Garden kitchens designed to make outdoor cooking special, combining sophisticated style with the most advanced cooking systems on the market. This is the new age of outdoor cooking, and it has nothing to do with BBQs. These are sumptuously designed kitchens – either single blocks or modular systems – equipped with gas grills, induction hobs and even deep-fat fryers, teppanyaki griddles, sinks, dishwashers and fridges. They really are proper kitchen – and they might be even more sophisticated than their indoor counterparts. The kitchens are produced by companies that specialise in outdoor furnishings or notable brands from the wider kitchen sector, while the manufacturing process is designed to ensure the kitchens are resistant to water, heat, humidity and UV rays. Finished with marble, wood and stone, these stylish outdoor kitchens come in “off-the-shelf” or bespoke versions, with the latter built to the user’s specifications.
Andrea Bassanello’s Modunova Outdoor is based around top-quality solid, authentic materials. This well-structured outdoor kitchen and dining area features worktops and units that create a compact, practical space, with areas for storing wood as well as a fridge and ice maker. The large wood-fired oven unit leads into the kitchen area, which features a deep-fat fryer, teppanyaki griddle, induction hob and basin in Piasentina stone. The dining area, meanwhile, is built around a table in solid-wood panels.
The Zen Line, a collection designed by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba for Exteta, is made entirely by hand and uses only the finest materials: solid red cedar wood from Canada (which repels all bacteria and mould), marine plywood, DuPontTM Corian® and nautical-style steel. The Zen Line comprises a number of models, including the Kitchen Island, a foldaway island with sliding Corian worktop, and the Kitchen-Table, a table/kitchen made by hand from DuPontTM Corian® and marine plywood. The latter features a sliding table which protects the cooking area.
Incline uses just one material for its single unit (250 x 85 cm; h: 90 cm) designed by Alberto Minotti for Minotti Cucine. The whole structure is made from red Erafuoco stone and is designed to be at a 5° incline from the floor. The worktop is home to the cooking area with gas barbeque and sliding cover in stone. There is also a stone basin with hidden drain and a hole for the water supply, with another sliding top in the same material.
At the other end of the style spectrum is the Bridge kitchen by Dfn, a sophisticated creation very much belonging to the outdoor luxury genre, with refined, luxurious solutions everywhere you look. Designed by Samuele Mazza, Bridge has two cooking areas are two overhanging “wings”, making for an efficient, compact space.
