Why You Should Be Building an Outdoor Kitchen: 10 Answers
You already know you need a backyard oasis. But there’s always at least one person who needs to know: “Why should I be building an outdoor kitchen?”
Glad you asked! There are at least ten reasons to start building an outdoor kitchen in your backyard:
- Sell your house more easily
- Increase house resale value (120% ROI!)
- An inexpensive addition to a house
- Make your house (and yourself) extra popular
- Host more guests or family members
- Make barbecuing more convenient
- Make your very own smoked cold cuts
- Save money on eating out
- Save on electrical bills (AC)
- Eat healthier overall
Brace yourself for a deep thinking session! Whether you have to convince yourself or your loved ones, the arguments listed above should be enough to convince anybody.
A backyard without an outdoor kitchen is incomplete. Vacant. Deserted. Let’s fill it up with the help of this helpful guide, shall we?
Sell Your House More Easily With an Outdoor Kitchen
An outdoor kitchen makes selling your house easier and faster. Realty Times advises it’s worth adding one even if you’re already planning to list.
Outdoor kitchens are a serious draw for home buyers. The Realty Times cited a study from the American Institute Of Architects Home Design Trends, noting outdoor kitchens are among the most popular features.
Sally Slater, an associate real estate broker, also reported on this phenomenon in the New York Times. “If it’s going on the market in late spring, when everybody’s looking at summer with the mind-set of entertaining and outdoor living, it does help.”
To be sure the investment is really going to pay off, it’s worth taking a few things into consideration. First of all, go around and check what your neighbors have in their backyards. Is outdoor kitchen rare in your area or common? This knowledge will help you with design.
If you’re thinking about selling your home, go for the stuff everybody wants to have in an outdoor kitchen. These include a cooking surface, sink, under-counter refrigerator or drawer, countertop space, and lighting. Nothing wrong with the fundamentals when you start building an outdoor kitchen.
The extravagant design might not help with sell, as people are rarely looking for one (unless this is an overall style of your property).
Outdoor cabinets are an increasingly popular choice for their storage and food prep capabilities. HDPE kitchen cabinets are extremely resistant to outdoor hazards and long-lasting, to boot.
Since coronavirus pandemic began, people are focusing even more on having fun in their own backyards. Outdoor kitchens are more valuable now than they ever were before.
Increase House Resale Value With an Outdoor Kitchen
This is a subject widely discussed online. Does an outdoor kitchen really increase your property value? There is no easy answer, as it depends.
I asked professionals around and what I’ve heard was quite reassuring.
First, the hard truth: the outdoor kitchen ROI presented on multiple contractor websites isn’t true for most properties (they mention even 200%). However, some states like Texas, it can be up to 130%.
An addition like a swimming pool is -10% on average. If you’re lucky, you won’t lose money, but you won’t make much on it. It’s worth knowing that renewing the inside of the home, like kitchen cabinets (which can range around $40,000), may not add any value to the property.
This is because indoor cabinets are usually a given. What kind of house wouldn’t have indoor kitchen cabinets?
What’s the highest ROI when building an outdoor kitchen? I recommend keeping your outdoor kitchen budget under control. It’s not the less you spend, the more you gain: making a grand addition, in most cases, won’t pay off, either.
First thing is to figure out where your house stands from a price range point of view. You should go at your outdoor kitchen solutions from the same level.
If your outdoor kitchen isn’t custom made, go with prefabricated. It can be done in multiple finishes and look really good. Those finishes should also be similar to your house. It’s important not only from the price, but buyers often look for coherence.
Some outdoor kitchen brands, like ExtCabinets, offer a wide range of colors and finishes to match your existing style.
If you’re a DIYer, you have to be pretty handy to create an outdoor kitchen that accommodates a sink, appliances, and finishes.
What may not pay off? Anything that’s over-the-top, like pizza ovens. If you’re planning to sell, take into consideration you may sell to somebody who’s into different stuff and won’t value things dear to you.
If you want a real-life example of using an outdoor kitchen to increase property value, check out this case study from Realtor.
An Outdoor Kitchen is an Inexpensive Addition
If you lack space inside, an outdoor kitchen is one of the least expensive solutions.
Homeadvisor.com made a survey for homeowners who built an outdoor kitchen recently. They gathered data from 145 people and found the average cost of an outdoor kitchen is between $4,864 – $21,342. With additions like a pergola, it can go up to $100,000.
The same website also wrote about home additions. The number that is $21,072 – $69,578, and can get up to $135,000.
If you need more living space, an indoor-outdoor experience can be a smart move. It costs less, the timeline of construction is shorter, and it transforms a house into a party spot. Why not start building an outdoor kitchen?
Make Your House (and Yourself) Popular With an Outdoor Kitchen
In any given neighborhood, there’s usually a popular house that people tend to visit. If you’re not living in one at the moment and dreaming of it, an outdoor kitchen is a magnet for friends and family.
First of all, an outdoor kitchen increases the living space by creating an indoor-outdoor experience. Thanks to extra space, you’re able to host more people and have more fun.
Second of all, you get an attraction others may not have in their backyard. Even if they do, you can top it! You can add a pizza oven or a bar to draw people to your backyard. Additions like a TV, sound system, and fire pit can also do the trick.
From birthdays to family reunions, when you begin building an outdoor kitchen, you open up fresh possibilities.
Host More Guests With Outdoor Kitchen Appliances
Cooking outdoors is a kind of theater and is a a major source of appeal for barbecues. Many people take pleasure in watching the food being cooked.
Recreating this experience indoors is difficult (if not impossible). All the smoke generated is a safety hazard. You also don’t get the beautiful view. Building an outdoor kitchen solves all these problems.
The biggest advantage of using a grill is its size. It can easily fit more food than any indoor cooking appliance. It’s not just the amount that matters, either – you can also mix the food inside. For example, a variety of meats prepared next to skewered vegetables.
When you want to switch to another meat, like fish, it’s just a burn-off away. You don’t have to go through the trouble of cleaning everything or turning on the dishwasher.
Another appealing detail is the speed of cooking. Traditional cooking is less efficient. Not only do you have less food prepared, but it takes way longer to prepare it. Cooking for more people with a grill is easier, faster, and just more enjoyable.
Cooking outdoors is an experience that can be easily shared. The value lies not just in the ROI, but the memories. When’s the last time you had a great conversation while flipping burgers in an indoor kitchen?
Make Barbecuing Extra Convenient With An Outdoor Kitchen
The advantages of barbecuing are well known, but what other ways does an outdoor kitchen add to it? The first benefit is convenience.
Imagine you cook outside as you cook inside with everything at hand. Fridge, sink, countertop space, you name it. You’re able to comfortably prepare any meal you wish. You don’t have to constantly run back into the kitchen for supplies or more food.
The benefits don’t end there. You also don’t bring a mess on your shoes inside and you don’t let insects in. You’re also less tired at the end of the day since you didn’t finish a half-marathon just preparing a meal!
In my opinion, plenty of countertop space is crucial for cooking comfortably outside. This is a major benefit of even a very small outdoor kitchen. It gives you space to work and prepare platters of food.
When you begin building an outdoor kitchen, you can avoid cramped spaces and enjoy the process more.
If you’d like to go for even more comfort, there are warming drawers for marinating food or warming buns. These features bring outdoor cooking to a whole new level of convenience.
Make Your Own Smoked Cold Cuts in an Outdoor Kitchen
This feature is something your family is going to love you for. At least, I know I love my mum for it (not only for it, but still).
Making cold cuts by yourself is a truly amazing skill. It gives you a ton of satisfaction and puts a lot of healthy food on the table. Once tasted, well-prepared ham is going to keep you away from any ham-like products in a grocery store.
The amount of taste fitting even a teeny-tiny slice is hard to believe and incomparable to anything else. Start building an outdoor kitchen and you’ll have the room and fresh air to smoke your meat.
The process of preparation is long-lasting, as the meat has to be prepared a few days before smoking. But this time does so much good to the meat.
Save Money on Eating Out With an Outdoor Kitchen
Do you know how much money an American household spends on average on eating out? U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says it’s $3,459!
This is a serious amount of money, as it’s one-fourth of the total amount spent on basic shelter. This is not the full amount spent on food, either. It’s only the number for eating out, so that also means parking and gas.
What’s the most expensive meal to pay for outside? Dinner, which is often more than $28. Here’s a quote from the BLS: “In fact, spending on dinner away from home was about the same amount as the combined spending for breakfast and brunch, lunch, and snacks and nonalcoholic beverages.”
Interestingly, the meal people spend most on is the one that makes an outdoor kitchen really attractive. How about making some savings on eating out and preparing delicious, healthy meals at home? Start building an outdoor kitchen and have your own at-home restaurant.
Save on Electricity and AC With an Outdoor Kitchen
An outdoor kitchen is wonderful for cooking outside when it’s too warm to cook inside. It’s easy to find these in countries with high temperatures (the one presented above is from Greece).
Many homeowners don’t realize they can save money on energy bills when they invest in building an outdoor kitchen.
How can you save on AC with an outdoor kitchen? Basically, copy the people who came with summer kitchen idea. When it’s hot, it’s better not to cook indoors since it makes the temperature inside grow.
When the temperature is rising, the AC has to work harder and longer to make the inside nice and cool. Cooking inside during warm months is not only less comfortable, but more expensive.
The longer the AC works, the more you pay for electrical bills. The average American household cooling their home between June and September may pay over $700. Using less AC is good for your wallet and the environment.
Eat Healthier Thanks to an Outdoor Kitchen
Can barbecuing lead to a healthier lifestyle? It actually can!
When you’re eating out, you never know what they put on your plate (unless it’s a salad). You have absolutely no control over the food that’s delivered to you. Salt amount, types of oils, flavor enhancers, quality, and freshness of food. All of these factors are a mystery.
A recent study showed that these details apply not just to fast food, but all types of restaurant dining.
Eating healthy often starts with cooking at home. When you start building an outdoor kitchen, you make cooking easier and have more control over your recipes. The convenience of an outdoor kitchen also makes it easy to build the habit.
When people think of foods made on the grill, they often think of meat. However, you can grill all kinds of vegetables on the grill. Peppers, zucchini, Portobello mushrooms, and tomatoes need nearly no preparation prior to grilling and taste so damn good.
Grilling can also be healthier with the proper appliances. While the charcoal grill is more affordable, the gas grill seems to be a better option. Try to avoid preparing food over open flames to reduce potential carcinogens in your food.
It’s also worth considering lower temperatures for cooking (this is a feature gas grills offer).
Even if you’re not going to prepare salads on your grill, you still have many options for eating healthier at home.
Building an Outdoor Kitchen Means Building Fresh Opportunities
Did the list help you in persuading somebody to start building an outdoor kitchen? Perhaps that somebody is you and you’re ready to take the plunge!
When you start building an outdoor kitchen, you give yourself the opportunity to eat healthier and save money on energy bills. You’ll have more space to cook as well as entertaining space for friends and family. You can even save on energy by having all your materials and food outside, not inside.
Think an outdoor kitchen is on your radar? These guides are a must-have to get the job done right:
![How to Build an Outdoor Kitchen on a Budget? [and save 3k+]](https://outdoorkitcheninsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/how-to-build-an-outdoor-kitchen-on-a-budget-small.jpg)
