Summer Kitchens: Recipes and Reminiscences from Every Corner of Ukraine

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Often, people would disassemble their coal or wood cookstove and move it into the summer kitchen when the weather got hot," says Nancy Carlisle, senior curator at Historic New England and co-author of America’s Kitchens. "It was all an effort to keep the house as cool as possible." The structure: You can convert a garage or build a structure. Choose from a traditional one-story wooden barn-style building, or go for a space that matches the siding and style of your home. The charisma of your summer kitchen lies in its purposeful design that caters to your specific needs and wants. The design needs to be well thought out, giving due diligence to every inch of space available. We're not just constructing some prosaic outdoor kitchen here, we're crafting an ambrosial haven, a locus of reinvigoration and repose. A true summer kitchen transcends the mere act of cooking; it is a sensory symphony that engages all faculties and just like any grand concert, it demands an immaculate score. But let me tell you something about essential outdoor cooking appliances. It's not the polished stainless steel or the irrelevant digital gadgets that count!

In the past, the food was often prepped in the kitchen, but it wasn’t stored there. Herbs would dry in the attic; flour and vegetables were kept in a cool cellar. You would walk all over the house to gather the ingredients for a meal. Refrigeration: A no-brainer to keep your ingredients fresh and drinks icy cold. If you’re short on space, opt for an under-counter model. If space allows and you have a large family, go with a full-sized refrigerator or even a side-by-side fridge-freezer model. Unless the space is well-insulated, you’ll need one suitable for temperature extremes, just like choosing a freezer or refrigerator for the garage. Oven, stove and grill: These are the heart of your summer kitchen. Think about the dishes you’re most likely to cook in the summer months and choose appliances that make preparing these easier.The summer kitchen also helped to keep cooking smells away from the main living areas of the house. But even more than that, the physical separation of a lit stove or hearth from the primarily wooden house meant that summer kitchens also reduced the risk of house fires. Notice how the summer kitchen in the listing photo is stone while the house wood frame—that difference of material is not an accident, and was likely influenced by the threat of fire. When planning any successful layoutfactoring in ample space to keep clutter out of sightis always key to making the space work harder for you. ‘Storage seems to be focusing on the practical rather than clever gizmos,’ says Rod from Kütchehaus. ‘Customers want large easy-access storage, such as pan drawers in islands and big-opening larder units.’ It’s entirely up to you what’s included in your outdoor kitchen but seating is usually a good idea – be it a couple of bar stools for perching at the counter or a full dining table. And it makes sense! Before the widespread adoption of air conditioning and electric or gas-fired cooking, you’d do the majority of your cooking and baking in wood-fired ovens or on cast iron stoves. In summer, that would heat the whole house and make living conditions unbearable. And you’re not on your own. Slaving over a hot stove in a stuffy kitchen is no one’s idea of fun, but the good news is – it doesn’t have to be! How about building a summer kitchen instead?

Think of an outdoor kitchen as a feature of your garden,’ adds Rebecca from Grillo. ‘Place it wherever you would like to create that wow.’And let me tell you this - ignoring or underestimating the need for proper ventilation is nothing short of an affront to culinary arts and basic human decency. I'd even rate such actions as gastronomical blasphemy! Exotic, earthy dishes, vibrant colours, big flavours. This is real cooking, written about with so much love’ Diana Henry