Your Nashville outdoor kitchen: Benefits & advantages

In recent years, the popularity of outdoor kitchens is having a nice run – and the trend seems to be holding. An outdoor kitchen allows homeowners to go well beyond grilling out and do some serious meal prep and entertaining without having to run inside to use something in the indoor kitchen. Depending upon the specific amenities and features of an outdoor kitchen, it could be considered a complete second kitchen.

Considerations

Style: It’s true that an outdoor kitchen is an extension of your indoor space. As you consider and begin planning your design, take into account your home’s exterior. Choose colors and textures that complement or extend the existing style.

Layout: Just as important in an outdoor kitchen as it is indoors, one major difference in layout choices is that the outdoor kitchen’s layout is not defined or constrained by walls like the indoor kitchen. The outdoor kitchen can shape the space on its own.

Appliances: What appliances would you like built into your outdoor kitchen? There are a wide variety of appliances designed for your outdoor space, so consider the possibilities, beginning with the practical. Choices include different types of grills, smokers, and pizza ovens; built-in refrigerators (having an assortment of cold drinks on hand is a must) and ice makers… some of the more enterprising also install a built-in kegerator with at least two taps to keep the brew flowing freely. This also allows multiple types of beer to be available – even root beer to cover all the bases.

Why build an outdoor kitchen this year?

1. Outdoor kitchens are fantastic for entertaining.

Forget about keeping up with the Joneses. Entertaining guests in your beautifully designed and highly practical outdoor kitchen area is simply more fun than entertaining indoors – especially at night, of course. Entertaining your guests outdoors in the evening creates an ambiance that indoor gatherings just cannot match.

You’ve probably been to a party or other gathering with an outdoor kitchen, in which case you’ve seen how nice it can be for entertaining. Because there is limited space indoors, it can get jam-packed hanging around the host (often the cook) in an indoor kitchen. With an outdoor kitchen, there’s more than ample room to socialize and spread out as the food is being grilled and prepared. Then there are the tunes you can be playing on the outdoor speaker system, very cool ambiance with the lighting, and plenty of outdoor furniture for the comfort and socializing of your guests.

Your outdoor kitchen area with all its amenities will be nothing short of a miniature paradise!

Whether you are of the Boomer generation, the Millennial generation, or anything in between, you all seem to have your own outdoor entertainment traditions. Baby Boomers have long enjoyed grill nights in their outdoor spaces, while the Millennials/Gen Ys seem to love their outdoor games. Let Broderick Builders design and build a custom outdoor space that fits your lifestyle and your particular entertainment preferences and traditions.

2. An outdoor kitchen can actually reduce your utility bill.

How on earth, one may ask, could an outdoor kitchen possibly reduce the electric bill? Moving the cooking tasks from the indoor kitchen to the outdoor kitchen means your A/C won’t have to run overtime to make up for all the cooking heat that would have been generated indoors. Folks who regularly use their outdoor kitchen in the summer would actually see a difference. In other words, the regular use of an outdoor kitchen can be green and luxurious at the same time.

3. An outdoor kitchen can add value to your home.

Building an outdoor kitchen can add value to your home. Outdoor spaces can be considered landscaping, but a full outdoor kitchen definitely counts as a complete second kitchen when the time comes to place a value on your improved residential property. However, the actual return on investment (ROI) for an outdoor kitchen depends on a great many factors; research on this subject will produce a wide array of estimates.

4. Grilling produces less fatty, more delicious food.

You already know this: when meat is grilled, a lot of the fat and grease drips and runs out of the food. When the same meat is prepared indoors, there is nowhere for all that fat and grease to go, so it tends to remain with the food. Grilling almost always results in less fatty meat. Plus, food prepared indoors by baking or skillet – while plenty delicious – cannot match the wonderful taste of grilled meats and vegetables.

10 Healthy Tips & Benefits of Grilling – Compact Appliance

5. Using your outdoor kitchen means there are no lingering odors indoors.

Cooking great food produces mouth-watering aromas in the short term; however, you don’t necessarily want your house to contain the odors that can linger long after the meal is finished. With a Nashville outdoor kitchen, you won’t have to worry about stale cooking and food odors seeping into your clothing and furniture. Cooking outside keeps the smells outside.

6. An outdoor kitchen expands your home’s living space.

Adding space to your home does not necessarily require new rooms with their walls and roofs. It’s wise to seriously consider improving and expanding the outdoor space you already have, be it your porch, patio, or grilling area with or without a fire pit. If your home already has a covered patio or deck, then you’re already partway there: just add appliances and expand it (if needed) or build around it to create your ideal outdoor kitchen. Your new outdoor kitchen will help generate many new and pleasant memories from birthday parties, family gatherings, company parties, and any other social events you choose to host, day or night.

7. Spending time outdoors is healthy for the mind and body.

Having your own Nashville outdoor kitchen will grant you the mental and physical health advantages of spending time outside, enjoying the fresh air, and taking in the scenery. There’s just a healthier vibe outdoors than in – and science is proving this to be true over and over in recent studies. Being outdoors is beneficial for your health, too. It has been proven to lower stress and mental fatigue.

There’s plenty of science available to demonstrate the health benefits of spending time outdoors. A recent nonfiction book of choice is The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative; it makes a powerful case for spending all the time outdoors you can.

Being outside can improve memory, fight depression, and lower blood pressure — here are 12 science-backed reasons to spend more time outdoors – Business Insider

8. Replacing restaurant visits with outdoor kitchen use can save money.

With your own sweet outdoor kitchen in the backyard, why dine out? Sure, you’ll want to hit your favorite restaurants occasionally – but frequently eating out at restaurants can get really expensive, and there is always a zero return on all the money you spend at restaurants. Each time you decide to use your outdoor kitchen instead of heading out for a night on the town, you save those hard-earned dollars. Also, there’s just no replacement for the intimate time spent dining with your family and other loved ones at home.

Are you ready to add an outdoor kitchen?

OK, so you’ve taken in just a few of the many benefits and advantages of an outdoor kitchen. Have you started to envision the possibilities for your very own marvelous outdoor space? Frankly, this information has barely scratched the surface of all the possibilities afforded by an outdoor kitchen as part of your Nashville-area home.

Call Broderick Builders today at 615.385.3210 to find out much more about outdoor kitchens. We’re ready to help you and answer any questions you may have. You may also use our quick and easy contact form to schedule a free onsite consultation about your ideal outdoor kitchen, grilling area with fire pit, paver patio, built-in seating, countertop, and storage areas, complete with whatever other amenities you can dream up for your outdoor space.

Resources: Being outdoors is healthier for mind and body

• Health benefits of being outside: improve memory, lower blood pressure – Business Insider
• Amazon.com: The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative (9780393242713), by Florence Williams
• What I Learned Reading “The Nature Fix” — She Explores: Women in the outdoors
• Get Out of Here: Scientists Examine the Benefits of Forests, Birdsong and Running Water – The New York Times
• We Are Wired To Be Outside – National Geographic
• Book Review: The Nature Fix – Explore!