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Project Discussions:  July Learning Together: The Outdoor Kitchen  |
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Red Tractor Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
3455 Posts
Winnie
Gainesville
Fl
USA
3455 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 02 2020 : 12:04:47 PM
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The concept of an outdoor kitchen to me meant something I have seen in magazines where people used a covered shelter area to have a large grill, a sink, small refrigerator, and a prep space in their backyard. Usually it accompanied a porch area and was used for large gatherings where most foods were grilled. Sometimes the grill included an space to fry a Thanksgiving turkey or boil large batches of corn on the cob. The appliances in these magazines were always modern and new too. While the idea of an outdoor kitchen sounds like fun, it would be a huge expense to actually create a functional kitchen that needed to weather being out in the elements year round. I am guessing this is all a bit expensive in addition to having a beautiful kitchen indoors.
Early kitchens were large hearth fireplaces where food was prepared and the heat was the source for the entire house. It wasn't until the late 1800s that cook stoves were made and became affordable. This was a huge change for kitchens and the stove served as both a cooking device as well as a room heater. The stoves were mostly fueled from wood and later on the smaller ones could use coal. However, they were quite heavy, difficult to regulate the temperature, and put out a lot of black smut on walls. However, women learned how to work with them and they became more efficient and helpful for busy family needs. With a stove, it was possible to create a more updated kitchen area that could be separate from the living spaces and still remain inside the main house frame.
Over the decades, women have gotten very creative about the kitchen and made the spaces meet their needs and wishes. Living spaces have become more flexible and creative as homes were built.
And then, I read MaryJane's Outpost book and saw her outdoor summer kitchen on the front porch of her BunkHouse( see pages18-21). MaryJane tells the story that when a fire burned down her little farmhouse, the only building available was an old shed that was in need of total repair. Repair she did, and named it her Bunkhouse Kitchen. There is a top floor for sleeping and living, and the bottom half of the space included the rest of the necessities for herself and two little children. Later, she says she created a summer outdoor kitchen that is totally complete with stove, table, refrigerator, and sink. We have seen photos of it many times over the years in her magazines and I can say it is magical! It is all done in red and white circa 1940s-50s vintage finds. When I first saw this, it was love at first sight for me!
I have thought for years about how to do the same thing, but we don't have a big covered porch and I am not sure how well any sort of kitchen equipment would fare being out in the many months of heat, humidity and rain here in Florida. Every grill that we have had has developed rust after about 1 year.
Outdoor kitchens were, however, a very common occurrence from early on. I have seen old windmills in the Netherlands, from the 1500s that housed the mill engineer and family inside. Often, there was a small cookhouse kitchen in a separate building for space and fire safety reasons. With early American pioneers, the first homes were often dirt huts built into hillsides with a fire hearth inside. But these were smoky and also dangerous since the spaces were small and floors were often covered in straw during cold wet months. It was common to build a separate building, before a big house, in order to put a kitchen inside to help with summer canning and fire safety while the family house was under construction. Women apparently liked having a separate kitchen house because it could be a larger space devoted to important cooking and preserving all the food. I can completely understand too.
At a local state park just outside Gainesville, The Dudley Farm is a full operational farm museum from the late 1800s. When the main house was built, Fannie Dudley, had the family kitchen built right outside the main home and was simply called the cookhouse. It included two rooms; one held the large wood cookstove, kitchen safe for pots, pans, & groceries, a food and baking work shelf, a small ice box, large flour barrel, and a large shelf where wood was stored underneath . The other room had a large simple dining table with two benches that were movable, and mother and father chairs at either end of the table. In addition, there was a high chair, large pie safe, shelves for dishes and a cozy fireplace when needed for extra heat. Fannie and her daughters did all of the cooking every day. It is a rather small building considering the large family, but everything was carefully planned so that no space was wasted and all of the necessary items for a working kitchen were in place. I bet Fannie had a lot to do with the planning of what was needed and exactly where they were needed to make the entire kitchen optimally operational.
Kitchens and their history are a topic I never tire of reading about because they have long been the heart of the home, regardless of where they were located. But, I think the idea of an outdoor kitchen is a reasonable option and perhaps even desirable. It would be quite useful for lots of summer harvest canning too. Especially before AC was available!!
Today, I wonder how many women are interested in creating an outdoor kitchen? If you go to the Sisterhood page at MJF, contributor, Dori Troutman, "Ranch Girl" posted a June 2 post on her blog there about her new outdoor kitchen at their farmhouse. It is awesome and oh my what a view!! In 2020, however, we have seen the outdoor or summer kitchen fade out of view. Most people would find no need for an extra kitchen and it would be inconvenient outside of the main house. Our kitchens today are high tech, functional, and decorative. We also have access to fully stocked grocery stores, farmers markets, and hundreds of restaurants and take out food sources. As a result, people don't have to make everything from scratch, and there are places where eating out is quite affordable.
Where are you today on this topic? Do you have an outdoor kitchen? How do you use it? Would you enjoy it if you could have one? For me, it still remains just a fantasy, but then when I look at MaryJane's outdoor kitchen, I think it would be so much fun. Please share any stories you have about this topic and if you have ever contemplated creating one.
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Winnie Nielsen #3109
Red Tractor Girl
Farm Girl of the Year 2014-2015 |
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levisgrammy
Scattered Prairie Hen Honcho
9205 Posts
Denise
Ohio
USA
9205 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2020 : 1:20:58 PM
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| Winnie, We always talked about an outdoor kitchen to use for canning as it makes the house so hot.It hasn't happened here though. I have seen many movies that were set in past eras that showed an outdoor kitchen being used for summer gatherings. That is about the extent of my knowledge on them. |
Denise~~
Sister #43
"I am a bookaholic with no desire to be cured."
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"
Psalm 119:105
www.ladybugsandlilacs.blogspot.com
www.torisgram.etsy.com |
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StitchinWitch
True Blue Farmgirl
1171 Posts
Judith
Galt
CA
USA
1171 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2020 : 3:17:54 PM
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| When I was a newlywed we lived in a trailer with no a/c in the Santa Cruz Mountains. A trailer in the sun is like an oven. In the summer I had a kerosene stove set up outside to cook on. In 1965 with two babies under two I cooked out of an ice chest, hotplate, and electric frypan for 10 months. When we remodeled our current kitchen about 20 years ago we cooked on a coleman stove, Weber bbq, and dutch oven on the patio for a couple of months. A lifetime of camping gave me the experience to take it all in stride, but a sink with hot water would have been nice. |
Judith
7932
Happiness is Homemade |
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Red Tractor Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
3455 Posts
Winnie
Gainesville
Fl
USA
3455 Posts |
Posted - Jul 03 2020 : 10:29:45 AM
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| Judith, that is a great story about your outdoor kitchen set up! How creative you were to figure out a simple plan with two babies in tow! I grew up in Girl Scouts but all of our cooking was done over an open fire when we actually camped overnight. While that was fun and challenging, I would love a outdoor kitchen like MaryJane created because it would have all the things you need but still be outside to enjoy the warmer weather. That being said, the truth is that most of Florida Summer it totally miserable outside because of the heat, humidity and relentless mosquitoes! I am such a dreamer when the reality is so not connected to my dream!! LOL!!! |
Winnie Nielsen #3109
Red Tractor Girl
Farm Girl of the Year 2014-2015 |
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quiltee
True Blue Farmgirl
4642 Posts
Linda
Terrell
TX
USA
4642 Posts |
Posted - Jul 03 2020 : 10:42:59 AM
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We have a pellet grill that is our outdoor oven whenever we can use it. At the new house it is under a shelter, so Ed can even grill steaks in the rain. LOL! Notice I said Ed can grill. He has had the pellet grill for a long time and we have even baked cookies, pizza, and brownies in it. We have a portable pellet grill we take in the motorhome and use it on a picnic table at campgrounds. It does need to be plugged into electricity, but tne motorhome has that, so it works well.
When I was in Thailand for my exchange student's wedding in January 2000, many of the houses there have a complete outdoor kitchen and it is used most of the year. The climate is hot much of the time, so it helps keep their homes cooler. |
Linda B
quiltee
Farmgirl #1919
FGOTM for August, 2015 and April, 2017
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StitchinWitch
True Blue Farmgirl
1171 Posts
Judith
Galt
CA
USA
1171 Posts |
Posted - Jul 03 2020 : 1:07:03 PM
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| Winnie -- you are right; where you and I live a summer kitchen is a dream. Our summers are too miserable to be cooking outside for fun. |
Judith
7932
Happiness is Homemade |
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Red Tractor Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
3455 Posts
Winnie
Gainesville
Fl
USA
3455 Posts |
Posted - Jul 03 2020 : 4:04:08 PM
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| Linda, I have never seen a pellet grill. Can you post a photo? |
Winnie Nielsen #3109
Red Tractor Girl
Farm Girl of the Year 2014-2015 |
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TexasGran
True Blue Farmgirl
5777 Posts
Marilyn
Stephenville
Texas
USA
5777 Posts |
Posted - Jul 03 2020 : 5:16:34 PM
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| Do ya'll remember "summer kitchens" in most of the early southern homes. They were usually separated from the house by a breezeway or a porch of sorts. |
Texasgran |
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quiltee
True Blue Farmgirl
4642 Posts
Linda
Terrell
TX
USA
4642 Posts |
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levisgrammy
Scattered Prairie Hen Honcho
9205 Posts
Denise
Ohio
USA
9205 Posts |
Posted - Jul 07 2020 : 06:52:51 AM
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I love to cook outside whether it be grilling or cooking on a propane stove.
Do you think the outdoor kitchens were the segway for grilling? |
Denise~~
Sister #43
"I am a bookaholic with no desire to be cured."
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"
Psalm 119:105
www.ladybugsandlilacs.blogspot.com
www.torisgram.etsy.com |
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Red Tractor Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
3455 Posts
Winnie
Gainesville
Fl
USA
3455 Posts |
Posted - Jul 07 2020 : 11:46:31 AM
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Linda, the pellet grill is really interesting and great that you can get pellets that are seasoned with flavors just like wood chips!
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Winnie Nielsen #3109
Red Tractor Girl
Farm Girl of the Year 2014-2015 |
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levisgrammy
Scattered Prairie Hen Honcho
9205 Posts
Denise
Ohio
USA
9205 Posts |
Posted - Jul 10 2020 : 04:51:24 AM
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| Has anyone ever done their canning outside? We used to have this small kerosene stove for camping and I often though about seeing if I could use it for canning but never did try it. |
Denise~~
Sister #43
"I am a bookaholic with no desire to be cured."
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"
Psalm 119:105
www.ladybugsandlilacs.blogspot.com
www.torisgram.etsy.com |
Edited by - levisgrammy on Jul 10 2020 04:52:51 AM |
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Project Discussions: July Learning Together: The Outdoor Kitchen |
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July Learning Together: The Outdoor Kitchen
