Cooking

Li festyle choice

G e t a t a s t e f o r t h e g o o d l i f e w i t h a f u l l y e q u i p p e d o u t d o o r k i t c h e n o r a s m a r t l y d e s i g n e d s p a c e f o r b a r b e c u i n g a n d a l f r e s c o d i n i n g

Above R ibs cook ing to per fection on a pur pose - designed at tach ment placed atop a chiminea . chiminea .com .au word s karen booth

You know that something has gone from trend to must-have when you fi nd it’s become an essential element of ever y new display home. If you haven’t been in the market for a new home recently and done the rounds of the display villages , then you might not know that an outdoor kitchen (or at least a well- designed barbecue area) and a place for alfresco dining and enter taining is now a feature of ever y display home at ever y price point.

Of course, it’s jus t as much a feature of ever y architect- designed cus tom-built home, not to mention home renovation or ex tension. A welldesigned, well-integrated outdoor cooking zone isn’t a priorit y for home designers . It’s right at the top of the wish lis t when homeowners call on the ser vices of a landscaper.

“Outdoor cooking has become an impor tant par t of the indoor- outdoor living trend as people want to spend more time outdoor enjoying their new and improved landscapes , as well as having the convenience of being able to cook and enter tain close to the house while being protected from the weather, be it rain, hail or shine,” says Jus tine Carlile, founder of Jus tine Carlile Landscape Design.

TA KE IT OUT S IDE “ The whole idea of creating outdoor rooms that mirror the functionalit y of traditional indoor spaces has continued to pick up s team, especially since spending more time at home due to COVID. Many of us appreciate outdoor spaces at home more than ever before,” says Matt Leacy, founding par tner and principal

designer of Landar t. “Nowadays, we want to be able to enjoy the lifestyle, enter taining and health benefi ts of being outside, even while at home — and that’s why outdoor kitchens and cooking spaces are continuing to rise in popularity. Outdoor kitchens are increasingly becoming an expectation rather than a luxur y in many of the markets we’re working in. In years to come, we’ll likely see more outdoor kitchens in homes, not just for owneroccupiers to enjoy themselves, but also to boost proper ty value for sale and leasing.”

“The trend is certainly towards an outdoor kitchen space that is just as sophisticated as the internal kitchen and easy to maintain,” says Claudia Crawley, landscape designer and founder of Grindstone Landscapes. “Instead of the rustic charm of open storage and tiled benchtops and splashbacks, the direction is heading more towards clean lines of seamless stone benchtops and storage cabinets that are essentially the same as internal ones, but made from a PVC product that can withstand the outdoor conditions. We are now spending as much time as possible with family and friends entertaining outside, especially af ter the last few years, so the requests for functional and aesthetically pleasing outdoor cooking areas is as high as ever.”

EQUIP IT GOOD Matt advises to fi rst establish the type of cooking and enter taining you want to be doing. “ There is an oppor tunity to really create a social hub,” he says. “Pizza ovens, slowcooking options and break fast bars are a great way to turn the barbecue into a hang- out space that is a real destination. Consider how you have cooked outside in the past and then explore how this could evolve into the future.

“Budget will always play a par t in prioritising what does and doesn’t make the cut. A s a guide, it’s always good to think about how the family use their existing indoor kitchen and dining spaces, and to use this as a reference point when assessing outdoor kitchen priorities. You’ll likely want to mirror what you already do inside, outside. I would also always urge homeowners to think beyond the barbecue. An outdoor kitchen can have cupboards, a fridge, sink and more, or it could be as simple as some cupboard space and a barbecue with a nice ser ver y.

“If you wanted to do a bit more, you could look at installing a break fast bar with some stools around it to make it more social and to create a casual space for break fast, a cup of

tea or reading the paper. Add to that a more formal dining area with seating and lounge space and you have the makings of the per fect outdoor living and enter taining space.”

INFINITE VA RIE T Y If space and budget allow, Justine advises to opt for variety. “Consider the inclusion of multiple cooking options in your outdoor kitchen such as a barbecue, pizza oven and smoker,” she says . “Pizza ovens and smokers are among the most requested items now,” adds Claudia. “ Smokers are not as straightfor ward as barbecues to build in but defi nitely achievable with the right ventilation, and they make a great statement piece. You could also consider a built-in Green Egg.”

According to Matt, slow- cooking options , pizza ovens and Argentinean grills are really popular. “If you are considering any of these, it is best to do this at the beginning and not tr y to add them in later as they can destroy the aesthetic if not considered properly.”

Wood-fi red ovens continue to be popular. They come in a variety of materials and there are dif ferent styles and shapes . Most, however,

Above A custom- designed a nd –bui lt outdoor k itchen is t he show piece of t his Queensland home. osheabuilders .com Opposite This sleek , space -smar t cook ing area includes a K amado Joe set into a concrete benchtop. landar t.com .au B elow The wood-fi red oven is per fect ly positioned to ensure t here a re no venti lation issues . gr ind stoneland scapes .com

W h i l e s u m m e r m a y b e p r i m e t i m e fo r a l f r e s c o l i v i n g , c o o k i n g a n d d i n i n g o u t s i d e i s s o m e t h i n g m o s t p e o p l e w a n t t o b e a b l e t o d o w h a t e v e r t h e s e a s o n

are conical or dome-shaped as this is the most heat- ef fi cient design, says Trent Chilman from The Alfresco Factor y. " With dome – shaped ovens , the heat curls around inside and wood is placed to the side. O vens that are tunnel – shaped have the f ire in the back . It get s ver y hot at the front of the oven, so they 're not as ef f icient," he says . “Also, choose an oven with a door — this allows you more options for cooking dif ferent foods , and look for one that’s manuf actured from dense weight y materials for better heat convection. And for f lavoursome food, using the right kind of wood in your oven is impor tant .”

VE RSATILE CHIMINE A S The best way to cook on a chiminea is with a barbecue/pizza oven attachment, says Liz Fenton of Aussie Heatwave Fireplaces, a company known for its Australian – designed and – made chimineas. “ We designed a two – piece piece cooking attachment that has a cuf f that easily slots into the top of the chimney to conver t your chiminea into a fabulous wood – fi red oven and barbecue. With the hood you cook roasts and pizzas and without the hood, you can do regular barbecue grilling.

“It's such a pleasurable way to cook and enter tain. People gather around the fi re and have drinks. When we use it, we generally star t with pizzas, then we might cook some meat or prawn/seafood on skewers, then we might cook some lamb cutlets. Roast vegetable skewers with tofu or haloumi are also delicious.

“ You can cook several little dishes to wow your gues t s and bring variet y, but if you want something more subs tantial, you can also do full legs of lamb, beef, whole chickens etc . Cooking on top of the chiminea is an Argentinian s t yle of cooking — they like to cook away from the direct f lame so meat s don’t dr y out and the result is tender and juic y.”

Af ter lighting your chiminea, it’s ready to cook within 15 to 30 minutes, and af ter you’re fi nished cooking, it’s pretty easy to clean. “All the fat gets completely incinerated as it drops down the chimney into the fi re — no messy drip trays are required,” says Liz. “ There are no remnants of any cooking fats and you can even throw your chop bones in the fi re and they will be burnt away.”

I T ’ S T H E P I T S

If you like cosy gatherings and grilled fare, a fi repit can be just about all things to all men — and women. It can be used to grill fi sh, toast marshmallows or keep you nice and warm. Optional attachable stainless-steel grills for cooking on fi repits are readily available — some are circular, others come as a half-circle, others are rectangular. You can even get teppanyaki plates designed for use with a fi repit.

You can take it up a notch with something like the quick-heating, cast-iron Firepit Grill by Hergom, which of fers amazing heat retention to brown meat and seal fl avours. The outer ring comprises four segments, where you can combine two griddles and two grills.

The next level is a multifunctional option like the height-adjustable, cast-iron Morsø Grill 17 that can go from cooking appliance to fi repit. It consists of a bowl, grilling grid and frying plate and has a pair of semicircles that can swivel aside to allow for barbecuing at varying levels. It can be fuelled using charcoal, briquettes or wood, and when you’ve fi nished cooking, or grilling isn’t on the menu, the bowl can be used as a fi repit.

Opposite top A super- cool , custom outdoor k itchen zone is a feat ure of t his new bui ld designed by a rchitect Sa ra h Br ya nt . Photo by Emi ly Ba r t let t . br yantalsop.com .au Opposite bottom The cook ing sur face of t he Firepit Gr i l l by Hergom consists of t wo hotplates a nd t wo gr i l ls . cast works.com .au Below lef t This outdoor k itchen has it a l l … a barbecue, sin k , fr idge, plent y of storage and a smoker. ingejabaralandscapes.com .au

BARBECUE BLI S S For most families, a barbecue is a must. “The barbecue brings people together. Preparing a meal for family and friends on the barbecue is a pleasure rather than a chore. Everyone gets involved and there's always a brother-in-law who knows a better way to cook a steak. It wouldn't be an Aussie barbecue occasion without that guy and it all adds to the laughter and memories,” says John McGran of Lifestyle BBQs.

“Australian made is always best,” he adds. “ That way you know it’s designed for Australian barbecuing style. By that I mean it will be hot enough to really sear a steak and cook things like prawns and octopus without stewing them. A lot of impor ted barbecues just don' t get hot enough.”

You need to consider what you need your barbecue to do. Wok burners are popular, especially for stir-fries, says John, but there are plenty of other options available to the frequent or more adventurous cook. Getting the basics right is important, adds Claudia. “ You need to consider what size barbecue you really need — a three –, four– or fi ve –burner? Do you want a fl at lid or a barbecue with a hooded top? Do you need a side burner and what about the gas supply — natural gas (bayonet) or LPG gas (bottled)? There are many things to think about,” she says.

And John has one more suggestion for the die-hard Aussie barbecue lover: a Kegerator. “Imagine standing around the barbecue with steaks sizzling away and having draught beer on tap. That’s heaven,” he enthuses.

ROOM FOR ALL Whether it’s a full-blown, customised outdoor kitchen or just a barbecue with some prep space, your cooking zone will be in an outdoor room-style space, be it a covered deck, a pergola or a cabana by the pool. Making the outdoor room where you cook and eat an extension of the house and maintaining fl ow with the house is important, according to Justine.

“Integrate the outdoor room into the

L e f t When it comes to cooking alfresco, making pizza from scratch is now a popular way to feed family and friends. Photo by Vita Marija Murenaite. un spla sh .com

garden and maintain cohesion with the house by using at tractive, complementar y building materials such as hardwood and blues tone for the walls , and traver tine pavers or wide timber deck boards for the f looring,” she say s . “ Ensuring the outdoor room has plent y of natural light , supplied either by large raised sk ylight s or operable louvres , is impor tant , as is ensuring there is adequate ventilation, par ticularly in the cooking area.”

While summer may be prime time for alfresco living, cooking and dining outside is something most people want to be able to do whatever the season, which means considering ever y thing, including protection from both the sun and the rain, ambient and task lighting, and how you will cool and heat the space.

And make it multipurpose. Imagine having an outdoor space that can function as a par t y zone, cooking space, dining area and a sitting area with T V — think outdoor pizza movie night or watching the game on a Saturday ar vo with a sauce-slathered, bun-wrapped barbecued snag in hand.

LO C ATIO N , LO C ATIO N Finally, what about location? And does size (of the cooking/dining area) matter? Says Claudia, “ The fur ther away from the house the cooking area is , the more impor tant it is to include enough storage and prep space as well as power, a sink with hot and cold running water, and at least a bar or under- counter fridge — this way you don’t have to run back to the house for a glass , plate or drinks .

“Depending on the appliances and space available, a good outdoor cooking area can be any thing from 2m to 5m in width. It is impor tant to think well about the inclusions as it is dif fi cult to add on at a later stage without it looking like an af ter thought. It is also impor tant to consider how the overall space is used; if there is seating to be included, the space will need to be at least 3m by 3m to allow for table, chairs , the cooking station and enough room to move around.

“ The size and positioning of furniture, as well as cabinetr y and cooking appliances , need to be considered from the star t to ensure there is enough space for what you need and ever y thing is to scale.

C U S T O M I S E I T

“If you customise the outdoor kitchen to your needs , you’ll invariably get more use out of it. You’ll tap the lifestyle and environmental benefi ts of cooking and dining outdoors , and you’ll also have an awesome and fl uid space to enter tain family and friends — especially in the warmer months ,” advises landscape designer Matt Leacy.

“Additionally, outdoor kitchens and dining spaces are great for proper ties that might have low air circulation. For foodies who love to cook , but don’t have great air fl ow throughout their proper ty, it can be a challenge to keep the kitchen from stinking out the rest of the house. An outdoor kitchen can be the per fect solution for those who love cooking fragrant food without the long-term smell — ensuring that ever y thing can be cooked outdoors without odours lingering inside for days .

“And fi nally, if you get your kitchen and dining area right, you’ll ver y likely add value to your proper ty.”

Wow fa or

T h i s s u b l i m e g a r d e n d e s i g n t a k e s a r t i n t o t h e w i l d

word s k ylie baracz photos katrine mardini

Garden sculptures usually take the form of a delicate water fountain or friendly gnome, but this epic garden design takes outdoor ar t to the nex t level. Featuring a 16m, three- dimensional, sculptural ribbon, the underused side of this Vaucluse home was transformed into an ar tistic mar vel.

“At my fi rst meeting with the client, it was made ver y clear that ‘wow factor’ was the catch phrase for this project,” says Steve Warner, principal landscape designer at OUTHOUSE Design. “A key question for me was to understand what happy moment in the life of the client stood out.”

That happy moment was the recent wedding of the client’s daughter and the music that was played on the day. This beautiful selection of music became the inspiration Steve and his team needed to transform the once overgrown side garden.

By creating a sound wave using the music, we could create a piece of sculpture that has meaning as well as function,” says Steve. “ The lower par ts of the sound wave create the seating option — providing a quiet space for refl ection or chatting — and from here the shape morphs into an organic skeletal structure that modulates along the boundar y and then out, creating a connection between the upper and lower garden.”

Creating this visual treat along the garden wall was no eas y feat for Steve and his team. Over 270 individual slices were cut and ins talled by Polygenic and Urban Garden Enrichment to create the 16m-long s tructure.

Before ins tallation, the garden had a makeover, with all exis ting fences , including battens and rendered walls , painted using t wo coat s of Dulux ‘Luck ’. This allowed the planting and sculpture to really pop and unifi ed the whole space. Oversized blues tone pavers were used to create an organic connection from the upper deck to the pool enclosure, which also complement s the sof t lines of the sculpture and returns of the deck .

Both the sculpture and deck were created using accoya timber, which is dimensionally s table, durable and, mos t impor tantly, sus tainable. It also creates a seamles s connection to the fl ooring inside the home. The sculpture it self folds around cus tom planters to suppor t additional greener y, with sof t round shrubs planted within.

Feature shrubs within and under the sculpture that create year-round interes t, fl ower s tructure and foliage contras t are Ajuga reptans, Bugle; Ligularia reniformis, Tractor Seat Plant; Viola hederacea, Native Violet; Agapanthus praecox orientalis, Agapanthus ‘ Snowball’, Rhaphiolepis indica, Indian Haw thorn; Philodendron ‘ Xanadu’; Liriope muscari, Tur f Lily ; Sansevieria trifasciata, Mother-In-Law ’s Tongue; and Crassula ovata, Green Jade.

Seasonal colour and interes t within the main garden include a feature tree — Cercis canadensis; and boundar y screen planting — Elaeocarpus reticulatus , Blueberr y A sh; Tulbaghia violacea, Societ y Garlic; Pittosporum tobira, Aus tralian Laurel; Daphne x transatlantica, Pink Fragrance; Ajuga reptans, Bugle; Ligularia reniformis , Tractor Seat Plant; Viola hederacea, Native Violet; Agapanthus praecox orientalis, Agapanthus ‘ Snowball’; Rhaphiolepis indica, Indian Haw thorn; Philodendron ‘ Xanadu’; and Liriope muscari, Tur f Lily.

“A key factor for any sus tainable space is the correct planting selection in the fi rs t place. This ensures minimal maintenance long term,” says Steve. “Les s watering, fewer bugs and therefore increased planting per formance.”

The view from the kitchen out to the garden was also vital to the client, so Steve and his team created a smaller version of the sculpture that is seen via the sliced kitchen window, with both pieces lighting up in the evening.

“I wanted this space to feel like an ex tension of the internal living space — to engage with us both visually and physically,” says Steve. “ So it was simple for me; all I needed to do was create an emotional connection.” outhousedesign.com. au