Resort Living ... Atop the Sacramento Valley

By Chris Mordi, vice president of communications, Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet

The overhead trellis and dry-stack stone bring the kitchen into the vernacular of other structures built on the site. “We included native quartzite stone to wrap around the kitchen island and western red cedar as the choice for the wood trellis covering the kitchen,” specifies Dale Hoover, principal at Anza Living Spaces.
Photos courtesy of kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet/Anza Living Spaces

"We want our new outside living area to take in the views,” is what Dale Hoover, principal at Phoenix-based Anza Living Spaces, heard from his client. What they didn’t say is how he was supposed to create a space that didn’t fall down a steep slope into the Sacramento Valley.

Perched atop a ridge in Shingle Springs, Calif. (pop. 2,643), located about 40 miles east of Sacramento in historic gold country, is a 10-acre parcel that takes in breathtaking views of the valley as it sweeps down a hillside. Its owners, known for large-scale entertaining, wanted to reinvent a portion of the property from a rural, grassy field into an area for hosting large parties.

“This project was about creative, broad-thinking order and connectivity and spatial proportions,” explains Dale Hoover, principal at Anza Living Spaces. “From the very beginning, the concept was to be grand, open and flowing. They wanted a resort, hospitality feel.”

The slope of the 10-acre property atop a ridge in Shingle Springs, Calif. dictated the pool and the kitchen be located some 50 yards from the house. The owners wanted to turn a portion of the grassy property that overlooks the Sacramento Valley into an outdoor entertainment area. The client didn’t want steps or elevation changes between the house and the pool/patio areas, requiring re-grading and terracing to create smooth transitions.

In master-planning the site, Hoover had to take into account not only the entertaining aspects for kids and adults, but the geography of the slope, extreme summer heat, prevailing breezes, views … everything. The developed portion of the site was eventually planned to offer separate spaces for different types of activities—some intimate, some active—that were visually and connected by common architectural elements.

To create each of these spaces, Hoover overcame the slope’s gradient by building terraced gardens and entertaining areas that took advantage of the views down into the Sacramento Valley.

At the heart of the site is a pool area with a self-sufficient outdoor kitchen. Hoover said setting the kitchen near the pool was a natural fit because it is one place where friends and family naturally gather.

The kitchen had to be low maintenance, so a cast concrete counter and stainless steel kitchen equipment were installed. A u-shape layout places refrigeration drawers, storage cabinets and the grill all within reach of one another, making food preparation and clean-up efficient. “We included all the things needed to make this an independent kitchen,” said Dale Hoover, principal at Anza Living Spaces: keg tapper, undercounter refrigerator, refrigerated drawers, an ice maker, storage cabinets, gas and woodburning grill, sink and a television set.

“Since it is physically removed from the house, it gives the experience a level of informality, explained Hoover. “It also allows the breezes from the valley to flow freely throughout, while taking advantage of the spectacular valley views.”

Hoover said that outdoor kitchens were designed to withstand harsh weather conditions, but otherwise, the outdoor kitchen design was fundamentally similar to a good indoor kitchen design. The most important consideration in a successful design is creating a space that is comfortable, enjoyable and efficient, and an honest budget that allows the homeowner to fully enjoy their outdoor cooking and entertaining, rather than saying, “I wish I had this or that.”

“Equipment choice is one of the most important decisions when designing an outdoor kitchen,” said Russ Faulk, vice president of product design for Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet. “When you help your client determine products, you need to learn about their cooking and entertaining personalities.”

Faulk believes there’s not a “one-size-fits-all solution” for designing an outdoor kitchen. Hoover knows the kitchen is an important component of the overall design, but it has to be sympathetic to the site architecture.

To solve the placement of utilities the designer cleverly integrated them with those required for the pool. “You have to keep in mind that something like this is like a puzzle,” observed designer Hoover. “If you’re good at puzzles, you’ll come up with creative solutions that maximize the space and satisfy the expectations of the homeowner.”

“With self-sufficient outdoor kitchens, we are seeing more of them incorporate some kind of sheltering structure to protect the cook and the guests from the elements,” added Faulk. “And they come in a variety of styles from full roofs and pergolas to something as easy as a simple of weather-resistant fabric.”

By combining the roughness of the quartzite and the wood with the smoothness of the cast concrete and stainless steel, a sense of dramatic contrast was created within the kitchen. Hoover said that the balance of contrasts made the kitchen environment exciting and played off the surrounding natural elements.

Cast in rugged stone and wood and gleaming with stainless steel, the homeowners have an outdoor kitchen to enjoy and entertain.

“We always strive to create an honest and natural space for our clients,” said Hoover. “We believe our job is to create extraordinary exterior multipurpose living areas.”