Time to finish the oven; add fireplace Outdoor Kitchen Design Discuss Time to finish the oven; add fireplace in the Outdoor Kitchens and Living Rooms forums; Here's where we finished the day. We formed and poured the toe kick, set the walls, framed an opening for ...

[james]

Here's where we finished the day. We formed and poured the toe kick, set the walls, framed an opening for a shelf, and formed the countertop. I am leaning toward a curved counter that falls into the front of the oven -- to match the curved landing in front of the oven.

Tomorrow we should pour the counter, set the Artigiano vent and start framing the walls. We'll see.

James

[gjbingham]

The crew works fast, huh? Somehow, my penny-pinching fingers won't let me spend bucks to pay others for what I can do myself. Its temping sometimes, especially after watching your guys fly through the work. Anyway, its fun watching it come together. Thanks for the pics reavealing the life of the "boss".

[james]

Awwwwww. I cut the blocks and the forms, mixed the concrete, set blocks, and tied the wire. You should see my laundry. :-)

Still, it's true that as an aging guy, having help can be a good thing. I'm reaching that age where it's more difficult to do everything alone. In my relative youth, I used to do it all by myself (and I did this oven solo) -- but there comes a time...

On a more serious note, there are many ways to build an oven or an outdoor kitchen, and picking your style is half the fun.
James

[gjbingham]

You're not telling me that's your backside in the pic? Cute butt!

[james]

No, I'm using the camera. :-) But I think my Avatar looks pretty good.
James

[jwnorris]

Originally Posted by james

<snip> I am leaning toward a curved counter that falls into the front of the oven -- to match the curved landing in front of the oven. <snip> James

The one thing that I forgot to do when building my outdoor kitchen is this - complete the counter before you put the final coat of stucco [or whatever] on the dome. This way you can bring the finish coat down on top of the counter and avoid a lot of complicated cuts in your slate.

It is not as important when building a house style enclosure - as it has straighter angles.

Looking good ...

J W

[christo]

Thanks JW. you just answered a quesiton for me.

looks like concrete counter tops are on tap before my final stucco coat.

BTW - I have plywood with black plastic stapled on it as winter countertops.

christo

[james]

Hey Chris,

There are a lot of way to build outdoor cabinets and counters, but our block and concrete slab construction wasn't too difficult. Heavy yes, but the materials are not very expensive and it went up quickly.

I also like the idea that it is solid and will never warp or change sitting out in the rain.

James

[carioca]

Originally Posted by james

OK. Why is it called a toe kick?
James

you kick it when you're frustrated?

[james]

Slowly, but surely we are making progress. We poured the counters, set the fireplace walls and the oven vent, and set the backsplash. I am starting to be able to visualize actually making pizza here!

On downside, I think the little counter to the right of the oven is too short, and we may need to extend it.

We'll get there,
James