The essence of outdoor living is to create an extension of your home, but with all the comforts of the great indoors. With the rising cost in gas and travel prices, families are deciding to stay closer to home, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create that great getaway feeling with your outdoor living space, you just have to choose the right elements.
A key ingredient in most outdoor living spaces is a fully equipped and designed kitchen. You’ll find items like sinks, dishwashers, refrigerators, granite countertops, tile backsplashes, gourmet gas and charcoal grills and much more. To further impress, you can add a fireplace, television, stereo system (which I’m sure will all be playing Michael Jackson, to honor the late King of Pop) and high-end teak or wrought iron furniture. A popular design trend is having your outdoor kitchen appliances encased in an island or cooking center constructed of concrete, brick, stucco, slate, limestone or similar counters and bases.
Before you go out shopping you’ll need to decide how you plan on using and designing your outdoor space. Do you want to create a retreat or an entertainment space? Do you need a space for food preparation and storage or will a grill be enough? Is a wet bar or hot tub a must for entertaining? Perhaps a combination of all these ideas can be used to create a special outdoor living space that your family and friends can enjoy.
You can get some great ideas from our latest issue of Home Ideas featuring articles on how to the bring the kitchen outdoors, the latest outdoor appliances by top manufacturers like KitchenAid and tips for building and designing your outdoor living place. Also…get inspired by our collection of outdoor living house plans.
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Christine Cooney
Christine has over a decade of experience as a house plan and floor plan expert. Outside of providing her expertise to customers to help them find and build their dream homes, her passion and knowledge of the home building industry allows Christine to guide families and builders through all of the important steps from finding plans to building custom homes that meet the expectations of today’s new home owner. Christine’s years of knowledge of the diverse trends and needs of the modern homeowner has made her into an authoritative and trusted voice in the online house plan community..