Why I Love Our Outdoor Cooking Station

With summer just around the corner, now is the perfect time to get everything ready outside for our outdoor cooking station and entertaining.

Most of you know how much I love to cook. (Although I should admit that I like to entertain more than just cook.) About ten years ago I talked my husband into adding an outdoor cooking station to our backyard. It’s one of my favorite “rooms” in our home as I enjoy outdoor cooking so much.

We already had the barbecue and smoker so adding the outdoor kitchen really meant we were adding the island with the counter and a few kitchen items.

Outdoor Kitchen Station

We added this island and what a difference! The island has two different counter heights. One for seating (or without the chairs, it makes a perfect bar height) and one counter for prep. I also added storage space, an ice maker, and a refrigerator. Usually, it doesn’t have so many plants but I couldn’t resist when I styled it today!

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Outdoor Cooking

This is the side that already existed with our green egg and 48″ DCS grill. I call it our outdoor grill station. just had the inside of the grill redone because a lot of the parts had kind of deteriorated in the last ten years. I have everything I need for outdoor cooking. It looks almost brand new now!

I did add the two burners on the side of the BBQ when we build the kitchen island. I don’t think I really needed these but it seemed like a good thing to do at the time. It is nice to have the burners to saute veggies but often I end up grilling almost everything for the meal! As long as I can spend my entire time outdoor cooking then I am happy.

Some of the items that I really searched for were the stainless drawers and cabinets. I looked everywhere and found the best prices on Amazon. You can shop here to see what I mean.

All of the brick is original to our house from a hundred years ago. We found a brick chimney in the middle of our home when we remodeled in 2000 and we used the brick for our outdoor fireplace and patio. We had some leftover bricks and I am so happy we kept them so we could use them for our outdoor kitchen addition.

The slate on the island is from when we did our remodel in 2000 as well. I put a slate floor in the mudroom, bath, and craft room. I saved the extra slate so we used it on the island.

The counter seats four perfectly. I often serve appetizers here to attract family members and dinner guests to relax and entertain me while I am cooking.

You may recognize the clay pots that I “aged”. You can find them at How to Make Vintage Garden Pots.

Outdoor Entertaining

If I can set a table anywhere, you know I will! I created a small dinner setting on the backside of the island. All of the links are listed below for the rattan placemats, cream wood chargers, green wine glasses, clear water glasses, black and white plates, and napkins.

If you are thinking about putting in an outdoor kitchen, a prep sink is a must. It’s small but works perfectly. Our island is 9′ long and the back barbecue island is 8′ long. The eating counter is 20″ wide and the prep counter is 24″ wide.

I love styling the outdoor kitchen island with items from inside our home. Why not bring the indoors outside when you entertain?

If you don’t have an outdoor kitchen you can add an outdoor island or a vintage piece and create your own! Even vintage potting sheds make perfect outdoor kitchens.

Why not set up an outdoor kitchen bar too?

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I am going to call up some friends and have a little dinner party outside as the weather is really warming up this week.

I would love to know what you think of our outdoor kitchen. It is very well used and I am so happy with the look and style of it.

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I will be sharing a fun California barbecue dinner soon! If you have any great barbecue recipes, please share them with me!

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