Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet News and Press

House Beautiful
August, 2008

The August Kitchen of the Month in Manhattan Beach, California features a full assortment of equipment by Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet.

Twice in two years the Kitchen of the Month has been an outdoor kitchen, and Kalamazoo is a part of it for the second year in a row.

Kitchen of the Month

Manhattan Beach, California

Designer: Sandy Koepke Interior Design

Interview: Christine Pitel

Download a PDF of the original Kitchen of the Month article.

The whole point of having an outdoor kitchen is to sit back and relax and not worry about a thing. So choose materials that weather naturally.

Christine Pitel: It's not easy to make an outdoor kitchen look like part of the landscape. What's the secret?

Sandy Koepke: You have to acknowledge that you're going to be parking all this stainless steel in the backyard, and consider not only how it looks out there, but how it will look from the house. We placed the long run of appliances so you don't look at them head-on when you're in the house. Instead, you face that beautiful outdoor fireplace. The smartest thing we did was to takeoff the whole back of the house and replace it with glass doors. Now, as soon as you walk in the front door, you see this great outdoor room, which makes the house feel so much larger. We also raised the patio to the same level as the floor, so the connection is seamless. French drains—basically a trench filled with gravel—keep the rainwater from lapping at the doors.

Those earthy ochres and greens make it feel more natural. What's that window over the sink?

It's an old wood-framed iron grate from India. I used a lot of salvaged materials because it's an instant way of giving a new project some age and maturity. I really love rust and I really love old chipped paint. It can scare a client in the beginning when they see all this rusty railing showing up on the job site, but vintage pieces add character and marry the new and the natural. Look at that old candy-store counter I found, which works as an island or a bar or a place to sit and eat. It's got an iron base with a honed marble top that's very similar to the basalt we used on the countertops, so it pulls it all together.

What exactly is basalt?

It's a stone that looks a little like lava stone—gray and black and soft. Tile or polished granite would have felt too pristine. I wanted something more natural. We fabricated it to look like a big, thick slab. In reality it's only 5/8” thick, with a 3½” edge.

How does basalt hold up?

Well, you're outdoors, so everything is going to fade and rust and get dirty. An outdoor kitchen is not for the fainthearted, and I have this discussion with clients ahead of time. Yes, the countertop is going to stain. Yes, the wall is going to get smoky from the grill and we're not going to repaint it. Relax. You're outside.

Looks like a great place for a party. Is that beer on tap?

Yes, that's the keg tapper from Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet. We went the whole route with them, not just for the appliances but also for the cabinetry, which is stainless steel inside and out. We've got the beverage center, the refrigerator, the keg tapper, the ice maker, the cooktop, and the grill—which is really neat because you can cook with gas or wood or charcoal. My client started out with a little portable grill and now he's got this Rolls-Royce. The outdoor kitchen has changed the way they live in their house. Now they cook out there, eat out there, entertain out there. The doors to the patio are open all the time.

What is the patio paved with? It's also got that soft, weathered look.

No fancy tile, no expensive pavers, just poured concrete. We used an aggregate mix and then power washed it before it set to bring out that texture. We were out there in rubber boots, flooding the patio with water, and then we flung on some Dark Walnut and Fern Green and Antique Amber acid stains from Scofield to give it that aged patina. You can't control it, so how it turns out is kind of a surprise. I also found a lot of really cool old pots and containers and filled them with succulents—intentionally over planted, so they have to fight it out and fall over the side. Come back in a year when the trellis is grown out. Mother Nature will take over.