February is an important month for garden planning in the UK as it is still winter, and the ground is dormant. This means that it is the perfect month to plan and design your garden without distractions of growing plants – you can truly understand your space and maximise what you have. Planning in advance also helps to ensure that the garden is well organised and efficient, ensuring that you have everything ready and planned for the summer ahead. Please bear in mind that lead-times may impact your renovation timescale, so you will need to research and factor this in in the early stages.
Outdoor cooking has become increasingly popular over the last few years, playing an important role within garden design. Not only does it provide a different cooking experience with different flavours and textures, but an opportunity to socialise and entertain friends and family.
When designing your outdoor kitchen, there are some key factors that you should consider:
- Determine the amount of space available in your garden and how much you want to allocate to your kitchen area.
- Consider what type of cooking equipment and appliances that you want. What appliances suit your lifestyle and palate? This may include a grill, smoker, barbeque, pizza oven, stove top, sink, etc. Also, invest in durable weather resistant appliances to ensure they stand the test of time. This will allow you to enjoy them for many years to come.
Have you seen our Big Green Egg in our Wimbledon Village showroom or Sage Pizza Oven?
Visit our showroom to see some of the appliances that you could have in your new outdoor kitchen. Locate our showroom here.
- Plan for storage space. Will you use your day-to-day crockery and cutlery or will you have an outdoor set. These will need to be stored safely for when they are not in use.
- Consider how you are going to light your outdoor kitchen area. In the UK, it starts to get dark between 8-9pm, so you may need to source additional lighting. This will also help to set the mood. At Day True, we love string bulbed lights as they add a warm and relaxing glow. Also, many of them are solar panelled, being a more sustainable way to light your garden.
- Determine whether you need a separate seating area to the outdoor kitchen, or whether it will be in the same area. Consider how many people you will be enjoying the space, and how many chairs you will need. It is important to think about shade here too, especially if you have children!
- Linking to the outdoor seating area, decide whether you want to heat the area with an outdoor firepit or fireplace. This will add to the ambiance.
- Set a budget. Before starting your outdoor kitchen plan, consider how often you are going to use it, who is going to use it, and who is going to maintain it.
When taking all of these factors into consideration, your outdoor experience will be enhanced.
Benefits of having your own outdoor kitchen
- It allows you to enjoy nature and the outdoors
- It can enhance the taste of your food, adding a smoky flavour that is difficult to achieve indoors
- It provides the perfect setting to entertain
- It can encourage a healthy lifestyle by providing fresh air, natural light, and the opportunity to take part in physical activities.
Did you know that we have our own outdoor kitchen in our Wimbledon Village showroom?
Pop-in at any time to see our showroom garden and let our team answer any questions that you may have! Alternatively, click to visit our ‘Get In Touch’ page to send your enquiry.
