Adding an outdoor kitchen gives you fantastic flexibility you can enjoy all year long. As soon as the weather gets nice, your family can go outside to prepare meals and linger over them during fun together time. You get the chance to escape the sweltering indoor kitchen in the summer, taking your meal prep and cooking outside, where you can enjoy the fresh air.
When you’re cooking outside, you want to limit trips back and forth between the indoor kitchen, but you also want to avoid too many duplications of supplies between the two spaces. Here are five essential items you should have in your outdoor kitchen.
Outdoor kitchen space is nothing without a grill. You need the ability to prepare a full meal, and a good-quality grill gives you the best tool for meal preparation. Consider upgrading your grill so that you can accomplish all of your cooking outside. You can get a grill that comes with burners for boiling water or a rotisserie attachment. You might even want a charcoal grill to add an authentic taste to your charred meat. A smoker is an excellent accessory for serious meat-eaters, too.
Keeping your grilling gear outside can save you countless trips inside to the kitchen to grab things you forgot. At a minimum, you will need:
Invest in unbreakable dishes to use outside since they can take a beating. You need something sturdier than you use inside to stand up to everyday wear and tear. Kids often bring their dishes around the yard to eat, so you want something that won’t break easily if they forget them in the grass. Fun patterns can differentiate outdoor dishes from your indoor ones, too.
You will want at least one garbage can as well as a recycling bin for your outdoor kitchen. Just hanging a trash bag from a counter isn’t practical. Animals can get into it, or the bag can tear. A sturdy trash can provides better protection, and you can wait until it’s full to empty it. Look for cans that match your outdoor decor theme to help pull the space together.
Outdoor kitchen spaces quickly become party central, and every good party needs a lot of ice. Putting drinks in ice chests invites your guests to help themselves instead of waiting for your invitation. Get enough ice chests to put one on each side of your patio or entertaining space. Make sure to buy ones with drain spouts so you can clean up easily after you entertain.
Storing your outdoor kitchen essentials is easy when you buy outdoor cabinets from Wolf Home Products. Find a dealer near you to get started.
