Time to finish the oven; add fireplace

[james]

Here's a question. If we go up three course of block (24") for the hearth of the fireplace, would you make the base solid, or would you frame in a small opening for wood storage. It would be a lot shorter than the oven wood store. Would it look good? Be functional?

What do you think?
James

George, I've been thinking of starting to print FB T-Shirts. The little guy with the wood oven in our logo is pretty cool. :-)

[gjbingham]

James,
Funny, I was thinking of mentioning the same thing by PM. Why advertise Caputo flour with your T-shirt giveaways? I'd rather have a FB T-shirt when I earn it. Or put them up for sale in the store. The little guy on the logo is definitely cool. I love all the pics on your homepage. Somehow I envisioned the shirt like that. I'm certainly not going to tell you how to run your shop. I'm pretty sure it will be cool.

Re: the opening under your oven, I think it would look great filled to the gills with a nice selection of wood that you never use. I think it would add to the charm, even if its not very functional. You could always swap out wood as necessary when it starts looking funky. Kind of a framed picture.

[james]

Here is a trial layout for the fireplace. This option is three blocks high, and the top course set on angle iron, and the hearth poured on that.

Is it high enough?

The pizza oven stand does not use the angle iron course, and does it look strange with the two stands not matching? Maybe I should use the same design for both.

The plan is to leave an 8" hearth in front and on the sides of the fireplace.

Comments? Ideas? Help!

James

[Inishta]

The fireplace height is fine like that IMHO. High enough to cook on comfortably and great for radiated heat for the gathered throng. I dont think that it will matter what the design difference is at this stage. When it comes to the finish you can tie them both in. The juxtaposition of high heat from the oven and lower from the fire will be great when it comes to an evening cook-out.

[gjbingham]

If it were me, I'd still raise the whole shootin' match a few inches on a slab or 1 inch or so concrete blocks (or whatever width they really are). I think "framing" the oven and firewood openings with hand painted Italian tile would be really awesome. Otherwise, I think it's going to be a great setup.

[james]

It will end up 3 1/2" higher, with the hearth poured on top of the block stand. This part is feeling a lot like the oven installation. I think it will be high enough for wood/charcoal grilling. I think we are going to pass on the gas grill. It's all wood for me.

We have decided to use the angle iron stand, with the blocks turned in at the front. It's a different look from the oven, and hopefully the contrast will look good. We're going to stack and pour today or tomorrow.

James

[Xabia Jim]

I thought my grill hearth was definately lower than the oven since you work over a grill and work into the oven. I just checked and my grill base was about 9 inches lower than the oven hearth. But I have a gas grill that I use in that space that brings the grill up to the same level as my WFO hearth.

(Brings up a hearth height question that I'll post separately)

...is higher better than too low?

it's hard to lower it later...but you can always wear high heeled shoes

[james]

We've decided to make the outdoor kitchen cabinets out of block, and finalized a few items. There will be a backsplash, a toe kick, solid concrete under the counters, and we are using slate tile for the counter tops. The slate matches the porch behind the kitchen. The counters will be 36" high and 24" deep, just like an in-door kitchen. The backsplash will probably be 8"x8". Enough to stop me from shooting food off the back end.

We did not have a toe kick at our Healdsburg house, and I always thought you could feel it when you were making lots of pizza.

Here is the back wall that connects the oven and fireplace. More to come.
James

[gjbingham]

Cool! It should turn out really nice, though I'm lost on the toe kick. I hate it when I kick my toes!

[james]

OK. Why is it called a toe kick?
James