St Georges Hill, Outdoor kitchen in oak

St Georges Hill, Weybridge- an oak clad outdoor kitchen

In 2010 we were asked by luxury house builder Octagon Developments to develop a design for an outdoor kitchen for a new build house in the exclusive gated estate of St Georges Hill, Weybridge, Surrey, complete with its own golf course.

The Russian Estonian client wanted a covered cooking area adjacent to a sauna building or Banya so he could entertain guests. The design incorporated a large wood-fired oven, a Firemagic mains gas BBQ and side burner, a sink with disposal unit and plenty of cupboard storage.

The sturdy english oak frame from specialist sawmill Vastern Timber and cedar shingle roof fitted well with the sauna building specially imported from Russia so we carried the theme through with oak cladding to the units and sourced a local Horsham stone to clad the oven.

The client was delighted with the resulting installation and has made full use of all the appliances over the years when he is visiting the UK with his family.

This kind of project in St Georges Hill is pretty labour intensive and requires a site presence of at least 4 people to get it handed over on time. Our carpenter spent the best part of 3 weeks getting the timber in place for the roof and cladding the units. Every slat on the kitchen had to be cut to size, screwed and plugged and then sanded smooth ready for a sealing coat of varnish.

The stone work on the oven was equally demanding as the shape had to be set out with the roof timbers so that the chimney could pass through. The stone was corbelled in reducing courses following a string line set at the right angle and then because of the oven void below, each had to be supported by a lightweight insulated backfill over the oven ceramic fibre insulation using a mixture of Lytag and cement.

Lytag is a very useful expanded vitrified clay aggregate as it comes in different sizes, is load bearing and because of its cellular structure, very lightweight and insulating.

With two of us staying over full time in the neighbouring village of Ripley, just a mile or so from St Georges Hill, we were able to get to site early without having to get up at 5am each morning as we did on mondays after relaxing at home on weekends. Our other labourers came each day we needed them and kept costs down for the client.

Staying over does add considerably to the cost of the project, especially on large projects where we sometimes have to stay weeks on end. Luckily Bruno, our then carpenter had a friend who had a flat he was renting out so we were able to sleep and cook locally in the evenings and not having to worry about commuting when tired after work.

The main contractors Octagon Developments were very good at keeping us supplied with delivered materials and had a dumper trundling back and forth from the entrance at the top of the site some 150m away. When there is no main contractor to bear those costs, it all has to go on the bill to the client, something to bear in mind during the planning process.

The overall bill for this large project was quite a bit more than originally costed as the client added quite a few extras while we were on site. We supplied an extra gas BBQ and cart for the south facing terrace on the back of the house as well as a very expensive large parasol to sit under on hot days.

Any extras incurred on projects are fully costed and agreed with the client before supply or installation. We keep an email trail of agreements to all parties so that there are no misunderstandings later in the project- this is very important when discussing finishes or products that can have a lot of variations. We have to make sure that when we buy in the materials and appliances, it has all been agreed and every decision checked.

Sink, worktop and oven

Design proposal cgi

Stone clad oven and BBQ

Firemagic gas BBQ and sideburner

Pull out waste bin

First firing