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Exterior
Worlds was contacted by a client that had a very unique
landscaping challenge. There was an unused, pie-shaped space one
wing of their home and their garage that they had never been
able to find a use for. This area was too much too large to
ignore, but at the same time, it was much too small to house a
typical outdoor building. At first this appeared to be a very
perplexing challenge, indeed. Exactly what could with such a
unique and difficult area?
The answer came to us after an in-depth consultation with the
client where we learned something very important about their
lifestyle. This couple loved to cook dinners for family and
friends and host gatherings at their home. We asked them if they
would like us to build them an outdoor kitchen and patio seating
area that would allow them to cook and serve meals in the
comfort of their own back yard. They were excited about such a
prospect, and readily agreed to let our team go to work.
We wanted to make this outdoor kitchen as aesthetically sensible
and fully functional as possible. We studied examples of
interior kitchens designed by custom home builders and came up
with a design that would make the best use of the space we had
available. Since the entire wall of the garage was barren and
provided a sheer vertical surface against which to build, we
decided to install the functional elements of the outdoor
kitchen in the space between the side garage door and the far
corner of the wall. We then built a smaller segment was built at
a right angle to this to help create both sense of enclosure
around the patio area, and to provide an additional surface area
the residents could use as a wet bar and food storage area. We
installed a granite countertop to provide a durable and
ornamental surface, and we installed cabinets and drawers
beneath the entirety of the cabinet area.
Our intention was to make the
outdoor kitchen a completely self-sustaining system that
would never require the owners to go into the house to retrieve
or prepare anything. To this end, we installed a full suite of
high-end appliances standard to custom indoor kitchens. We
installed a freezer and a refrigerator that could be used to
store food for indefinite periods of time, and we also installed
an ice maker for convenient preparation of cool drinks on hot
summer days. A full set of cooking appliances was also
installed. We built our clients a stove that had a special side
burner which they could use to heat up sauces when preparing
spaghetti for chili for their guests. In order to prevent smoke
from travelling into neighboring yards, we also built an
overhead exhaust vent over the stove.
All of these appliances were wired for electrical operation on
dedicated circuits. The only exception to this was a small,
gas-powered grill that we added so our clients could cook hot
dogs, hamburgers, and barbecue without having to use a separate
area for grilling.
We then built a travertine patio to function as the floor of our
outdoor kitchen, and we used the remainder of the space adjacent
to it for a few organic touches. To enliven the appearance of
the wall, we built a custom iron trellis that had suspended
plants growing in the middle. The trellis added a nice contrast
of green and black to the white backdrop of the white brick wall
of the house. Special lights were placed in the plants to
individually light them at night, so that at dusk and nightfall
they seem to rise out from the wall to create a superb
three-dimensional, organic presence.
Near the smaller segment of the countertop, we built a small
planter to house and herb garden, and we framed this planter
with a lemon tree and an orange tree on either side. This garden
not only contributed a more robust aesthetic to the area, but it
also gave our clients a place to grow the herbs they normally
cooked with and pull them straight from the garden while
cooking. To complete our design, we then surrounded the planter
and trees with a special pressure treated pine fence framed by
iron around the edges. This created a feeling of special
privacy, and the entire garden enclosure it created contributed
a sense of life and vitality to our outdoor kitchen that is
exceptional even when compared to indoor cooking and dining
areas.
For more the 20 years
Exterior Worlds has specialized in servicing many of Houston's
fine neighborhoods.
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