Project Spotlight: Lake Oswego Outdoor Kitchen Design
An outdoor kitchen is an increasingly popular way to transform your backyard landscape into an awe-inspiring place for entertaining friends and family. We recently transformed a Lake Oswego patio into a natural stone outdoor kitchen against a lush backdrop of Douglas firs in a natural stream corridor. The crowning jewel: a wood-burning pizza oven built with San Francisco Cobblefield stonework.
Landscape Design Challenges
The Lake Oswego project posed several design challenges. The homeowners desired a full outdoor kitchen complete with a gas grill, pizza oven, outdoor fireplace and granite-topped prep area. In addition, the family wanted to add a sports court with a basketball hoop for the kids on the side yard. Fitting all of these features into a limited amount of space, while also creating balance and providing adequate traffic circulation, was going to be tricky.
In addition, the property borders an environmentally protected stream corridor as well as a surrounding native Doug fir grove. To ensure our work would not have a negative effect on the adjacent Resource Conservation Boundary, we worked directly with the City of Lake Oswego to review our landscape design plans. We also met with an arborist to discuss how to mitigate the impact on nearby Doug firs – ultimately, we chose to use hand-digging techniques to reduce potential root damage and minimize impact to the root system.
The End Result
Our outdoor kitchen design extended the existing patio, using dimensional cut Variegated Bluestone to add elegance and style to the outdoor living space. The grill and other structures feature San Francisco Cobblefield – which lend the kitchen a lovely Old-World flavor – with granite countertops that perfectly tie together the two types of stone.
For the sports court, we built a retaining wall using local Camas Basalt to provide a level area sturdy enough to withstand active children. All of the surrounding landscaping was planted with Pacific Northwest plants that thrive in shady and acidic conditions.
Homeowner Nancy Smith had this to say about the project:
“The biggest difference between Landscape East & West and other companies I’ve used is that they listened to what we wanted and worked within our budget rather than offering a one-size-fits-all plan. They offered suggestions and enhancements to our ideas based on their knowledge and expertise, and together we created a beautiful backyard. Throughout the process, they remained communicative and responsive. I highly recommend the Landscape East & West team.”
We feel our Lake Oswego outdoor kitchen design perfectly demonstrates what happens when form and function meet in harmony. With the sun dappling the maple leaves and the gorgeous pizza oven standing out against a lush forest, this backyard truly is a Northwest oasis.
