We’re all used to an indoor kitchen, and some of us will have encountered the refreshing twist that is an outdoor kitchen, but what if you were to combine the two?

It may sound like a paradox, but an indoor outdoor kitchen is a brilliant design aesthetic that really adds to your house, as well as being extremely practical and useful.

How so? Well, for one thing, it saves you a lot of space. With your kitchen expanded out into your garden, it helps to free up space in your home.

On top of that, it’s great for parties and gatherings, because you can pass food and drink through from one kitchen to another, keeping your garden guests happy. Oh, and did we mention these kitchens just look great?

In our guide below, we’ve got 12 amazing indoor outdoor kitchen designs that are sure to inspire your own. Each one has their own design and features, and you’re sure to find ones that you just love. Read on!

12 Amazing Indoor Outdoor Kitchens To Inspire You

1. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With Sliding Door

We’re starting our list with this fantastic indoor outdoor kitchen that uses a sliding door to connect the two. Of course, the door is entirely see-through, acting as a large window when it’s closed.

Meanwhile, when it’s open, it allows people to carry food and drinks straight from the kitchen to an outdoor shaded dining area. There’s also extra kitchen equipment in the outside area, with an oven, coffee maker, and storage cupboards.

2. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With Folding Windows

This brilliant indoor outdoor kitchen design makes the inside connect to the outside in such an incredibly simple, stylish way. With just a series of folding windows that all fold to the side, it opens up a large window area where things can be passed outside from the indoor kitchen.

Better yet, there are stools outside lined up against the makeshift counter of the window-sill, allowing people to eat there.

When the windows are closed, it looks like a totally normal kitchen window, thanks to the clever design. The best of both worlds!

3. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With Counter And Panelling

Next up is this visually appealing indoor outdoor kitchen that connects the two areas by simple, regular kitchen windows. However, the outdoor kitchen is also kitted out with stoves, cookers, and more, allowing you to cook just as well outside.

Meanwhile, there’s a counter erected underneath the kitchen window (through which food and drink can be passed), allowing people to sit and eat at it on stools.

This design also has a large emphasis on wooden panels, used with the walls, floors, and ceiling. It’s a unified design that really makes this one stand out, giving the whole thing a breezy, almost beach-house feeling.

4. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With Glass Garage Door


This is a really exciting and cool design for an indoor outdoor kitchen, because it uses a glass garage door. If you’ve never come across one, you can imagine exactly what it is. You know how your garage door opens up by lifting and then sitting on the ceiling? This does the same, only the door is mostly transparent, with loads of stylish panes of glass.

This way, whether the door is up or down, it’s going to be filling your indoor kitchen with lots of vibrant light.

As for the outdoor kitchen, it’s pretty simple, with just a BBQ, but you can always kit it out with more. The key thing here is design and simplicity, with an expensive-looking door that allows people to easily move between indoors and outdoors.

5. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With Giant Fold Up Window

With this indoor outdoor kitchen, the indoor kitchen space is opened up to the outside world thanks to an enormous fold up window. With one large piece of glass, which lets plenty of light in anyway, the window lifts up and sits suspended above you when it’s open.

Meanwhile, the window-sill has a counter extension on the outside, with stools lined up beneath it. This allows people to easily sit, eating and drinking, at the open window, where they can be passed things from the kitchen.

6. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With Folding Doors And Windows

So far, we’ve looked at indoor kitchens that either use large doors or windows in order to connect the two spaces. Why not both?

This clever design has folding doors that allow people to easily walk through from the indoor kitchen, as well as folding windows open up onto an outdoor countertop kitchen surface. This then leads all the way around to an outdoor cooker, extending the kitchen.

By using a folding design for both the doors and the windows, it helps to move them completely out of the way when they’re open.

This is extra useful for the window, because it allows more things to be passed through to the outdoor kitchen without risk of them dropping on the floor. We’ve all been there!

7. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With Connected Folding Doors And Windows

This next indoor outdoor kitchen takes the idea of our previous entry, which had folding doors and windows, and connects the two into one extremely smooth, extremely stylish space.

While the folding window extends out across an entire counter, which guests can eat at while sitting on stools, the space then seamlessly transitions into space for a folding door.

It all creates a design that’s extremely sleek, not to mention very useful. It makes the absolute most of space, providing the window area for serving, and the door area for people to come in and out.

8. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With Living Area

Of course, the indoor outdoor trend is so stylish that you’ll be wanting to extend more than just your kitchen – so why not add an outdoor living area into the mix? Other designs on our list have had outdoor stools or dining tables, but this adds some couches and a fireplace too.

This is a genius addition, because it’s extremely practical. After all, if you’re throwing a party where you and your guests are dining outside, the indoor outdoor kitchen connection (here with a folding doors, folding window combo) helps to bring out all the meal stuff to the dining table.

But what happens after dinner? Most people will want to relax after eating, so having an outdoor living area with couches right next to the outdoor dining table is very clever – and very useful.

9. Small Indoor Outdoor Kitchen

A lot of the indoor outdoor kitchen designs we’ve looked at have had quite large, elaborate kitchens on both sides.

However, sometimes you’re not going to have – or need – that much space for your kitchen, and that’s where this design comes in.

Neatness is the name of the game here, with a compact and tidy indoor kitchen that’s connected to the outside with a stylish, simple combination of a folding window and folding door.

There’s nothing too big or fancy with this inspirational design, just clear and useful design.

10. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With Two Fold Up Windows

We looked at an indoor outdoor kitchen design earlier that used one large fold up window, which opened above an outdoor counter and stools. With this one, it uses two smaller fold up windows.

This will all be down to your personal tastes and styles, but using two smaller windows is a refreshing contrast to using one large window that stretches across. On top of that, you’re likely to get a much wider outdoor counter with this, because two windows should be able to cover more length.

This is extra handy if you’ll be having more people eating at the window!

11. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With A Pool

This is a bit of a glamorous one, but it’s an incredibly cool design twist on a classic indoor outdoor kitchen. It starts simple enough, with a large folding door opening up to connect the indoor kitchen to the outside. However, just beyond that is a small square pool.

As long as you’re careful carrying out food and drink (don’t fall in the pool!), this will give guests an exciting experience where they can stand in the pool and enjoy beverages and snacks that have been brought out from a kitchen that’s just ten feet away.

12. Indoor Outdoor Kitchen With Sliding Window

Our final indoor outdoor kitchen design is this twist on the traditional, which has a window that opens out onto an outdoor kitchen counter with stools. However, this uses sliding windows that slide away to each side, leaving an open gap in the middle.

Compared to other designs, this does limit the amount of space you have to serve food and drink through, but the design also looks symmetrical and stylish enough to make it worth it.

Final Thoughts

An indoor outdoor kitchen will make any house cooler, as well as open your space up and make serving food and drink to garden guests a breeze.