Pool and BBQ Island design.....need comments and suggestions

Apr 3, 2010
22
Here is a drawing and picture of a pool we are building. The pool builder is doing the BBQ Island as well, but it is up to us to decide on the layout. We will have a Luxor 42" grill, Luxor dual side burner, Danby fridge, Fire magic Ice maker, One double door 42" cabinet front, and a pull out trash bin.
Any help with the layout would be appreciated. FYI, there will be electric, gas, and water run to the Island as well.

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I think it looks great! What is that in the upper right? Spa? Pond? I do think you may want more space for outdoor furniture. It's difficult to get a sense of scale, but it looks like you'd have a hard time fitting a table and chairs anywhere (maybe at bottom left).
 
I see a few things; first, I want a railing at the edge of the steps where the countertop starts. Something to alert someone walking on that pool decking that they are about to stray into an unprotected 3' drop. I can imagine a very attractive wrought iron railing made for this.

Second, as was mentioned, take a look at the dimensions of the lower patio area. I assume you will want seating there to admire the water falling. There are rules about how big an area needs to be to comfortably seat X number of people. As I recall, for table seating, take your table size and add 4' all around to allow for chairs to be pulled out and sat in and also walked around when people are seated. That is minimum. 12'x12' is about right for a small table, 4' square, seating 4 persons. I am assuming the covered patio at the house is about 12'x5' based on the doorway being about 3' wide.

If the area will be conversation area, then you need to add the sofa and/or chairs and table and side tables and so on as well. You can fit a decent conversation area for 4 or if you want to have 6 you will want it bigger. I have a patio area for 7 in a U-shape; sofa seating plus 4 arm chairs, small coffee table and tiny side tables in a 12'x12'ish area but there is no walkway behind any of the seats as they snug up to the edge of the flagstone and the approach is from the open side of the U. And my furniture is not bulky, thin aluminum made to look like bamboo. Some sets are huge so beware.

The lower area in your plan could be used this way as long as you have enough room for people to walk comfortably and safely to all the chairs, allow 3' walkspace between chairs and water, min, where the chairs face the water. If chairs are back to the water, as a dining table, you may need 5' from the table edge to allow 2' for the chair and 3' more, 4'd be better.

Third, you could consider a couple of chairs up by the spa. Or one or two chaise lounges. At least one somewhere, someone always wants to sunbathe -- where is the afternoon sun coming from? If it were near the spa then there would be a place for folks to drop their towels. So look at the size on either side of the spa to allow a chaise if that is where sunbathing might be best. Kinda looks like the step into the water there is on the wrong side, maybe that is not what it is, I cannot really tell.

Finally, I'd like to see some seating at the grill that faces the cook that is not in the water. I think there may be too much unneeded floor space in the cook area. Changing the dimensions there might be helpful. I suspect that a lot of the time you are cooking out there will be for people who are not in the water while eating. How many will there be and where will they eat if not in the water? If the upper decking was larger and the grill area was smaller and slid to the lower left a bit, you may have room for a dining table. Beware of the view from inside the house if a table is set there. You have nice windows at that patio at the house and the view from there is probably quite important.
 
Good points.
The area that you suggest a railing has already been addressed. The countertop right there is going to stop instead of making the turn away from the pool. A planter will take its place to serve as a barrier for the danger zone.
Also, the lower left patio is being completely re-designed. We had the same concerns about space. We are thinking of putting a fire pit down there so we can enjoy the watefall from that area in the evenings.
We figure that most dining will take place right at the swim up bar. We can fit 4 in the pool, and maybe 5 out of the pool. Not sure what we will do if we need additional "sit down and eat" space, but we know we dont want a traditional patio table out there. maybe a "tall boy" table and 2 chairs somewhere.
We are a little stumped on how we want the grill stuff laid out in the cabinet.
The back of the home faces due south, so the morning sun comes from the right side of the picture, and the evening from the left.
 
Good, I like the planter in that spot. And dry seating for 5 sounds good. That will use up some of what looked like excess room. And I assume the tabletop in that area will be sized deep enough for two people to eat comfortably facing each other, something close to 36" but less could be fine.

You may want the extra table on the covered porch, it may be hot in the afternoon, depending on where you are located and that shade might be nice. As long as the style of the set is open and does not obstruct the view of the pool, I am always very interested in how things look from the windows.

As for the fire pit, funny thing I've noticed is that most of our friends that have them hardly used them this year. It seems like such a cool thing, but beware that it may get old after awhile. So you might be careful about how much you invest into that. Personally I love the idea of just the conversation area, comfy chairs and the sparkling waterfall, looking back toward the house all lit up at the windows at night.
 
We are hyper aware of the views from the windows. Just past the pool is a salt water canal that leads out to galveston bay. We moved here specifically for the views to the water. Our pool designer was very good about making sure all the elevations enhanced the views instead of blocking them. Looks like we might be digging in a couple weeks!!!! Can't wait!!!
 
Wow, not until I was on this site have I ever seen pool designs that include a 'dining' area. While it will be a while before I upgrade to such a pool, I am curious, the stools in the pool. What are they made of? Can they be bought? Or are they custom made?
 
Our pool builder recommended them. Not sure of the brand, but they are made of a high quality stainless steel that wont corrode in a properly balanced salt pool. The seat is a THICK HEAVY plastic. Not flimsy or cheap at all. They are removable from a sleeve in the pool floor. If we did the "concrete pillar" type stools, the pool cleaner would get wrapped around them and be ineffective. As a bonus, we can put additional sleeves in the patio around the pool and when we pull them out of the pool, just slip them into the patio for additional seating/storage!!!
They are definitely not custom made, but I don't have any brand or model info for them.
We decided that we wanted something like this in our pool after a vacation where the resort had a swim up bar. We sat in the water for hours just relaxing and enjoying the views.
 
OK so that will be really warm in the sumer. Have you got sun shielding tint or solar type window screens? You don't have much overhang to block sun and the resulting solar gain. I keep hearing an ad on the radio about a 8 mil film they use that protects windows from damage in storms as well as gives sun protection.

My house has heavy gauge window screens that block a lot of sun without compromising the view too much, the prior owner said it made a huge difference in the electric bills when they were installed. I thought about it on our prior house but was not quite sure if it would really help much. Electric bills there regularly topped $500/mo in the summer so I should have investigated it.

I'll bet this new house of yours is planned for energy efficiency, our daughter's newly built house has amazingly low electric bills.
 

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The windows are amazingly resistant to heat gain and without being tinted dark. This house has exceeded our expectations for efficiency even with the middle of the road AC system. We went from a smaller home with $500/month electric bills to a 1200 sq/ft larger home with more windows....now our electric is around $250 in the summer. I am sure the pool equipment will add to that, but the intelliflo should help.
 
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