‘Let’s go out’
Outdoor kitchens reach new echelon of elegance
There are those perfect summer days, when the sun marinades in late afternoon, and no one wants to head inside, especially not to cook.
It’s way easier to get fired up outside.
This time of year, indoor cooking is out and outdoor is in, as livable square footage leaves the four walls and extends into the landscape in the form of outdoor kitchens and fireplaces.
“It’s a family experience, it’s the kids with the parents and they’re all sharing their day and relaxing. There’s not the pressure like in a lot of the other activities that we do,” said Gary Lewinski, president of Emmet Brick & Block in Petoskey. “Outdoor living is primarily about family; it’s just a warm place to have relationships.”
On Christmas Eve last year, Andie Fisher and her grandchildren cooked s’mores in the fireplace of her outdoor kitchen. Now that it’s summer, she expects it’ll get even more use when her four sons and seven grandchildren come to visit grandma’s on Walloon Lake.
“We love to grill out,” Fisher said. “We had an old built-in thing for years but it was wood, and we didn’t have a fireplace. So we said, ‘let’s do it up real nice.’”
After looking through magazines and interviewing installers, stonemason Mark Mueller, of Creative Stonework, handled the construction of her outdoor kitchen last summer. It includes a stainless Lynx gas grill, fireplace and refrigerator, along with a sweeping view of Walloon at the home she and her late husband, William, built in 1971.
The rocks used in the design were pulled from Lake Huron, and cleverly designed storage allows for easily stacking and accessing wood for the fireplace.
Adding amenities to an outdoor kitchen is like combining ingredients for favorite recipes, depending on taste, use and preference.
Lewinski said the center of all his installations is the barbecue, nearly always stainless steel though sometimes homeowners are hooked on cooking with charcoal. Ceramic cookers are another option.
And after that, things get spicy. The latest technology for outdoor grills includes infrared grilling, which takes only minutes to heat up and likewise to sear the meat, with an adjacent grill available to finish cooking the meat.
Other additions pile on like a kabob: sideburners for sauces and corn, bartending centers (built-in or free-standing), steamers, fryers and a griddle attachment so “if you want to do breakfast, you can do eggs on the griddle,” Lewinski added. Working sinks, either plumbed or using a garden hose, kegerators and wine refrigerators add to the entertaining atmosphere that is enhanced often with gas or electric heaters with decorative hoods in rustic décor.
More custom garnishments, like monogrammed grilling surfaces (my steaks could read ‘BAP’), Petoskey stones inlaid into concrete counters, rain gutters for the grill and topside lobster boilers add even more au jus.
And pizza ovens, an old European mainstay, are gaining favor stateside and outside. “In Europe, every home has one. They use them for baking bread and pizza, and now it’s becoming more popular for people here to have the wood-burning or the gas kind,” Lewinski said. “It takes more time to prepare, to knead it,” he added, “but then you get to eat the results.”
At a spectacular Burt Lake estate, the outdoor kitchen, designed by Dawn Whyte of Designs by Dawn at the Lake Street Studio in Petoskey, is truly the filet mignon of feting. Its elegant, professional-series stainless steel grill, functioning sink, refrigerator and triangle workspace will suit the family as a gathering space for years to come.
Set amidst boulders and under a protective (and attractive) roof structure, mammoth boulders create the feel the kitchen was carved out of the landscape. Mason Kevin Coats, of Coats Custom Stone Work in Petoskey, mastered the stonework.
“They knew what they wanted when it came to appliances and it was just pairing them with the right products,” said Whyte, who is an exclusive are
a dealer of the Atlantis line of outdoor kitchen cabinetry.
Not all materials can withstand Northern Michigan’s year ’round lambasting, but the Atlantis brand is made with weatherproof materials, yet it still looks elegant enough for a main-home kitchen. Custom cabinets, storage spaces, grill models, refrigerators and other add-ons are available in the line as well.
Emmet Brick & Block carries a line of modular outdoor design units called Mods, pre-built outdoor kitchen and fireplace units that assemble more quickly than a ground-up construction.
Pair all these options with the right company, and you won’t see the indoor kitchen again ’til November.
“It’s like a good wine,” Lewinski said. “It’s not necessarily the wine, but who you’re having it with. Outdoor living and grilling are the same.” HL
