Carmel Landscapes answers common questions about outdoor kitchens. A new culinary experience that elevates your backyard landscape to an outdoor entertainment area, always ready for life’s most spontaneous memorable moments.
In this guide you'll learn:
- How outdoor kitchens transform patios into functional entertainment spaces
- What makes modern outdoor kitchen design different from basic grilling setups
- Answers to the most common questions about outdoor kitchen planning and installation
- Why Northeast Ohio properties are perfect for year-round outdoor cooking spaces
- Professional insights for creating outdoor kitchens that work with our local climate
So, what do kitchens have to do with outdoor spaces?
Patios have become a staple in landscape design. They provide functional space that was once unusable. Complement that with native plants and you have generated usable real estate and a space that provides emotional health.
Families are looking more and more toward home-cooked meals to save money and ensure the use of quality ingredients. The kitchen is one of the most trafficked rooms in the household, and patios are now a natural extension of the kitchen. As a foundation to gather with friends and family, they elevate the kitchen to new heights that allow you to spend more of life’s precious moments outdoors, in an area that’s already proven to stimulate wellness.
This is great news for those of us that have a passion to grill and BBQ, or just plain old enjoy cooking for others. Now these spaces aren’t just concrete slabs with a Weber grill in one corner and some wicker furniture in the other (not that there’s anything wrong with a Weber grill or wicker furniture).
The evolution of outdoor kitchen design
This article is dedicated to the rise of the outdoor kitchen and how they’re changing outdoor living spaces. Outdoor kitchens that are implemented into your hardscape give businesses options with their guests and create enjoyable environments. For homeowners, they provide additional real estate to raise their children, negotiate with colleagues, and plan major life events.
Outdoor kitchens have taken the term “hardscaping” to a new level with modular installations that feature the old world look with new construction methods that streamline the construction process and bring the comforts of the home to the outdoors.
Beyond the basic grill setup
Grill and food prep areas with a pavilion can be constructed with less labor, allowing you to budget for additional cooking space like pizza ovens or a smoker. If you’re the practical type you can use this additional space to include outdoor cabinets, refrigerators, and ice boxes. Bar areas can be integrated to enjoy meals. If you’re not into drinking with your meal maybe seating walls and a fire feature will strike your interest.
Maybe you want it all. The possibilities are only limited to your vision. Our designers will partner with you to make sure every feature is functional and aligned with your objectives to make a great outdoor living experience.
Frequently asked questions about outdoor kitchen design
How much do outdoor kitchens cost?
What appliances can I put in my outdoor kitchen?
What about animals and insects in my outdoor kitchen?
What can I cook in an outdoor kitchen?
Do I have to get a permit for my outdoor kitchen build?
What kind of countertop goes in an outdoor kitchen?
Although we recommend granite due to the outdoor variables and easy cleaning, we have installed sandstone and bluestone countertops that have been polished and sealed. They are a neat feature that you can rock face or flame cut but are not as easy to clean as granite.
If you’re on a tighter budget, quartzite countertops are an option. We would recommend you stay away from wood and butcher block type countertops due to the weather conditions they may have to endure but is totally doable if we are designing it around a 3-season, California room, or pool house.
How do I protect my outdoor kitchen from the elements?
Great question, and one we’re familiar with. Northeast Ohio’s greater Cleveland area really gets pounded with snow in the Snowbelt, endures heavy rains and hot summers. So what does that mean for the longevity of your outdoor kitchen and appliances?
Our outdoor spaces are built out of experience and sustainable practices that work with mother nature. If you’re budgeting a California room or pavilion type structure to place your outdoor kitchen in, there isn’t much more protection other than making sure your plumbing is winterized. Cabinetry and appliances are all weather tight and designed for outdoor use. All our custom structures are built out of masonry and modular stone block designed to be outside.
Long story short, unless there is a special variable involved, our installations are designed to be functional and incorporate weather-resistance products.
Professional outdoor kitchen design in Northeast Ohio
Carmel Landscapes lives and breathes Northeast Ohio. Growing up in the Chagrin Valley has shown what it looks like to have it all and what it feels like to have nothing. What a blessed area we live in here in the Greater Cleveland area. A few close colleagues and I have a running inside joke about the number of landscape companies in Newbury along a 5 mile stretch of Route 87. Thanks to the substantial market for landscaping here in Northeast Ohio, all the great landscaping companies can thrive.
Landscaping has a stereotype of companies that mow lawns, but Carmel Landscapes has been fundamentally changing that over the past 15 years by solving problems that require real skill, collaborative efforts, and industry certifications.
We are a professional design and construction organization that empowers our staff with professional development to create sustainable, equitable outdoor spaces. We partner with homeowners and businesses to provide their families and constituents with places to decompress, entertain, and create healthy relationships.
Carmel Landscapes specializes in custom outdoor kitchen design and installation throughout Northeast Ohio, creating functional outdoor cooking spaces that work with our local climate while providing year-round entertainment value. Contact us to discuss how we can help design the perfect outdoor kitchen for your property and lifestyle.
We're hiring!
Carmel Landscapes is seeking motivated, skilled workers to join our team. Skilled laborers are needed for our high-end hardscape projects. Horticulture and landscape technicians are needed to help design, plant and maintain our sustainable, eco-friendly projects.
We value hard work, craftsmanship and an eye for detail, offering competitive pay and full-time employees enjoy benefits and PTO.