturers. But most of all, especially in Chapter 1, we'll give you a map for the design process, showing you how to think through a complete plan.
About the Author
Deborah Krasner is a Certified Culinary Professional (CCP) and award-winning author of six books on design and cooking. Her design consulting firm, Kitchens for Cooks, helps plan kitchens from coast to coast and offers a blueprint-review "safety net" for anyone contemplating kitchen construction. Her design Website is kitchensforcooks.net. Krasner also hosts culinary vacations in Vermont and Umbria, Italy. Michael Krasner, a professor at Queens College of the City University of New York, drew on a lifelong fascination with fire building and outdoor cooking to contribute to this book. He and Deborah cook often in their outdoor kitchen, even in Vermont's long winters. |
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