With summer just around the corner, now is the perfect time to start planning a luxurious outdoor kitchen. These alfresco cooking stations have become increasingly popular over the last couple of years.

Perfect for entertaining family and friends, it’s the ultimate sociable space for all ages – kids can run around and play outside while you experiment with new flavours and dishes, serving up healthy flame-grilled meals. If budget allows, go all-out with a gas grill, side burners, pizza oven, built-in refrigeration, plenty of storage and a home bar and complete the set-up with comfy seating and some shady spots for those mini heatwaves. Here’s some inspiration to get you started…

Daval kits out a stunning summer house with an outdoor kitchen

This sleek and streamlined outdoor kitchen is part of a stunning garden room project in the grounds of a manor house in West Yorkshire. Designed by Daval Furniture, the kitchen combines Daval’s Mayfair cabinetry in Talpa with a dishwasher, oven, hob and Quooker tap. Oak frame garden room design and build by Paragon Oak. A great example of what can be done if you fully embrace the outdoor cooking and dining concept.

Flammkraft’s premium barbecues and modules are designed for luxury outdoor kitchens

For a high-performing, exquisitely crafted and innovative barbecue grill, Flammkraft combines high-quality materials with smart design.

Made in Germany, the Block D (Gen 5) premium barbecue is made entirely from stainless steel with ceramic infra-red burners that reach precise temperatures of 100˚C to 900˚C.

It comes in seven colours – Deep Umbra, Taupe, Ivory White, Ruby, Light Grey, Pool and Ivory Black – is quick to heat up, has a spill-proof grilling surface and can be freestanding or built-in. It cooks with direct or indirect heat as well as low and slow and comes with a unique OfenDock that has foldable grates and two steel containers to create a second cooking level for baking, marinading and more. There are lots of accessories to add on including rotisserie, teppan-yaki plate, side shelf, wok, pizza and grill stone, smoking board and chopping board, and to complete your outdoor kitchen, there’s also a Block M (Gen 5) module for extra storage and serving space – it also makes a fabulous outdoor bar.

EO takes outdoor kitchens to the next level

Specialising in beautifully designed and meticulously constructed outdoor kitchens, EO’s cooking and entertaining experience is a world away from barbecuing under an umbrella in the rain.

Each stainless steel kitchen is designed to individual requirements, complementing the aesthetic of the outdoor space and garden as well as withstanding the great British climate. Handmade from the finest materials sourced from trusted suppliers and delivered and installed with care, there’s a choice of the premier EO range or the more affordable EO Black.

The EO range is modular, allowing for limitless configurations by bolting the components together, while customers can choose from a variety of door fronts and Dekton worktops. The EO Black range comes in 120cm and 70cm modules to create single, L, U-shape or island layouts with a more limited choice of finishes.

Schiedel’s Hale outdoor fireplace is perfect for chilly evenings

If you’re investing in a luxurious outdoor kitchen, you want to be able to enjoy it even when the sun goes down. The Hale Outdoor Kitchen from Schiedel is the perfect solution. Made from pumuce stone, it combines the Garden Fireplace 500 with wooden cabinet doors, panelling and granite top as well as a base plate for a log store. The chimney stays warm thanks to the natural insulating properties of pumice and any competent DIY-er can install and build themselves.

Paint outdoor walls and furniture with Protek

Create an evocative alfresco dining setting by transforming an outdoor corner and reviving a disused wall in this gorgeous Royal Exterior Protek paint in Verdant green. Add a chunky table and benches and a pizza oven and you’re good to go. You can also upcycle old wooden garden furniture with its specialist woodcare paint.

Table, bench tops and pizza table tops are painted in Protek’s Timber Eco Shield in Weathered Wood and Royal Exterior Taupe.

Cox & Cox has a corner lounge set for every space

As well as the cooking side of things, you also want family and friends to relax in comfortable outdoor seating. A corner set is a sociable all-in-one arrangement that visually creates an outdoor room, perfect for dining, relaxing and catching up with guests. The Antibes Modular Corner Set from Cox & Cox for instance combines two corner modules with a chaise and two sofa modules for a variety of layout options to suit your garden. It also comes with a height-adjustable table.

Sitting Spiritually’s RHS Four Seasons Swing Seat is the perfect finishing touch

The British-made, handcrafted FSC Oak Garden Swing Seat from Sitting Spiritually is a celebration of the UK’s deep-rooted affection for the changing seasons. Choose from Spring Daffodil, Summer Rose, Autumn Oak and Winter Snowdrop designs and use to unwind with a good book, chat with friends or just enjoy the sun on your face while you wait for your barbecue to cook.