Designer built a budget-friendly summer kitchen out of stones: “The kitchen is the heart of the entire yard; we had no use for the lawn”

“My family’s summer home in Virolahti, Finland, came into our lives through my wife, Kaisa. Her family has been farming the property since the 1600s. The forlorn-looking house in the yard was transferred to us in 2010. We decided to make it our vacation home.

We lived there and renovated it for three and a half years while our children were little. Then we moved back to Helsinki, and the house became our leisure retreat. One of the best parts is the summer kitchen, which I’ve worked on over several summers. The project began with the lawn and some stones.

Aleksi and Kaisa Kuokka lived in the old family home for over three years while their daughters were young. At the same time, they renovated it into a summer retreat that suited them.

The house was originally built for Kaisa’s great-grandfather. Later, Kaisa’s great-aunt lived there. After her passing, the building sat unheated for about a decade.

The house is quite small, so space quickly runs out for our family of five. Luckily, we have a large yard. In the summer, it’s an extension of our home. But the downside to a big lot was how long it took to mow. When it started getting on my nerves, I looked for a natural way to reduce the yard’s size. The answer was stones.

A World War II fortification line, called the Salpa Line, runs through the property, stretching from Virolahti north along the Finnish-Russian border. It’s made of large natural stone boulders that jut out all over our land. Over the past five or six summers, I’ve been building fences from those stones. I’ve dug them up with a shovel, a crowbar, and an excavator. I’ve also collected them, with permission, from other people’s land using a tractor.

First, I built one fence, then another. Soon, there was a circle in the yard, and the summer kitchen took shape inside it.

Aleksi wanted a minimalistic feel for the summer kitchen. Larch doesn’t need surface treatment and withstands rain and frost on its own. Concrete patio pavers match the look and were easy on the budget.

I’m an industrial designer by trade. I design so much at work that in my free time, I don’t want to plan anything on paper. Building the summer kitchen and its furniture spontaneously has been a fun change of pace.

First, I made a three-meter kitchen counter from larch with plenty of workspace and a large charcoal grill. I built the grill using cast iron grates and fire bricks. Later, we added a pizza oven. There’s no water supply in our summer kitchen, but I’m thinking of adding electricity so it’s easier to listen to music and make waffles for breakfast.

Next to the kitchen counter, we have a two-meter dining table and chairs for eight. We often invite friends from Helsinki and host them. Each summer we throw a party for 50 people, and that’s when the summer kitchen becomes a real buffet line.

We’ve expanded the area every year. First, Kaisa wanted raised garden boxes; the next year, a vegetable plot. Then we added a new patio section. This summer, we’ll add lounge chairs and a fire pit. Our yard is on a gentle slope, so each addition requires terracing, which I’ve also done with stones.

We start using our outdoor space at Easter or by May Day at the latest and stay out there well into October. Whenever we’re in the summer kitchen, we like to soak up the atmosphere. The kitchen is the heart of the entire yard, whereas the lawn wasn’t of any use to us.

Growing food is an important part of life in Virolahti. Kaisa’s father also farms the property. “We probably grow 50–100 different varieties here, including berries, fruits, herbs, and root vegetables. We preserve some of them for winter in various ways,” Aleksi says.

The summer kitchen required a lot of work, though I never calculated my labor costs. Boards, concrete slabs, and grill supplies cost only a few thousand. I never wanted the kitchen to be overly equipped. I like the way it fits into the landscape. This project really shows how keeping expenses low can offer a richer everyday life.”