Outdoor Kitchens - Why?

What's happening? I am confused.

http://housely.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/outdoor-kitchen-designs-amazing-view.jpg

Why?

http://housely.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Outdoor-Kitchen-Designs-005.jpg

idgi

http://decocreteva.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Outdoor-Kit-01.jpg

No

http://www.101palletideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/pallet-mud-kitchen.jpg

I would prefer not to.

http://www.stonefarmliving.com/assets/img/cache/NewburyportOutdoorKitchen3_455_815.jpg

Hmmm.... still nope.

http://www.lowes.com/images/LCI/Planning/HowTos/PlanYourKitchen_hero_image.jpg

https://twitter.com/Tormny_Pickeals/status/721033744270954496

It's clearly pissing down on my electrical goods.

http://www.conniehogarth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/outdoor-kitchen-kits-uk.jpg

Q: What do you get the person who has everything?

A: Something completely redundant or superfluous!

Btw, this is a sister thread to 1000 Mindblowing Kitchen Islands - figured it was enough of its own (perplexing) thing to warrant a separate thread rather than diverting that one.

Specialising in bewildering me.

http://www.gptconstruction.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/u-shaped-outdoor-kitchen-slider-11.jpg

This one looks like the ghost of a dead kitchen is haunting the mansion grounds.

http://www.acpfl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/outdoor-kitchen-large.jpg

lonely kitchen just thinking baout things

http://img.8-ball.tech/2015/09/22/outdoor-kitchen-with-pavers-l-2d809bba48162abb.jpg

The problem with grilling out in really hot weather is that I'm so sweaty and sapped by the time the food's done that I can't stand the thought of eating. But I have to confess, I covet some of these grill setups.

A BBQ, I get. A fancy BBQ, I get. But a fridge and a sink and an oven etc etc? Why not just... go in the house for a sec?

http://scottyslakehouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Outdoor-Kitchen-Plans-and-Designs.jpg

In the next to last pic even the extension cord is like - newp, can't even make it all the way there, nowai.

Hot weather? What's that? (xxp)

Melted down some daleks and cybermen, made you an outdoor kitchen.

https://images.lowes.ca/img/x/13278/outdoor-kitchen_bbq_lifestyle.jpg

Sorry guys, I think I broke it.

http://homestead-honey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/OutdoorKitchen2.jpg

that last one I get, there probably isn't another kitchen within ten miles and you work with what you have

I like the Daleks/Cybermen one.

Welcome to my tropical terrace, which looks to be about two steps away from my house, and thus, MY ACTUAL KITCHEN.

http://www.marcusedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/exterior-ideas-kitchen-outdoor-kitchens-houston-and-outdoor-with-stainless-steel-refrigerator-and-grill-also-white-cabinet-on-balcony-deck-combined-with-black-iron-barstool-also-diy-outdoor-kitchen-i.jpg

that last one I get, there probably isn't another kitchen within ten miles and you work with what you have

― the 'major tom guy' (sleeve), Friday, April 22, 2016 11:53 PM (3 minutes ago)

Yeah, I get that, like at a camping place or similar, or having one as a hotel/restaurant gimmick. But even the people who sensibly put a cover over theirs, they still won't want/be able to eat outside all the time, right? So is this just dickwaving about being rich enough to afford two kitchens? (I cannot think of a circumstance in which the answer to this is not yes.)

I even find it ridiculous when people run washing line style sub-mains to their shed or garage. But this??? wtf!

They must be very high maintenance, all this this sparkling steel, if it ain't cleaned and properly covered regularly - it won't resist rust, green mould and corrosion for long. God bless rust tbh. If I was still an electrician I would hate installations like this. It would be guaranteed you would get at least a few unpleasant calls a year, blaming you for appliance faults.

Why not just... go in the house for a sec?

I assume it's because their yard and house are so huge it takes a couple of minutes to make the trip.

ironically, the goal of people who indulge in this shit is to 'get closer to nature' even though this sort of thing is really only practical in horrible arid suburban wastelands where the local fauna have been forcibly extricated and the landscape is so tamed and overdeveloped that the difference between indoors and outdoors is virtually nonexistent. you could get the same effect for a thousandth of the price by decorating your kitchen island with a hammock fruit basket and a couple of plastic palm trees. but I guess that wouldn't be 'quirky' enough for your stupid houseguests.

I mean it isn't surprising that these are popular in Vegas where people are assholes and it only rains a few days per year:

Terence Thornton, kitchen and landscape designer at Las Vegas-based Laguna Pool & Spa and Landscaping, said nearly 80 percent of the homes he designs have an outdoor kitchen.

“When I’m talking to clients I always tell them how much easier outdoor kitchens are to cook and clean because once you’re done cooking you can pull out the hose and clean everything up,” he said. “Outdoor spaces are conducive to entertaining.”

('forcibly extracted', I mean)

there is good ventilation outside tho you have to admit

outdoor cooking set ups are more charismatic when it's less like a kitchen without a roof

http://fotodocument.org/files/posts/1289/Abdullah-Boat-photos-3.jpg

Real Outdoor Kitchens

Imagine taking this on a picnic. I think the worst thing is that it actually looks kind of pathetic standing there, and not even decadent at all. Like, if you're going for decadence you wouldn't include doing the washing up. And if you needed that much practicality on a camping trip or whatever, you'd surely be better off with a camper van. So what is your function, little guy? Tell me why you exist.

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ4UVW09ou22SRfls3yOp8rNxiHpB4T7mA05EbRZE8TFp9868uLjg

the inappropriately heavy duty nature of a lot of this stuff is what is unappealing imo, a sense of overkill, a bit like those earlier industrial attempts to climb everest versus later more minimalist and romantic alpine atyle efforts

years ago I saw an ad for premium outdoor cooking ranges or some such and I was like wtf so I clicked on it. I sat agog while browsing the company's website looking at these ridiculously overpriced toys until I found some photos of this guy's penthouse condo in SOUTH DAKOTA where he'd had a super premium architecturally-designed outdoor kitchen added to his roof deck / patio and they had shots of him and some pals cooking with it while all bundled up in their patagonia gear because THEY'RE OUTSIDE ON A ROOF AT NIGHT IN SOUTH DAKOTA. Then I googled the dude and he's like a former Microsoft executive or something. Because of course.

he probably came up with the idea for SharePoint

ilx - firmly opposed to making food outside somewhere nice on a beautiful day

nobody's said that or even implied it

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/weber-grill.jpg

These kitchens aren't "somewhere nice on a beautiful day", they're in your own garden, permanently. As I said upthread, I get having a barbecue, and I get why barbecues should be positioned outside, so the big grills aren't really the problem, it's the inclusion of every single other thing that you almost certainly have in your indoor kitchen, replicated a few yards away. I also can't conceive of a place where it never rains, and so am getting inordinately worried about rust and electrocution, but maybe that's just the Brit in me and such places do exist.

xp

lolled at this Melted down some daleks and cybermen but tbh if someone invited me to chill over at any of these places i would be like 'yo, this is the shiiiiitttt'

My parents always had grills. But every stainless grill they bought always had some non-stainless element that would rust, regardless of being covered, simply due to the subtropical humidity. 8-10 years and they're done.

The market for these things isn't the garden celebrant, but owners of "man-caves". The sort that would cater their larger affairs, in any case.

http://www.thepinnaclelist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/003-7.88-Million-Penthouse-127-Bezier-EC2-London-England-UK.jpg

gross penthouse apartment on the gross building on old street roundabout

But every stainless grill they bought always had some non-stainless element that would rust, regardless of being covered, simply due to the subtropical humidity.

Hahaha, yesss — my grill on the deck looks great from the outside, but the grates are a horror.

tbh i wouldn't mind having a 200,000 BTU burner outdoors for maximum ventilation

you're telling me i should have to walk all the way inside to get my kale zester? WHY DID I EVEN BUY THIS SECOND KALE ZESTER THEN

counterpoint: outside kitchens are cool. they're for when you want to cook outside. seems pretty low on a list of bad upper middle class things to hate imo.

"upper middle class"

it's a "guy thing"

"Guy thing" ? Why do you say these tacky decorating schemes always have to be a –

http://i.imgur.com/6HA4yeK.jpg

ok, you're exactly right, it's a guy thing.

POssibly even weirder that you'd expose the electric train sets electric track to the elements? Would have thought those things would be somewhat delicate. Or is having outdoor trainsets a thing somewhere.
Also on a health and safety tip, track seems to be almost exactly where you'd want to have some room to move back and forth while working the barbecue. You'd think it would get trodden on or trip the cook up.

idk about hate but keeping a spare kitchen in your garden just feels like a particularly dorky extravagance to me but it's fair to say I am not the target market for these products. very rarely do I find myself thinking man what if I were boiling this pasta... outside *gazes wistfully at car park*

will begrudgingly admit that it is sometimes nice to be outside though

*installs rooftop shaving station*

I've read too many aspirational home design magazines recently because I can kind of see the logic here. The reason showpiece open plan kitchens, of the kind seen in the kitchen islands thread, are such a big thing is that people with lots of money who entertain frequently, or want to give the impression that they do, like to have integrated cooking / dining spaces. The alternative is the guests in one place and the cook cloistered away somewhere else.

I've got an outside kitchen actually, adds a real touch of luxury:
http://www.chilboltonstores.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/bbq-burning-chilbolton-common1.jpg

having an outdoor oven can also make sense in the summer

^^^ My grill can get hotter than my oven and preheats pretty fast, so we do our occasional pizza-baking out there now.

Also, it was nice to be able to make crawfish stock on the side burner outside instead of in the kitchen, since my wife hates all seafood smells.

I want a tandoor

You can get portable tandoors. The Indian takeout guy I go to on a Sunday has used one on a portable stand outside the back of his stall.
Also there have been shopfront places pop up around London and presumably elsewhere that use them.
I think that they are mainly a metal box a couple of feet wide and a couple feet tall maybe slightly larger. &may have clay funnel/tube that dough is slapped onto to cook.
Probably gets really hot and radiates heat. So may be best to use outdoor rather than scorch kitchen contents. But probably does not need actual outdoor installation.
Whereas a permanent fixed one is a large pit or raised domed chimney.

POssibly even weirder that you'd expose the electric train sets electric track to the elements?

when you're wealthy enough you don't get an electric train set, you get a miniature functioning steam train

Tbh if I was so rich as to have luxury shit I'd have a toy train track that went all around my mansion over an outdoor kitchen. It could deliver me cigs and wine.

And food! From the kitchen!

I think you need some pretty heavy duty insulation for a tandoor but there are plenty of videos or people doing them with steel bins and firebricks, flowerpots etc.

Idk if I am cut out for the serious business of tandoor cooking though

If it's all gas and electric, conspicuous consumption. If you are burning charcoal or wood, sometimes it's hard to babysit a fire and make a sauce at the same time, and it's definitely a drag running into the house every time your hands get dirty.

Portable tandoors are cool, but the ones I have seen are pretty basic and you could probably build your own; you can also use a kamado (rainy pic, far right) as a tandoor for everything but naan, and it does other stuff like smoking and grilling really well too.

how do these all look so clean?

Photographed immediately after installation.

I would never get one of these, but I totally get the appeal. Cooking and eating is so much more better outdoors and constantly having to run into and out of the house is one of the more annoying things about barbecuing.

I mean, rich people spend money on way more ridiculous stuff than this.