In the spring and summer months and in regions where the year-round climate permits it, homeowners who can't get enough alfresco entertaining consider a permanent outdoor kitchen.

This isn't just about firing up a charcoal grill and wheeling out the ice chest and a few lawn chairs, but a full-fledged fully-equipped outdoor kitchen with a gas-fired oven/barbecue, cooktop burners, refrigerator, sink, cabinetry, a food prep island and maybe even a garbage disposal.

The kitchen is the social center of the home and it's natural to take it outside as a value-added home improvement, but you can't overlook additional maintenance and other concerns unique to this level of outdoor living.

An outdoor kitchen was featured in home builder Pardee's Ultimate Family Home, a 5,300 square foot idea house (in Las Vegas' Nevada Trails community) unveiled earlier this year at the 2004 International Builders Show.

Earlier this year, a National Association of Homebuilders' new-home buyer preference survey revealed both kitchen and outdoor activities ranked high on the survey list.

"If you are in a setting where you have a home in a country club or it backs up on a hole on the golf course or you have a pool or if you have a house with a view of the hillside, it's a neat thing to have," said Jim Heintz, with sales and customer service at his family-owned University Electric Home Appliance Center, in Santa Clara, CA.

"You can keep an eye on the kids. If you have a party, you are not running back and forth inside," he added.

Heintz said a full-fledged outdoor kitchen with all the fixins -- island, counter tops and cabinets, 36-inch wide barbecue, side burners, refrigerator, sink and faucet -- could run $10,000 or more, not including installation costs.

For durability, he and others recommend commercial grade stainless steel cabinetry like those available from Danver, Maple Craft USA and others.

In addition to stainless steel, interior designers Trimble Associates of Ann Arbor, MI also uses Custom Wood Products's Atlantis Cabinetry made of polymers and paintable Dura-Board. Dura-Board is a unique composite material, manufactured with phenolic resins, that provides an alternative to wood in outdoor use, according to Trimble.

"When you are considering outdoor kitchens you are looking at areas down South, in the West and coastal cities (because of hospitable climates), but it can be anywhere someone wants to entertain outside because they have a long outdoor season," said Sara Kellison of Trimble.

Experts say, however, stainless steel and metals are a better choice, because even in hospitable climes, the materials must be able to endure both the ultraviolet rays of the sun and wet weather conditions.

"Any outdoor kitchen using wood is subject to big swings in humidity and you have problems. If that kitchen is not protected totally from wind blown rain and sun, you will see drastic damage, not only by water but also by ultraviolet rays of the sun. If you are going to do that (wood), don't be upset if it starts to fall apart," says Tim Carter, Cincinnati home improvement contractor and publisher of Ask The Builder.

For any material, that could mean the added cost of protective covers and hood exhaust systems for outdoor kitchens built with overhangs.

"If you build it under a covering, say like a gazebo, you do want to do a hood over it and a good hood will probably cost $2,000 dollars. Vinyl covers, that have to be custom made, could cost $400 to $500," said Heintz.

Along with the special maintenance necessary to keep an outdoor kitchen free of moisture and protected from the sun, cleanliness is paramount -- perhaps even more so than in an indoor kitchen.

"If you don't keep them clean, raccoons jump up on the counters and eat what you leave behind and they can have all kinds of bad bacteria. They talk about bears in Yellowstone Park? In Colorado, they will tear into those cabinets and get whatever they want," said Carter.

"Mice, snakes, anything. They just love cabinets like that. You open a door and there's a three-foot long snake. It's what they like, a cool, dark place. Those things have an enormous sense of smell. Don't get me wrong. Outdoor kitchens are nice, but they come with a little baggage, man," said Carter.