Tiki bar &
Outdoor Kitchen
I believe that in the summer I should be outside wearing Hawaiian shirts, drinking cold drinks and listening to music, especially when cooking.
What is a kitchen?
A work surface where food can be chopped and prepared, cooked and washed up. These are essential for a kitchen.
But Greek summers demand shade.
Sun and wind
Trying to configure the structures in the garden so that both shade and protection from the wind were guaranteed has been difficult. the initial 1.5m deep shade roof does not protect from the south facing sun. The initial split reed shade material (visible to the right) was unable to stand up to the wind either.
What was clear was that a decent wall made from stone, ideally ballasted further with soil would be needed to protect the kitchen from this huge force.
Breeze Blocks
Unfortunately the not ideal material that is concrete was the most appropriate material this time. While an argument could be made for local stone because I was alone it was just not possible to assemble a wall that quickly due to constraints such as weight and availability. Although stones are everywhere, the sizes needed would have to be ordered and carried up the sloped garden path. Concrete blocks can be easily carried and stacked.
By stacking the blocks away from the kitchen and using soil to stop them falling over and adding further weight (filling in their holes) a stable wall can be built. It is further stabilized by creating a zigzag pattern.
Roof and sides
The concrete blocks were not an attractive feature and so were covered with the reeds as was the roof. These reeds are relatively strong (like bamboo) but are joined together with just wire. This makes the length of fence as they are supplied somewhat less strong and must be screwed down with appropriate lengths of wood. I have attempted to use wire but this is not quite as effective.
In between the reeds and the concrete I added a wall of wood for further protection from the wind. Although the blocks break the worst of the gusts, the little breezes that escape over the tops of the blocks were still able to destabilize the reed 'fence'. By adding this wooden back it is far easier to attach the reeds to something flat and rigid.
​
The reed roof will protect from the sun directly overhead but this is not much use during the day. A military style shade netting is currently used at the front, stretched over a frame when winds are not too aggressive.
A bit of Decking
In summer 2024 I added a 2.4 x 2.4 meter sized deck. This made it far more comfortable to move around the space. It is still a little messy but with some decoration it is far more appealing to cook outside in this space now, especially with the shade net.
​
As with all the projects at this house, this one is far from finished but it does look now like the basis of a cooking space is there.