Search through nearly any advertising material from post-war America and you’ll likely find the backyard barbeque featured front and center. The humble grill has been the king of the outdoor entertainment space for many decades, but its face has undergone some significant changes over the years.
Emerging first as a simple kettle-shaped charcoal grill, the barbeque itself has evolved from solely featuring charcoal to incorporating natural gas and pellets. Its isolated position on the patio has similarly shifted to being fully incorporated into a larger installation that includes plenty of counter space, refrigerators, sinks with running water, and even specialty appliances like pizza ovens and auto-woks.
Many of our designs are still oriented around the barbeque, though the complexity of the design varies from project to project. Clients can opt for the simplicity of a prefabricated barbeque island, which features a simplified design complete with grill, counter space, and appliances, each of which can be customized to fit with the rest of the yard’s aesthetics and needs of the homeowner.
For more intricately planned outdoor spaces, a customized barbeque area can be designed to be incorporated into the larger landscape as a whole. Whether it be blending into a backdrop of natural stone or being featured as a centerpiece to a larger outdoor kitchen, these designs are only limited by material and imagination.
Whether you choose prefabricated or a custom fit for your barbeque island, you can customize the material for the facade and countertops to ensure the installation goes with your landscape’s aesthetic. Slate, granite, quartz, marble, brick, and even metal can be used depending on the tastes and aesthetic sensibilities of the homeowner.
Outdoor kitchens, an increasingly popular design choice for homeowners in San Diego, usually incorporate more than one type of cooking appliance, though a grill is near-universal. These outdoor rooms blend the food preparation, cooking, and entertainment spaces into one ultra-comfortable space for hosting backyard events and parties. They often feature pergolas to provide shade and create a ‘closed-off’ section of the outdoor area.
Appliances used in outdoor kitchens and prefabricated barbeque islands can vary wildly depending on the tastes of the homeowner. Though the grill remains the king of outdoor cooking appliances, many homeowners opt for specialty items such as wood-fired pizza ovens, slow cookers, and specialty burners for large items like stockpots. Other appliances give even further versatility to your outdoor space and help reduce the number of trips you need to take back to the house, including in-built refrigerators, kegerators complete with multiple spouts, and ice machines.
We’ve come a long way since the humble charcoal grills of the early post-war era, and every year we aim to build a better outdoor barbeque experience through innovative landscape design. Whatever vision you have for your outdoor space, Torrey Pines Landscape Company can help you design and build it to create the ultimate entertainment and relaxation space for you and your loved ones. Call today!