Kellie Scott had her vintage home on Linden customized when her family bought it in 2006. The specified work included a 23 by 19-foot kitchen outside, complete with marble countertops, bar, chandelier, grill and a stovetop burner. The party pad even includes a projection screen and putting green to keep visitors entertained.

"I’ve always wanted an outdoor space like this," says Scott, who also owns a furniture consignment shop in Oak Park. "You can have a party without cramming everyone into your kitchen."

Prairie Plus, an Oak Park-based company that does design work for vintage homes here and in River Forest, has been blueprinting outdoor kitchens for over a decade. They got their start when designing a lavish kitchen for famous chef Rick Bayless at his Wicker Park home. From then on, the company hit the Oak Park territory, fashioning backyard kitchen spaces for locals, says Prairie Plus Principal-owner Doug Freerksen, who also co-runs Von Dreele-Freerksen Construction Company.

What defines an outdoor kitchen as more than just a grill is when you add in a refrigerator and countertop. From there, the sky is the limit. Freerksen says adventurous chefs can spend anywhere from a couple thousand bucks for the basics, to starting at $75,000 for the "Rolls Royce" of cookeries.

One top-of-the-line outdoor kitchen sits in the backyard of a historic home on the 500 block of North Euclid in Oak Park. It was originally commissioned by the previous owner, who works in the restaurant industry. But it’s now owned by Oak Parker Nancy Ide and her family.

The kitchen is situated in a massive backyard, behind a 1908 yellow brick home. It incorporates an Italian-made rotisserie, wood burning oven for cooking pizzas and bread, heavy soapstone counters, cedar cabinets, a stainless steel built-in grill and warming drawers for keeping cooked food fresh.

Some of the more unusual features includes a 14-foot high chimney over the rotisserie and the massive cedar pergola overhead where ceiling fans provide some coolness and help keep away the bugs. Built-in sinks are one feature that Freerksen says distinguish some outdoor kitchens from the rest.

"The real thing that separates a toy from the real deal is a kitchen where you can wash things and do preparations outdoors," he said.

Scott, however, chose to skip the sink in her elaborate kitchen on Linden. She had heard "horror stories" in the past about pipes leaking and sometimes bursting in the winter. The Scotts did go all out in other regards, installing a sound system outside and allowing for drapes to be pulled around the entire kitchen to block out any of the elements, if needed.

Scott says her family likes to use the kitchen year-round, braving the elements to cook steaks in the dead of winter. They even cooked a Thanksgiving turkey on their outdoor grill.

Freerksen showed off another high-end outdoor kitchen, located a stone’s throw from the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, on the 400 block of North Kenilworth. Along with most of the aforementioned bells and whistles, this outdoor space includes an outdoor fireplace that reaches nearly 14-feet high and is surrounded on one side by a babbling brook.

"We can spend a lot on a kitchen," Freerksen said, while showing off the Kenilworth kitchen. "There’s nothing second-rate here."

Outdoor kitchens generally serve two purposes according to Freerksen — either they’re a supplement to the indoor kitchen, and are located nearby the house on a deck or a patio, or the outdoor kitchen is set off on its own and is a separate entity.

"The separated kitchens require more features, so the owner doesn’t have to keep going in and out to get stuff out of the fridge or to wash food and dishes," he says.

Remote kitchens are fancier, but the supplemental ones can be handier when you’re frying up a piece of meat in the cold.

"With winter cooking, you really want it as close to the door as possible, because you go outside and grill a couple of steaks, you don’t want them to get frost bite before you walk in the back door," Freerksen says.

CONTACT: mstempniak@wjinc.com