Longtime Park Ridge residents Susan and Jerry Miceli have lived in their midcentury house for more than 40 years. That longevity may offer insight into the couple’s willingness to adapt and invest in their outdoor space rather than find a new home.
“We love to be outside,” Susan Miceli said. “We’ve got a pergola, and we’re out there in all different weather conditions. We put in a couple of heaters. … We’ve been out there in 45-degree weather.”
Their latest backyard project is a built-in pizza oven inspired by a recent trip to the Amalfi Coast in Italy, where the Micelis took a pizza-making class in Sorrento.
As a result, the couple, who have four grandchildren, have turned their backyard from an outdoor social environment into a relaxing, “family-centric” place, Jerry Miceli said.
“My grandchildren help make pizzas,” Susan Miceli said. “It’s really kind of a nice family affair that we have when they come over.”
They’ve even used the outdoor space during winter, cooking pizzas when it snows.
The Micelis’ backyard project reflects a home amenity that has gained momentum.
According to the AIA Home Design Trends Survey, a national survey based on 2025 data, about one-third of respondents listed outdoor kitchens as a popular added feature for homes.
In the 2023 “Remodeling Impact Report: Outdoor Features,” from the National Association of Realtors Research Group, 34% of landscaping professionals noted increased demands for outdoor kitchens.
This trend hasn’t skipped the Chicago area.
Himsben Design Studio, a landscape design-and-build firm in Edgewater, created the Micelis’ outdoor pizza oven. “The main focus of our work is residential design-build work,” said Ben Himschoot, founder and owner.
The firm is no stranger to outdoor kitchens, having designed at least 60 and built more than 20 over the past decade. Because of the cost associated with these projects, not every outdoor kitchen that is designed is actually built. “Sometimes people don’t realize how much they cost until we’ve designed them,” Himschoot said. “Those get sometimes sidelined or simplified down to just a grill cart and a side table.”
John Gault, a broker with Baird and Warner Real Estate Services, focuses on residential real estate, with as much as 25% of his business located in the Chicago suburbs. Gault says outdoor kitchens started to catch on, particularly during the early days of the pandemic, “when people started to reinvest in their homes.”
Despite the growth, Gault hasn’t seen many outdoor kitchens in homes listed below the $700,000 to $800,000 price range.
Although homebuyers don’t necessarily seek out houses with an outdoor kitchen, the real estate broker said it quickly becomes a selling point. “Once they see it,” Gault said, “they appreciate it more … and then they tend to gravitate more toward properties like that overall.”
The scope of outdoor kitchens
There are no consistent components to an outdoor kitchen except that they include something used for cooking and are built permanently into the landscape.
For Himschoot, it’s any cooking structure “beyond a grill on a cart” built into the environment, and can include much more elaborate setups. Gault considers it “anything from a counter with a mini fridge” to ovens, sinks and more.
The “Remodeling Impact Report,” for purposes of its survey on home remodeling projects, defined an outdoor kitchen as having one inset grill, stainless steel drawers, an ice chest, a sink and 60 square feet of concrete countertop made from veneered masonry stone.
The pizza oven
Himschoot loves residential projects like the one for the Micelis: “It’s a really personal, intimate relationship that you build with your clients, trying to understand them, understand how they use their space, their everyday dynamic, or how they want to be using this outdoor space.”
The couple’s decision to build the pizza oven was a natural expansion of how they already used their yard. “We really didn’t even think about it,” Jerry Miceli said. “We just kind of did it, and that’s what it evolved into.”
Given the space limitations of many Chicago backyards, a majority of Himsben Design Studio’s projects reflect homeowners’ desires to create privacy and personal entertainment areas. The driving factor, Himschoot said, is “how much that person values the outdoor space.”
Susan and Jerry Miceli emphasized their commitment to being outdoors, and using the oven in particular. “We made up our mind that this is something we wanted, and we knew we would get use out of,” Susan Miceli said.
Cost and other challenges
The cost can be a serious commitment. According to the “Remodeling Impact Report,” the average cost of an outdoor kitchen nationally is $15,000.
According to Himschoot, a built-in grill with a prep station in Chicago might start at $7,500, while a kitchen with an oven, sink, refrigeration and more might run six figures. Appliances can also drastically impact the budget, with some high-end outdoor ovens running as much as $25,000.
Given the potential expense, Himschoot asks clients whether they consider the house their forever home, “because that can help drive how much folks are willing to value and invest in those spaces.”
In the Chicago area, “Most of the clients we work with invest somewhere usually between about 5% to 10% of their home’s current market value in their exterior spaces,” Himschoot said.
Building codes also pose challenges that can impact sinks and setbacks for fire safety for ovens. Gas and electric work requires a licensed electrician and the proper permits.
“There’s a fair amount that goes into it, but not too dissimilar from an interior kitchen,” Himschoot said.
Gault said his clients are less inclined to add an outdoor kitchen when looking for a home, and prefer buying a property that already has one. “People these days want move-in ready. They want everything finished,” he said. “So having an outdoor space like that already installed is a huge benefit.”
Quality of life
The Micelis of Park Ridge are less worried about the return on their investment. Instead, they enjoy the quality of life it brings. “We’re outside every day it’s not pouring rain,” Susan Miceli said.
The “Remodeling Impact Report” backs that sentiment with a majority of respondents saying a top reason for building an outdoor kitchen is to increase livability.
Although expense is a factor, Himschoot said his Chicago-area clients “value outdoor spaces that much more because it’s fleeting the number of months of the year they can enjoy them.”
Jerry Miceli agrees about the limited outdoor season: “We’ll enjoy it as long as it lasts,” he said.
John W. Bateman is a freelance writer.
