Summer Kitchen

 

We had a pool built in our backyard in 2018.  With the deck and screened enclosure and the koi pond we eliminated all the backyard grass.  Bonus!  The enclosure is 60' x 35' and we put "no-see'um" screen in the overhead portion to block some of that Florida sun.  The sides are regular screen to allow better air-flow.  The koi pond is in the back left corner and a planting bed with a Robellini Palm is in the back right corner.  There's a small herb garden at the front left and I saved a good portion on the front right for my summer kitchen.

When we had the pool built I knew I wanted to build a summer kitchen in that corner so I ran power and water to that location.  Most of my projects stall because I like to have everything planned out ahead.  I wanted a covering for the kitchen and thought long and hard about that.  Then one day my wife texted me from Costco a picture of this 12' x 14' gazebo that was priced at $1600.  After checking it out on-line I decided I couldn't build one myself for much less than that so we went ahead and ordered one.  The company that makes these kits is located in Canada (Yardistry) and to have it delivered to our door cost an extra $400.  Still not a bad deal and the quality of construction is phenomenal.  The kit is assembled in sections and I did this in my garage knowing that we had family coming to stay for a while the following week and I would have plenty of cheap labor for the final assembly.  While waiting for the cheap labor I installed footings for the 4 posts using 16"wide x 12"deep Sono tube and about 16 bags of cement.  After the family arrived we carried the sub-sections through the house and laid them out on the deck.  My grandson Jack and I put the posts and main beams up in about two hours.  The next day we had a larger pool of help and assembled the four roof sections to finish it off.  Getting everything lined up with three people holding the roof up and the fourth going around measuring and bolting went pretty quickly.

The next part, designing the kitchen, took a while.  With the posts up I had a definite area to work with.  I placed the gazebo so there would be enough room on the north side to get a ladder in between the screen wall and the gazebo roof overhang.  On the east side I placed the posts far enough from the house that the gazebo roof overhang tucked in under the roof overhang of the house.  Standing out there during the first downpour I realized the roof on the east side would pour water onto the cabinet below.  At this point I decided I needed a 6" gutter around the perimeter of the roof.  I also added downspouts at the two posts next to the house so the water would run off into the pool's deck drain which runs across the back of the house.  We used a rain chain in place of a downspout on the SE corner facing the open deck.  With the wide gutter the gazebo kinda takes on an Oriental look with the roof corners hooking upwards.  At least to my eye it does.

The first mod I did was to add string lights around the bottom of the main beams.  After that I ran power to all the places I thought it would be needed.  I put multiple outlets on three of the posts and ran the wire through brown painted conduit.  The brown conduit doesn't disappear against the brown stained wood but it does look less industrial.  I put the string lights on a remote controlled switch (Lutron Caseta) so we could operate them from the house.  I also added four hanging lamps paired in two's for the gas and charcoal grills I planned to use.  Overhead I added an outdoor ceiling fan.  With the power complete I then added stereo speakers above the north side beam and ran the wire down to a blue tooth amp located in the cabinetry.

I designed the cabinetry on 11' x 17" paper using a scale of 3/4" = 1'.  This was large enough to draw out detail and give me a better idea of how to build it and what it would look like when it was done.  I was also able to fairly accurately place components like drawers, cabinet doors and the grills to avoid spacing problems later on.  The cabinets are made of construction grade 2" x 4" and 2" x 6" lumber with PVC decking planks laid out on the paver deck as a waterproof base.  The framing is clad with cement board with 1/2" plywood to support the granite counter top.  The cement board was sealed with RedGard before applying the 6" tiles.  The tiles were chosen to match the pool with tans for the cabinet faces and blue for the backsplash.  The backsplash is capped with the same coping tile used on the pool to kinda tie everything together.

Since I had zero experience with this kind of work I used my drawings to figure out the construction of the cabinets and to help make an educated guess about a materials list.  There are a number of frame sections between the face and back of the cabinets and I was able to make most of these identical to help make construction a little easier.  The cabinets were framed up in the garage and carried to the back in sections.

The cabinet on the East side is attached to the house and has three different levels of countertop.  On the left is the common height for the rest of the cabinets (37").  In the center it's about 6" lower (31") to accommodate the window.  The right side is higher to be at bar height (43").  I got lucky on the countertops and got them on clearance for about half price.

Since we have seating for six at the bar, three on each side, the original design was wider to make room for place settings but I narrowed it to 26" so the stools on the outside were just inside the drip line of the gutter.  The stools are four legged with no arms or backs and the swivel seat level is 31.75", just right for the bar.  I added a wooden closet clothes rod for a foot rest that goes through all four 4" x 6" supports at a level that's comfortable for standing or sitting.

The 2" x 10" construction grade frame running down the center of the bar started out as a plain piece of lumber and evolved as the project moved on.  The serpent design came from an Aztec necklace that I had seen in a book.  I modified the design to look beefier and to fit evenly between the supports and the snake head is my own design.  Eventually I decided to use a wood-burning technique to add scales which was another learning experience.  I spent way too much time working on this one part but in the end it makes our kitchen unique and ties in with the wildlife around our home.

This whole project began with the purchase of the Kitchenaid gas grill that was bought for half price when Sears closed their doors in Jacksonville.  This was supposed to be the main focus of the kitchen since I had only done gas grilling before.  The cabinet it sits in is designed around a drawing of their suggestions that allows good airflow around the grill to dissipate heat and clear any leaking propane.  After I started building the cabinets my wife suggested that it would be nice to have a Big Green Egg charcoal grill.  She didn't have to suggest this twice.  I got a "large" model locally that had been used as a demo at a grilling exposition so the price was reduced.  You may have noticed that this is kind of a theme here.  I like quality but usually can't afford it so I keep my eyes open for deals.  My gas grill sat in the garage for 18 months before the summer kitchen was even started.

The BGE (Big Green Egg) is on a roll-around table so I can wheel it out from under the cover of the gazebo when we cook and especially when we smoke.  I learned this was the thing to do pretty quickly.  It also didn't take me too long to find that grilling with charcoal is sooooooo much better than gas.  I do use both but the meat goes on the BGE and veggies get cooked with gas.  The gas grill does have a searing grid which is nice for sealing in the juices on a nice thick steak.  It then gets transferred to the Egg until it gets up to temperature internally. 

All the drawer and cabinet door units are made by Kitchenaid and are available through Home Depot.  The counter top icebox is an industrial unit made for food carts.  The under-counter refrigerator is made by Summit and is available through Home Depot (Fridge).  The under mount sink and the faucet are both made by Kraus and are also available through Home Depot (Sink), (Faucet).  I ran the drains for the sink and the icebox into the pool's deck drain.  I'm pretty sure all the lighting and the outdoor ceiling fan also came from Home Depot.  Oh yeah, all the electrical stuff (outlets, switches, wire, conduit) too.  I should own stock in that place.  The Bluetooth stereo amp and outdoor speakers were a gift but I think they came from Crutchfield.  The speakers are placed up under the roof and have great sound.

Infrastructure

 

Original construction of the house placed a water spigot in the back yard centered on the rear wall.  I tied into this, added a shut-off valve, and extended lines out to four areas of the back yard within the screened enclosure.  When the plumbing was run for the pool I ran conduit for power to three additional areas out back and tied it into a dedicated 15 amp breaker in the pool's sub-panel at the side of the house.

The water and power were stubbed up on 4" x 4" posts set 2' into the ground.  One is set in a garden area below the bedroom windows on the south side of the house.  This space was set aside for an herb garden and the water supplies a drip system for that as well as a hose spigot.  The power here runs up into the overhead frame to spotlights for the koi pond and the Robellini Palm.  Controls for these lights are two Lutron Cassini remote control switches.

Another set of electrical outlets is stubbed up beside the koi pond and provides power for the pond equipment.  Water is run up to a spigot in the garden area in front of the pond.

One more hose spigot was run to the garden area around the Robellini Palm.

A final location for both power and water was at the north rear corner of the house where we would eventually add a summer kitchen/bar.

The pool has an in-ground spa that runs with propane for heat.  We had a propane tank buried just outside the enclosure on the north side.  When the tank was installed we had them plumb a gas line through the attic into the kitchen where we replaced the electric stove with a gas one.  We also stubbed into this line to provide gas for a propane grill in our future summer kitchen.

This has worked out pretty well for most of our needs.  Looking back, the only thing I wish I had done different would have been to add water spigots and power outlets just outside the perimeter wall for the screened enclosure on both sides and the back.  This can still be done but it'd be a lot of labor intensive work.  At this point all I wanna do is play.

Koi Pond

 

We decided to build a Koi pond and planned on doing the construction ourselves.  The original idea was to use one or two plastic basins or maybe a liner.  When we searched around for a source of supplies we found a place called Earthworks in Jacksonville, Fl.  That’s about a half hour drive from where we live so we jumped in the car and went to check it out.  When we got there we found four or five of the most beautiful Koi ponds we’d ever seen.  Their use of large rocks and natural appearing design were just what I had pictured.  I instantly decided we were going to hire these guys to build our pond.  We met with Jason, the Earthworks designer and talked about what we had in mind.  I’m a Japanese garden enthusiast and wanted a natural look.  I collected some photos from the web to help describe what I had in mind and Jason came up with a beautiful design.  It uses larges boulders in a low three tier waterfall that splits off in two directions where it enters the pond.  This provides an exciting visual statement but also establishes good water circulation throughout the pond.  The waterfall drop is probably only 3’ but looks much larger. The pond itself is about 10’ x 5’ x 2.5’ deep.  It meets the shallow end of our pool with a narrow divider of garden area.  The right side of the pond has three large flat stepping stones that provide access to the backside of the pool and also give a nice spot for feeding the Koi.  The pond itself is shelved with two layers and covered with medium sized river rock that matches the color of the Tennessee moss rock used in the waterfall.

We hand picked a nice little Japanese Maple that sits at the highest point and overhangs the hidden source of the waterfall.  We added azaleas and some ferns from the woods behind our home.  Across the front of the pond are some low level plantings and a bed of Mondo Grass.  There are several types of water plants in the pond as well as two nice Water Lillies.

The pond uses a variable speed pump which was nice at first because we could change the flow and sound of the waterfall using a hand held remote.  Over the last two years though we’ve found a speed that satisfies us best so if we ever need to replace the pump we’ll just choose a single speed one rated at that flow to save the extra expense.  At the far right side of the pond is a skimmer hidden under a large flat plastic rock.  Lifting the “rock” exposes a mesh basket filter and the pump.  The water is piped up to a biological filter at the top of the waterfall.  When the pond was first filled up we added about five Koi to help start the natural chemical process that maintains a healthy pond.  Algae forms on the rocks in the water, the fish eat the algae and release waste in the form of ammonia through their gills into the water.  The ammonia breaks down into nitrites and these are converted to nitrates by the bio filter.  Nitrates are a source of food for algae so the cycle continues.  

The Japanese Maple really adds some pizzazz with its Fall color.  The ferns are very happy in this location and give a nice variety of texture.  When we built the pond and pool we knew we were going to have plants that were sensitive to heat and sunlight so we used “no see-um” screen on the top of the screened enclosure to provide a diffused sunlight.  The sides are covered with regular screen to allow for better airflow.  The screened enclosure allows us to use the whole back yard 24/7 year round.  Without it the Florida sun would  fry us during the day and the mosquitoes would eat us at night.  Our home backs up on a preserve that has a swamp in the middle and the bugs can be a real problem.  This area has other critters too including about 7 different kinds of snakes, armadillos,  raccoons, bobcats, black bear and alligators.  The screened enclosure and it's low 2' perimeter wall help to keep them all on the outside where they belong.  The Koi are protected from flying predators too.  The enclosure was definitely a good investment.