Hardscaping 101: Outdoor Kitchens
Humans were cooking outdoors before they were cooking indoors, if you want to get technical about the history of the outdoor kitchen. And they were on to something.
The modern outdoor kitchen owes its sudden mid-20th-century surge in popularity both to the invention of the suburbs and the invention of the Weber Kettle charcoal grill (thank you, George Weber). Nowadays we’re decades into our love affair with backyards, patios, and indoor-outdoor living, and our outdoor kitchens often have high-end appliances that outshine the indoor versions.
At Gardenista, we’re admirers of all forms of outdoor cooking. (Skip to the advice posts.) We applaud the tabletop grill, the open-fire cookstove, the gas grill, the charcoal grill, the fire pit, the Big Green Egg, and the built-in barbecue island. If you’re designing an outdoor kitchen—no matter whether it’s simple or luxe—start with our guides on grills, sinks, outdoor kitchen workstations, outdoor appliances, and barbecue tools.
Cooking outdoors leads to entertaining outdoors—we’ve got dinnerware covered, too. Unbreakable Glassware, Windproof Candle Lanterns, Café-Style String Lights, and Enamelware are among our favorite accessories; see all our posts for more.