Outdoor kitchens inspired by the grandeur of nature
Katrina Burroughs on the latest al fresco cooking spaces — double wine fridge optional
Once an “outdoor kitchen” was basically a campfire, a place to sizzle a steak or fry a freshly caught fish. Today, the latest plein-air creations are what the architect Jeffrey Beers calls “a place where hospitality meets theatre, where there’s some sort of performance sensibility”.
We’re not talking outdoor huts. Beers, based in New York, says his clients want spaces that take their aesthetic cues from lakeside or mountaintop locations or inspiration from interstellar craft. Others envisage areas customised for their precise predilections — whether they are big-game fishermen, Argentine asado devotees, kitchen gardeners or pizza fans.
At his Hamptons home Beers, who describes himself as “a big outdoorsman”, fitted a handsome teak deck and slate counters to tailor the space to his and his sons’ love of catching and eating fresh fish. After a day of reeling in yellowfin tuna and striped bass at Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and Cape Cod, he wanted a space “where I could prep and grill the fish properly, then cook for friends and family”. Thanks to his experience working on restaurants and resorts for more than 30 years, he was able to call on some of the biggest names in the industry for advice on his design. “[The restaurateurs] Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Bobby Flay all gave me tips and tricks in terms of layout,” he says. Although the grill “will always be the star of the kitchen”, his supporting cast includes a pizza oven, a rotisserie and a teppanyaki grill — a flat, metal hotplate positioned centre-stage, around which guests are seated to watch the cook at work.
Back in the UK, this was the centrepiece of an outdoor kitchen created by the garden furniture specialists Gaze Burvill for a tech mogul’s country house, although the grill’s size did, at first, cause consternation — the owner apparently underestimated “the popularity of cooking burgers and fish at the same time”. This space has become the family hub for the couple and their children. But if you want to create an outdoor cooking area, to whom should you turn? Those who want their existing kitchen transplanted poolside could ask if their original designer can help. The kitchen maker Humphrey Munson, for instance, uses the same traditional joinery techniques indoors and out and can tailor outdoor rooms to match the garden (from £25,000).
People looking for something high-performance might turn to Officine Gullo, a Florentine family firm that last year opened a flagship store in London. One of its most opulent recent commissions was for a Californian couple who wanted to recreate the kitchen of their Miami house in their holiday home in Colorado. Positioned overlooking the lake, their second kitchen is the first thing visitors see when they arrive by boat. Its weatherproof stainless steel units are coloured in a green-blue that harmonises with the water and they are fitted with 15 cooking tools as well as a double wine fridge and an ice chest.
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Anyone who wants serious wow factor, however, should turn to Splinterworks. The British studio, based in Bath, was set up by Miles Hartwell and Matt Withington to “elevate the experience of everyday life”. Its Tipping Point kitchen can be found in the Beverly Hills home of a Californian entrepreneur and features two curved, marble-topped cooking stages clad in stainless steel (about £185,000). Set among olive trees, herbs and agaves, its mirror-finish sides reflect views of misty peaks and greenery — it looks a little like a flying saucer, only with a black glass induction hob and reclaimed teak drawers.
Along similar lines, Modulnova’s monolithic outdoor kitchen, by Carlo Presotto and Andrea Bassanello, is built from solid Pietra Piasentina stone and incorporates a wood-fired oven, stainless steel grill and removable “embers box” (from £25,000).
The hottest piece of kit right now, however, takes grilling back to its elemental basics. Asado is an Argentine technique of open-fire barbecuing on a grill such as the Pórtico, by Tom Bray of Country Fire Kitchen (£1,674, countryfirekitchen.com). Bray fell in love with asados while living in South America and he builds bespoke versions of the grill for clients such as Marcus Wareing (as seen in the chef’s BBC show Tales from a Kitchen Garden). While asados are most commonly associated with barbecuing meats, Bray says UK buyers are equally passionate about grilling plants. One fashion industry client ordered a black Pórtico for their Hampshire home specifically to cook produce from their walled kitchen garden.
As with many outdoor pursuits, the rituals — gathering the veg, lighting the fire, waiting for the flames to subside and tending the embers — are as pleasing as the result: the feast.
gazeburvill.com; humphreymunson.co.uk; officinegullo.com; splinterworks.com; designspacelondon.com; modulnova.com
