Evolution of an Idea

I have a lot of ideas.  Mainly because my brain is constantly in motion while I multi-task with computer, iPad, television, radio, books and magazines.  Some of the ideas find their way into my journal but most are never put into action.  I’m still looking for that one big idea.  In any case, this is the story of one of my ideas becoming a reality; thanks in large part to my talented and lovely wife – Tracy.

Sometime in April I had the idea that I could build a wood-fired, brick oven in my backyard for authentic pizzas and artisanal breads.  The thought of real, wood-fired pizzas with a thin, crispy crust while not leaving the comfort of my home made me salivate.  This was the ticket.  I promptly turned to the internet and learned from others who built their own backyard ovens.  What did I learn?

·         I didn’t have the skills

·         I didn’t have a good location for the oven, and

·         It was a bit beyond my intended budget

No wood-fired pizza oven for me.

We continued to talk and discuss plans for a new gas grill and improvements to our deck off the rear of the house.  How about an outdoor kitchen?  We could extend one area of the deck and then add some cabinets, countertops and grill with a small table/bar area for entertaining.  Tracy agreed that this had promise.  We even sketched out our idea on the plane.  It was taking shape.

Somewhere in this process I learned of a kamodo-style ceramic oven; aka The Big Green Egg.  Hmmm, with one of these I could smoke meats low and slow for hours and use it as a wood-fired oven as well?

Once we returned home we continued to sketch and like most engineers, we drew up plans and then changed and changed some more.  The deck extension would not work.   I wanted it under roof to extend the season; the roof turned out to be impractical.  We wanted to build it from stone or brick; turned out to be very expensive plus our deck could not handle the extra weight.  In the end we are very pleased with the project.  This gives you an idea on how the finished project came together….

 A couple of key decisions we made can be seen in these two photos.

• Novik vinyl siding to simulate the look of stone.
• Wrought iron table top (wished we had went 54" diamter instead of 48")
• Umbrella and canopy instead of a structured roof
• Countertop of 12" x 12" granite tiles