— CASE STUDY / SOLVANG, CA
Solvang Outdoor
Kitchen
A property that used to flood into the pool now drains clean in a rainstorm. A 4,000-pound pizza oven installed on a foundation built to hold it. A backyard that has been booked every summer weekend since the day we finished.
LOCATION
Solvang
Santa Ynez Valley
BUDGET
$200k-$400k
Full Backyard Build
SCOPE
Landscape
+ Hardscaping
YEAR
2025
Completed
A Yard Their Kids
Would Actually Use.
THE BRIEF —
The clients wanted a gathering space their high school-aged kids would actually want to be in — and bring friends to. Not a manicured yard that felt off-limits, but a real outdoor room built for four people on a Tuesday or thirty on a Saturday night.
There was a structural problem to solve first. The property had a chronic flooding issue: during rain, water ran across the patio and into the pool and the home. Any build that didn't address this would fail from the ground up. The entire paver system had to be engineered for drainage before a single feature could be placed on top of it.
They cooked pizza the day after we finished. By summer, every weekend was booked — gatherings of 4 to 30 people, formal dinners and impromptu get-togethers, back to back from June through September.
THE APPROACH —
Three Problems
Worth Solving Right.
01
The property flooded during rain — water running across the patio and into the pool and house. Every paver joint, every grade, every drainage run was engineered to eliminate it. The result: during a rainstorm, the patio drains clean. No puddles, no pooling, nothing reaching the structure. Every feature built on top of that sits on a solved problem.
Drainage First
02
The pizza oven weighed over four thousand pounds. Moving it to the back of the property and setting it correctly required foundation work most residential builds never see. We engineered the footing first, then built the feature on top of it — because an oven this size is a permanent structure, not a piece of furniture.
4,000 Pounds of Intent
03
The brief was a professional-grade outdoor kitchen in someone's backyard. Concrete countertops, commercial grill stations, cedar pergola ceiling with integrated heating. Clean, bold, built to the same standard you'd expect indoors. The kind of setup where the question isn't whether to host — it's who to invite.
Commercial Kitchen Standard
THE BUILD —
Six Months,
One Yard.
SCOPE OF WORK —
Everything,
End to End.
Designed, built, and project-managed in-house by Legacy Landscape & Arboriculture. No subcontracted design. No hand-offs.
— HARDSCAPE
Custom outdoor kitchen with poured concrete countertops, cedar ceiling pergola, and integrated grill stations.
— POOL
Pool re-tile, deck resurfacing, and integration with the new patio composition and dining terrace.
— LANDSCAPE
Drought-resilient planting design across the rear slope: native grasses, agave, and oak underplanting.
— FEATURE BUILD
Custom outdoor kitchen with poured concrete countertops, cedar ceiling pergola, and integrated grill stations.
— OUTDOOR LIVING
In-ground fire pit with custom seating, lower terrace stairs, and built-in bar seating along the kitchen.
— LIGHTING & AMBIENCE
Architectural lighting throughout the kitchen, pergola, fire pit, and select landscape moments.
Considering a Project Like This?
Let's Talk About
Your Property.
Legacy Landscape works on a small number of full-scope projects each year across Santa Barbara County and the Central Coast. Consultations are by appointment.