Welcome to Del and Diane's

Outdoor Kitchen Project

Pictures 8/28/05 to 9/18/05

One more pics page to keep them from getting too huge.  For the hardscape part of the project (landscape to follow next) this will probably be the last page, as we're almost done!

9/4/05  The days are certainly getting shorter.  Diane took this picture of the moon just risen as the sun is beginning to think about rising at about 5:45 AM (no, no retouching was done on this; straight out of the camera :-)).   I took this one (with the moon, again, in the upper left corner at about 3:45 a couple of days later.    

The big news this week is we have fire in the oven!!   Yesterday set the first of many small fires to drive the moisture out and cure the clay in the oven.  It's a four day process starting with building a small fire with one fire starter, letting that burn out, starting another an hour later, again an hour later, etc.  Second day you start adding more fuel and moving to every 45 minutes.  Third and fourth days (which we'll do next weekend) continue to add more fuel until you get to a four hour bake at full pizza temp (750-800 degrees F).

The other big news this week is Tiki Torches!  All six were installed.  Two behind the grill    two in the smoker planter   and two in the planter on the wall.    The pipes and valves will be painted a flat black.  Of course, I had to light them, and they are as wonderful as we had hoped.  They put out a surprising amount of light.

More mundane this week in some ways, but still important parts of the project, included the hot water heater was installed.   The back of the oven stuco was finished.  As you can see, the entire back and the sides below the planter in back are stucco.  This side sits just five feet from a solid fence, so no one ever sees it.  The Italian cypress trees will go between the fence and the oven also.  Boni put the rebar down for the new patio   They're waiting for the electrician to completely finish up the rough wiring before pouring the slab.  He's left the rebar on the ground for now so it's easier to walk over, but when ready to pour it, he'll put it all up on blocks so it's in the middle of the slab.  The irrigation lines were also run in the counter planters this week with drip connections ready to go.    We'll see in the end just how good an idea those planters on the counter are.  I think for an herb garden they'll be great, but I've already realized I can't reach the one behind the grill.  While I'm sure that won't be the only design flaw we uncover, I have to say we haven't found many at this point.  Both Ulisses and we thought it through pretty well before we started pouring concrete.  Boni has also started a leftover rebar collection in the firepit.    No, it's not an abstract art piece. :-)  He'll eventually work it out into a tight grid sitting on the blocks in the pit so that the whole pit doesn't have to be filled with lava rock.  Good idea.

So this is where we are on 9/04/05 in the morning from ground level.     and from the balcony in the evening   The cap on the chimney is temporary so we could fire the oven this weekend.  Ulisses has a much better looking one on the way.  As you can see, all the stucco was painted this week.  Trim painting still to do, but that won't take long.  I have one of the drawer boxes under construction in the shop.  I'll include pics of how those are made next time as well as the "plugs" I'm turning out of birdseye maple for the umbrella sockets to fill the holes when no umbrella is in place.  Pics of those next time too as well as the sound system (if it sounds half as good as it looks like it should from the engineering on it, it should be wonderful!!).

Thanks again for joining us.  Especially thanks to all of you that have e-mailed us with thoughts and responses.  Nice to know you're enjoying this little trip on the Il Regalo express with us. :-)

9/10/05  Well, close to the end of the hardscape on this project, but I didn't get as much done this week on my part of it.  Of course, we've been saying "two more weeks" for about three weeks now, but I do think we're down to where by the end of next week, we'll be finished, presuming I can finish out the sound system, drawers, and the pergola/arbor.

As fall approaches in the Bay Area and the days shorten, the sunrises also start to change.  This was taken Friday morning about 7:00 AM looking staight east    and then about fifteen minutes later looking to the south. 

Two big things this week on the project.  First, the patio was poured on Wednesday.  Here's Boni finishing up the texture.     The "floor" in the new kitchen matches the existing patio. This pic shows both the look of the concrete but also the second big thing this week: the lights!!   After Marco adjusted all of them, they're as wonderful as we'd hoped.  Here's a view from behind the seat wall  that shows two of the new umbrellas on the center island as well.  The oven lights work as we'd hoped also.    The top light in the wall sconces on the oven look slightly different right now, as the left one doesn't have a lens in the top yet (was broken on arrival; waiting for a new one)  Here's an overview of where we are tonight.       I'll finish the curing fires for the oven tomorrow (and then neighbors are coming over for the "test" pizzas).  Hopefully this week I'll finish out the arbor and the sound system.

Thanks again for joining us.  Do, please, drop us a note when you get a chance.

Update 9/18/05  With the moon almost full, the moonrise from Il Regalo can be spectacular.  This was Saturday night.

Well, last Sunday night a few neighbors came over to "test" the oven.  I'd made 14 balls of pizza dough and been firing the oven all day. Had it good and hot (floor was around 750-800 degrees) from the final curing fire.  Pizzas were wonderful, cooked in under two minutes, and I was so busy cooking pizza, I didn't get any pictures :-(.  Oh, well, next time.

Firepit was ready to go this week, so took the tripod out Friday evening to see what it looked like with the torches and pit going and lights on.   Here's one of the oven with the almost full moon over it.   Needless to say, the ambiance is everything we'd hoped it would be.

Construction this week for the Golden Palm guys was mostly working on last details.  We're down to the punch list for them.  One of the things they do that I've never seen another landscape contractor do is paing things black so they're not as noticeable.  Here's the drip irrigation head in one of the planters as an example. Even though the valves are way over in a corner, they painted the PVC pipes that go up to the sprinkler valves also. The refrigerator and faucet are in and work great.  As you can see, I haven't finished the doors and drawers yet.  We also don't have hot water yet because we're waiting for a special flue cap that goes on the water heater to keep the heat from the flue away from the wall where it's mounted.

For my part this week, I concentrated on getting the arbor up so Marco could put the lights into them.  This is the arbor to the left of the oven and over the grill area.    They will all finish out to this, plus we're thinking of running 2x2s over the top parallel to the beam.  I'll mock it up next Saturday, so Diane can see if she likes it.  All the hardware is stainless steel.  Bolts for the post into the base, lag screws for the beams onto the posts, and 3" (10d) ring shank nails to toenail the cross boards to the beam.  On the other side, Big Bubba has moved into his home and fits perfectly. He's getting a new chimney to fit around the arbor beams.  That should be in this week too.  As you can see I've only finished the beams for the arbor on that side.    This shows the blocks for mounting the lights that will be in the arbor.   At least with the beams and blocks up, I'm not holding up Marco and the guys to finish out the last of the wiring.

This is just a quick shot of the block I put over the top of the posts (again, fastened with stainless steel nails) to keep rain off the top of the post.   End grain wood (like the bare end of the posts) absorbs water much more than side grain wood.  This will keep the rain from soaking into the post end as much.

So, here's where we are on Sunday evening from the yard.  and from the balcony up above. 

On the parts that I'm doing, I keep thinking I'll get more done than I can in a week.  So still no speakers (although the brackets and wiring are in), the doors are primed but not painted yet, and the drawer enclosures and the drawers themselves are all cut out but not yet assembled.  How many weeks have I been saying "two more weeks"?  But now I can't blame Ulisses and the crew; I'm the holdup!  Diane is meeting with Ulisses to start the landscape plan on Thursday.  Once they get a design done, I'll add a landscape section as well.  Thanks again for joining us.  Drop us a note, when you can.