Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet News and Press

Oasis Award for Outdoor Kitchen Design
Garden Design magazine
October, 2007

Outdoor Kitchen Pavilion Design Wins Top Honor

All That and Then Some —

A private Virginia retreat for outdoor cooking, dining and entertaining

Download a PDF of the complete Garden Design magazine feature.

When our Oasis Award judges viewed the winning entry from Jon van Allen of McHale Landscape Design in Vienna, Virginia, the response was unanimous: This is an inviting space that makes you want to spend time outside.

“He created a room that’s usable many months out of the year,” said landscape architect and chef J’Nell Bryson. And Pete Georgiadis of Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet commented, “The space is a perfect retreat, balancing the formal style of the home with a casual and inviting atmosphere.”

The project, in Great Falls, Virginia, is located in a region that has long been an attraction for those who love the outdoors. Nearby Great Falls Park is filled with natural wonders enjoyed by hikers and day-trippers. River Bend County Park and the Village Green also host locals and visitors on lazy Saturdays and festivals that mark the seasons.

Van Allen’s clients won’t have to go farther than their own backyard to experience nature at its finest, where an amenity-packed outdoor cooking and dining pavilion awaits.

Constructed out of pressure-treated lumber concealed with veneer and designed with a dark gray slate roof to pair with a Georgian colonial house, the pavilion is situated on a five-acre parcel surrounded by rolling hills and woodlands.
“My clients asked for an outdoor kitchen completely separate from the house, roofed and screened, complete with a fireplace, flat-screen television, dining and informal seating area,” says van Allen. Clearly, they got everything they asked for and more.

The pavilion is on axis with the house and pool, and while it in no way clashes with the formality of the architecture, “It was the client’s desire to relate to the home architecturally but be a bit more relaxed in layout and finishes,” says van Allen.
The kitchen is completely self-sufficient: no running back to the house for last-minute fixings. Outfitted with Kalamazoo’s Custom Outdoor Kitchen Collection, the space includes their flagship charcoal, wood and gas hybrid grill with other top-of-the-line equipment such as the two-drawer refrigerator, lobster boiler, keg tapper, ice maker, wok cook-top and pizza oven. The kitchen also uses Kalamazoo’s stainless steel cabinetry for maintenance-free storage.

“The outdoor kitchen is a destination in itself,” said Garden Design’s editor-in-chief Bill Marken.

A formal dining area complements the kitchen, and a comfortable seating area opposite the dining area gets cozy by the fireplace. Two Kalamazoo outdoor wine chillers (one for white varietals, one for red) in the dining area buffet offer easy access while entertaining. Outdoor rugs, fine furnishings, heat lamps and ceiling fans — every detail has been attended to. Underfoot, Pennsylvania flagstone set in a random Ashlar pattern brings the richness and warmth that only stone’s natural gradations can.

The full range of accoutrements transforms the pavilion into the ultimate party pad. “I can see my clients using the space so many different ways,” says van Allen. “They can have a romantic dinner by the fireplace, smoke cigars with the boys and watch a game, watch the derby while sipping on mint juleps, have friends over for a formal dinner or just throw some dogs on the grill and pizzas in the oven for a kid’s birthday party.”

So many living spaces could have led to a monolithic project that takes over the site, but as designer Sandy Koepke noticed, “Jon did a nice job with scale. It is a large space to design with, but he made it work.”