Krista Schinagl, Post-Gazette At the Kelly home in Upper St. Clair, a Fire Magic Monarch grill sits in the middle of a brick island, where Mariah, 7, and Christian, 8, get ready to eat the lunch. Click photo for larger image.

Though they were building a house with 6,000 square feet of interior space, Bob and Nancy Kelly planned to spend much of their time outdoors.

Bob, a first vice president in Merrill Lynch's Upper St. Clair office, entertains frequently, and the house's oversized back yard -- with a water lily-filled pond fed by a cascading waterfall -- provided a spectacular backdrop for all kinds of get-togethers.

But Nancy didn't relish the thought of rushing in and out of doors with drinks and food during parties and informal family meals. So the couple decided to add an element to their Upper St. Clair home they had noticed on their frequent trips to Florida: an outdoor kitchen.

They're hardly renegades. With more people spending time, and money, at home, cooking outdoors is a growing trend in the United States. According to the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, 91 percent of families with four or more people own at least one grill. And what better way to make good use of it than in a fully equipped kitchen?

The focal point of the Kellys' showpiece kitchen, which was finished last month, is a massive brick island with a built-in stainless-steel Fire Magic Monarch grill with 792 square inches of cooking surface. With six main burners, two side burners for boiling corn and warming sauces, and an infrared back burner with a rotisserie, this is one serious grill. There's also a sink, several storage areas and a covered eating area to the left of the exposed-aggregate concrete patio.

It took Paul Kubis of Concrete Artistry by Kubis several weeks to craft the 80-square-foot concrete countertop, which features a black acid-etched stain on top and more than 2,000 colored glass mosaic tiles around the perimeter.

Krista Schinagl, Post-Gazette The Kelly family, from left, Mariah, Christian, Nancy and Bob, eat lunch on the concrete countertop of their outdoor kitchen in Upper St. Clair. Click photo for larger image. KITCHEN SOURCES: Concrete Artistry by Kubis: www.concreteartistrybykubis.com; 412-835-2953 Dacor: www.dacor.com; 1-800-793-0093 DCS: www.dcsappliances.com; 1-800-433-8466 Fire Magic: www. firemagicgasgrills.com; 1-800-332-3973 Home Depot: www. homedepot.com/backyard; 1-800-430-3376 Lynx: www.lynxgrills.com; 1-323-838-1770 Jenn-Air: www.jenn-air.com; 1-800-688-1100 Marvel: www. marvelindustries.com; 1-800-428-6644 Sears: www.sears.com; 1-800-349-4358 U-Line: www.u-line.com; 1-414-354-0300 Viking: www.viking-range.com; 1-888-845-4641 Weber: www.weber.com/bbq; 1-800-446-1071

"We went big with the counter space because you can never have enough," Bob explains.

Equipped with an outdoor sound system, the kitchen is quite the hot spot.

"It's become our outdoor living space," says Bob.

The only problem -- if you can even call it a problem -- is that the spices sometimes blow away when there's a nice breeze, Nancy says with a laugh.

As you might expect, it was not an inexpensive project. While the couple declined to say how much they spent, they liken the experience to adding a room to your house, only without heat. The countertop alone cost close to $90 per square foot, and the project required a bricklayer, a plumber and an electrician.

Like swimming pools and spas, an outdoor kitchen is a familiar sight out West and down South, where constant sunshine and a lack of rain allow almost year-round use. The market is just starting to heat up in Western Pennsylvania, where some kitchens are protected from bad weather by sliding doors, awnings and arbors.

Walt Sedlock, owner of House to Home in Monroeville, first started installing outdoor kitchens about three years ago. Many are grilling islands framed into a stucco or manufactured stone base, and they often include side burners, storage drawers and under-the-counter fridges.

The main ingredient is a high-end, high-performance gas grill from one of the big boys -- DCS, Viking, Ducane, Fire Magic or Jenn-Air. Made from stainless steel so they'll hold up outdoors, these monster units not only allow you to cook like a professional but are beautiful to look at. Even Weber -- best known for its charcoal grills -- offers several heavy-duty built-in stainless grills: the Summit Silver D and Gold D series.

Be prepared to pay for quality. While it's possible to get a commercial-grade stainless built-in without a rotisserie or side burners for as little as $1,500, says Sedlock, the cost can double or even triple when you factor in accessories and building an island around it.

Many top-end units also include lighting inside the grill so you can cook under the stars, says Dave Malanchak, a sales rep at Hillman Appliance Distributors in Cranberry. Homeowners sometimes add warming ovens, smoker trays, rotisseries and back-burners with infrared heat, along with chicken and turkey holders.

"This is definitely more than a hibachi," he says.

And the grill is just the beginning. Along with concrete or granite countertops, built-in refrigerators for drinks and condiments are standard in the well-equipped outdoor kitchen, along with ice machines, wine coolers and beer dispensers from companies like Marvel and U-Line. Cost: anywhere from $900 to $1,400.

Since outdoor kitchens lend themselves to cooking during all but the coldest and snowiest months, commercial-style portable heaters are also growing in popularity, says Malanchak. A free-standing stainless patio heater from DCS, about $800 at Hillman Appliance, emits 40,000 Btus of heat, keeping friends within a 20-foot circle warm and toasty.

In all, you can expect to pay anywhere from about $8,000 to $10,000 to sky's the limit for a nicely appointed outdoor kitchen. And that doesn't include the cost of the patio or whatever else you build it on.

	Krista Schinagl, Post-Gazette Nancy Kelly prepares lunch on her new grill which has 792 square inches of cooking surface. Click photo for larger image.

Ray Saber, owner of Blue Fox Landscape Design Inc. in Richland, designed and installed an outdoor kitchen for Debbi and Jim Diggs of Fox Chapel. One custom-brick island holds a 36-inch DCS grill with two 25,000-Btu side burners, a warming tray and utility drawers while a second contains a sink and built-in DCS refrigerator. Both have marbled-brown granite countertops. Total cost: around $10,000.

The couple, who completed the entertainment area with a pool and gas fire pit last year, could have spent the money upgrading their 15-year-old regular kitchen. But they decided an outdoor kitchen better fit their lifestyle.

"Grilling makes cooking fun," says Debbi, who's been barbecuing since age 16 and cooks on the grill year-round.

The family even uses it to roast marshmallows and cook Mongolian steamed dumplings on a wok.

"We're out here constantly," says Debbi. "I'll even go out there with an umbrella."

"It's costly to do them right," says Saber, who also designs more modest outdoor entertainment areas in the $5,000 range.

OK, high end and high cost are fine for some folks. But what if you would rather not dip so deeply into your pocket? Sears' freestanding, cabinet-style Kenmore Elite Grill provides 900 square inches of 66,000 Btu-fired cooking space atop six cast-iron burners, along with a 12,000-Btu side burner and 13,000-Btu infrared back burner, for $1,500. Pair it with the optional island kit ($1,200), which adds 36 inches of Panama gray or tan granite countertop and stainless cabinets on either side of the grill, and you've got the look and functionality of a custom, built-in grilling station.

Home Depot, meanwhile, offers the mobile Image Multi-Media Outdoor Bar ($3,999, available by Internet only). It's made of weather-resistant cedar and features a 4.3-cubic-foot built-in refrigerator, an audio/video system with two speakers and a 100-inch-long ceramic-tiled countertop with seating for eight people; slatted overhead storage racks hold wine glasses and a low-voltage lighting system. The companion Image Grill Station ($2,799) accommodates grills up to 47 1/2 inches wide and has storage cabinets for barbecue tools, a 1.7-cubic-foot built-in refrigerator and seating for four. Swinging doors keep the propane tank from view.

As for those who'd rather build their backyard bistro themselves? At 7 p.m. Monday, the DIY cable TV network (www.diynet.com) will premiere a weeklong series that shows viewers how to transform a bare patio into a space with all the conveniences of an indoor kitchen. The finished product, which will be framed with an arbor, will include a built-in grill, stainless-steel countertops, weatherproof sink and refrigerator and flagstone-and-brick fire pit. The five-part show will air each evening through Friday.