Outdoor Kitchens

Berry OLC distinguishes itself from other Kansas City landscaping companies by offering projects like the outdoor kitchen, outdoor fire pit, outdoor fireplaces, outdoor BBQ grills, and outdoor BBQ islands that are built to feel like an extension of the home or like an outdoor room. Typically these things can feel like an “add-on.” We take great care to engineer, design, and develop outdoor kitchen plans that tie in with the home’s feel and layout.

Outdoor kitchens are one core aspect of the outdoor living areas produced by Berry OLC in the Kansas City landscaping market. Whether the outdoor kitchen features an outdoor grill, outdoor BBQ grill, a BBQ island with a built in grill, or smoker with an outdoor built in grill on a BBQ island, the outdoor kitchen feature generally serves as a hub of social activity.

With outdoor kitchens, the chef becomes a celebrity. We typically add an outdoor bar that includes purposeful outdoor bar seating close to the outdoor kitchen’s proximity so the chef and his or her friends can sit and enjoy the process of cooking.

Many times, the design of the outdoor kitchen will significantly correspond with the design and feel of the bar and cooking area inside the home. Again, this makes the outdoor kitchen area feel like it’s part of the home. A built in barbeque island for outside kitchens is a little more difficult because of the usage of natural wood for smoking on the built in barbeque. This simply means the barbecue island needs to have ample space for cleaning ash, drawing air, and venting with indirect heat. The exact layout is sometimes difficult, but the end result can be rewarding.

Many football games are watched in an outdoor room we’ve created around the outdoor kitchen. Integrating lighting as well as the aforementioned outdoor television and audio/video center into the outdoor kitchen area or outdoor bar creates a very fun atmosphere. These types of an outdoor room have become very popular the last four years.

When Berry OLC Kansas City landscaping designers conceive a plan for a backyard living space and outdoor room involving an outdoor kitchen, outdoor grill, outdoor BBQ, or a BBQ island with a built in grill, they consider its visual placement relative to the home and also the overall backyard layout, making sure it “fits” into the existing scheme instead of becoming an “add on.”

Also, it’s important to tie the home’s exterior and/or interior features such as stone and stucco or interior design styles and tastes into the proposed outdoor kitchen, outdoor bar, outdoor barbeque, or outside kitchen’s barbecue island. Commonly, fun features such as refrigerators, kegerators, smokers, sinks, ice trays, lighting, raised backsplashes, and especially TVs make the outdoor bar, outdoor room, and the outdoor kitchen appropriate for each homeowner’s lifestyle. Admittedly there are usually MU, KU, or KSU flags adorning the areas.

Berry OLC’s Kansas City landscaping designers develop their own plans, plots, and design aspects. However, occasionally, blueprints will be submitted by a Kansas City residential landscape architect or builder. In these cases, Landscape Renderings can execute a set of plans, but add the softening touches that make a space feel like home, such as plant placement or lighting installations.

Kansas City landscaping has developed a clear trend toward a cleaner, more defined look possibly influenced by a more modern viewpoint. So, as a Kansas City landscaping design and build company, Berry OLC has moved a lot of the company’s design in that direction. With the outdoor kitchen, this means not a lot of clutter. The bar should be roomy enough for comfortable yet efficient seating. The outdoor grills and BBQ island cooking area should also be roomy enough for the local chef, yet efficient in its layout. Again, the sightlines and layout should work with the home and make it feel like an outdoor room that is an extension of the home. Oftentimes, using open linear angles instead of typical square corners is enough to make a space feel larger and warmer.

During the outdoor kitchen project, having a single point of contact with Berry OLC is an important aspect to prospective clients. As both a Kansas City landscaping designer and contractor, Berry OLC is able to be a single point of contact in most cases. An outdoor kitchen, outdoor grill, outdoor BBQ, and outdoor bar may involve several subcontractors. Berry OLC can organize electrical, plumbing, irrigation, landscape lighting, water feature, patio, outdoor kitchen, landscaping, garden, masonry, outdoor fireplace, fire pit, deck, porch, covered porch and covered patio, pergola, fence, pool landscaping, and arbor projects, among other things.