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How Eating Al Fresco Can Change Your Life: The Benefits of an Outdoor Kitchen

outdoor kitchensOne of the great joys of owning a house is enjoying its outdoor spaces. Whether you have a pool and enjoy a summer full of swimming and tanning, or you enjoy gardening and maintaining your seasonal blooms, we all have different ways of enjoying the outdoors.

But one thing is for sure — everyone enjoys outdoor grilling and eating. Dining al fresco in the cool of the evening after a long day, or with cold drinks and watermelon for a midday celebration is a joy and one of the many reasons people look forward to summer.

There are certainly some essentials for preparing a meal outdoors, such as a quality grill, a picnic table, and other types of good outdoor furniture. While these are the basics, taking it one step further can make an occasional summer treat a regular occasion.

Full outdoor kitchens transform the possibilities for outdoor dining and party hosting. With outdoor lighting and unique hardscapes on which to dine, the whole endeavor becomes easier and more enjoyable.

With a small refrigerator (which is easily turned off during the winter), the need to constantly cart things in and out of the house will be eliminated. Imagine having ice cream a moment away in the yard!

Counter top space will allow you to do prep work outside, instead of awkwardly on the picnic table or inside, as you longingly stare out the window. Hardscaping underneath your outdoor kitchen will make the whole process easier and cleaner.

Well-planned outdoor lighting will allow you to begin and finish a late supper even in the late evening.

And best of all, an outdoor sink can serve many purposes, from clean-up after gardening to assistance during all stages of cooking.

The installation of outdoor kitchens will do more than make the next couple of summers enjoyable. A quality landscaping job can boost your home’s resale value by more than 14%, so any improvement you make outside will count later. Indeed, Money wrote that landscaping can bring a recovery rate of 100 to 100% at selling time.

Combined with a well-maintained lawn (which will also help reduce allergens like ragweed), landscape lighting, and perhaps a small herb garden, you’ll never want to cook inside again.