How Can Kitchen Design Bring The Outdoors Into The Contemporary Home?
How can kitchen design bring the outdoors into the contemporary home?
The appeal of the ‘staycation’ has never been stronger than it is this year. With travel restrictions still in place after the pandemic, homebuyers are keener than ever on kitchen design that allows them to enjoy al fresco dining and socialising in the comfort of their own home.
Meanwhile, biophilic design trends are also answering our need to connect with nature and bring the natural world into our homes, which was highlighted by the lockdown.
The best kitchen suppliers can help developers to respond to these trends with kitchen design solutions that enable outdoor living and bring the outdoors in.
Why do UK homeowners want the outdoors to be part of their kitchen design?
At Commodore Design, as part of a European group of kitchen manufacturers, we already take kitchen design inspiration from trends, cultures and lifestyles beyond the UK. In many countries, it’s natural to have kitchen, dining and living areas outdoors to make the most of summer sunshine and light evenings.
UK homebuyers want to bring that experience back from their travels and see it embedded in the kitchen design of the homes they’re viewing here. Following the COVID-19 experience, connection with nature and green spaces are more important than ever.
Not all fitted kitchen suppliers can provide a kitchen range that enables outdoor installation in gardens or on balconies or terraces, but the best kitchen suppliers understand the sales advantage that outdoor cooking, dining and living areas offer developers. At Commodore Design, thanks to our bespoke as standard approach, we can incorporate outdoor spaces in the overall kitchen design, whether that’s as an outdoor installation or a kitchen that uses biophilia to connect with the natural world.
What’s the business case for including outdoor kitchen, living and dining areas in kitchen design?
At Commodore Design we always provide insights on future trends for the developers we work with; we believe it’s an added value approach that the best kitchen suppliers should offer. It’s important that those trend predictions are evidence-based and we not only explore kitchen design trends from around the world, but also carry out research to test how valid our kitchen design trend predictions are.
In a recent LinkedIn poll, we asked followers ‘If you could, would you have an outdoor kitchen/dining area?’ and a staggering 90% of them said ‘yes please’. As kitchen manufacturers, that’s a clear indication to us that outdoor kitchen/living areas are an aspirational feature for the contemporary home, which will help sell properties and differentiate between developments. It means that ideas of the fitted kitchen supplier’s remit need to move beyond kitchen design in the traditional sense and look at how those lifestyle and social space elements can be translated to outdoor spaces.
Where can we find the best outdoor kitchen design ideas?
Kitchen manufacturers that, like Commodore Design, are part of an international fitted kitchen suppliers group, have a natural advantage when it comes to outdoor kitchen and living area ideas, because our sister kitchen suppliers are already experienced in providing stunning exterior kitchen design for their customers. We need to translate those kitchen design concepts to UK property types and lifestyles, however, drawing inspiration from as far and wide as we can.
One of the ways we gather inspiration for kitchen design at Commodore Design is by travelling to acclaimed international trade and trend shows across Europe. Recently, these have showcased outdoor living as a huge trend for fitted kitchen suppliers, highlighting the need to breaking down barriers between the indoor and outdoor space.
We also gather kitchen design ideas on our Pinterest boards, including ideas we’ve seen and behind the scenes images and videos captured at these shows. We share these with developers during design meetings. Gathering a variety of kitchen design ideas together in this way helps kitchen suppliers to understand different design elements and potential layouts that can be applied to the kitchen design for a particular development.
Many of the kitchen design images currently on our outdoor living Pinterest board include storage, dining and cooking kitchen design ideas, to maximise the value of outdoor space. Often this includes a pizza oven or barbecue to create a more authentic al fresco, summer experience. A single bank of units, with a sink for washing fresh produce and crockery, creates a self-contained outdoor kitchen design with plenty of space for social interaction.
How can we make outdoor kitchen design compatible with the UK climate?
One of the key factors that has prevented the UK from enjoying European-style al fresco kitchen/living environments in the past is the unreliable British weather. Even the best kitchen suppliers can’t stop the rain, but contemporary materials and smart approaches to kitchen design can prevent our wet climate from getting in the way of outdoor living.
Part of the solution to overcoming the limitations of the climate lies in property design. Working with kitchen suppliers early in the design process can help developers to maximise the potential for incorporating outdoor kitchen/living concepts in their development. Covered balconies, bi-fold doors opening onto terraces and orientation of external areas to protect against prevailing winds and driving rain can all be fed into kitchen design solutions for utilising outdoor space.
The development of robust, weather-resistant materials has also opened up new possibilities for outdoor kitchen design and specification. By selecting materials and finishes that are compatible with installation outdoors, developers can carry through a kitchen design theme from the indoor accommodation to the outside space. In this way, the outdoor kitchen/living area becomes part of the property for sale, making the usable space much larger and providing a cohesive look and feel with a co-ordinated kitchen design.
Even with no outdoor space, good kitchen design can bring the outdoors in
While outdoor space is a nice-to-have for any new build property, it’s not always viable to include outdoor spaces in contemporary residential developments. Where this is the case, kitchen manufacturers can still help to provide a feeling of connection with the outdoors with biophilic kitchen design touches that help to sell homes.
Biophilic elements can be incorporated into kitchen design in a variety of ways and the best kitchen suppliers will combine a fresh, nature-inspired colour palette with natural materials, light-reflecting finishes and clever lighting. The kitchen design should also consider layouts that maximise natural light and connect the indoor space with the outdoors using vision lines through windows and doors. Plants can also be used to bring living green elements into the kitchen design.
Collaboration with Kitchen Suppliers makes outdoor living a reality for residential developments
Whether a development consists of large houses or compact apartments, a kitchen design strategy that includes elements of outdoor living is a great way to appeal to buyers. As kitchen manufacturers that specialise in creating kitchen design that leverages trends and lifestyles with a ‘bespoke, as standard’ approach, Commodore Design is working with developers to help them make outdoor living a reality for their buyers.