Indoor comforts move outside
As more people entertain outdoors, they’re taking everything with them — even the kitchen sink

by Lisa Antonelli Bacon
for Virginia Business
April 2007

With spring around the corner, homeowners are starting to think about outdoor entertaining. The most important thing to know is this: A grill isn’t enough. Seating? It goes without saying. A bar? Why not? But it will need to be a wet one, which means plumbing.

And as long as you’re doing that, a refrigerator or an icemaker is a snap. Since the refrigerator will need electricity, you might as well add a sound system and mood lighting, so you can read CD titles and show everything (including yourself) in a flattering light. Which might spill beyond the patio, so make sure the landscaping is up to snuff.

Just a few years back, outdoor kitchens became the gold standard. But they’re passé these days as people expand entire living spaces into the great outdoors. According to a U.S. Census Bureau Housing Survey, U.S. homeowners spent more than $40 billion in 2003 turning their outdoor environs into living areas. And they’re taking everything with them, because outdoor living has evolved to where people can have the same comforts they enjoy inside. The only thing missing is four walls.

“Everybody likes to be outside,” says Sara Pietrowski, owner of Outdoor Kitchen Creations in Richmond. “People like to hang out in the kitchen. Now we’re taking it outside. It can be an alternative to a formal dining room.”

Costs vary, depending on how much someone wants to spend. For $3,000, homeowners can get a grill in a cabinet with a tiled countertop. For $100,000 plus, they can have the works, right up to the HD television designed for clear viewing in sunlight or shade and the full-scale sound system to back it up, both of which are built to withstand wind and rain.

Replacing the ubiquitous tiki torch, lighting has become a design element to create atmosphere or for dramatic effect. Water treatments, too, are popular accents, be they fountain or stream. And retaining walls are popping up with the shift from decks to patios. Basically whatever you enjoy indoors, you can enjoy outdoors, too. No detail is too small. “People color-coordinate their lawn furniture and cabinets with their pool tiles,” says Pietrowski.

Matt Donlon, founder and executive vice president of ESP Group, a high-security application service provider based in Arlington, is geared for outdoor entertaining with what he calls a three-season room. It offers a hot tub and a chiminea (a Mexican wood-burning stove) and multiple doors that, when open, offer a literal connection with the outdoors. Hoping for even more outdoor versatility, he and Pietrowski designed an outdoor space where he could pull off an entire day or evening, soup to nuts, without running inside five times.

Donlon’s outdoor kitchen, with a refrigerator, four gas burners, rotisserie, cocktail center and sink with granite countertops would easily have been enough for a cookout at his Midlothian home but, for a ballpark $150,000, he turned his yard into a home resort. Rather than pull out the existing deck, as many are doing in favor of patios, he installed internal gutters that prevent standing water. The effect is two-fold, says Donlon. “When it rains, it sounds like a waterfall,” he says.

Donlon was almost ready for action once a composite stone retaining wall with a stone patio and fireplace were set in place. An integrated Bose sound system is the crowning touch. “Everybody likes to hang out in the kitchen,” says Donlon, “so I built a kitchen where I like to hang out the most.” Like many home improvement projects, the effort took longer than expected. “We started in September, and it was supposed to be ready by Thanksgiving,” he says. It was finally ready for entertaining and personal relaxation when the calendar turned to 2007.

All the gizmos and gadgets in the world, though, can’t hide an unsightly yard. “Landscaping is important,” says Pietrowski. “Lighting is important, too.” And not just so people can see what they’re grilling. Outdoor lighting adds another dimension, dramatic or soothing.

Since major improvements add value, some homeowners think of their outdoor living areas as investments. But Pietrowski says creating a home resort might save money, too. “You don’t need vacations so much when you can enjoy the outdoors this way.”