This warm and inviting photo was taken in the San Diego area. It’s a great use of outside space, with an oven as the focal point (but it’s fighting with the wonderful view for that honor).

The space may be small, but it’s well thought-out. Plates of glass protect people, food, and beverages from winds off the ocean. The oven, from Wood Stone Home, is built-in, and everywhere you look there is stone – on walls and on floors.

The Wood Stone company has been in business since 1990, with more than 15,000 installations in over 80 countries worldwide. Wood Stone built its reputation on a family of stone hearth ovens.

In 1989, challenged with the task of finding a wood-fired stone hearth oven, or “brick oven,” that could withstand the rigors of the restaurant world, Keith Carpenter pitched some ideas to Harry Hegarty, an experienced builder of large-scale, high-temperature ceramic incinerators. Wood Stone was born the very next year. Five years later, Wood Stone introduced gas-fired, and gas-assist, stone hearth ovens, with a variety of configurations.

In January of 2014, Wood Stone was acquired by Henny Penny, a manufacturer of commercial-grade cooking equipment for restaurants, supermarkets, and institutions around the world.

More recently, at the end of December in 2014, Wood Stone became employee-owned (ESOP).

Wood Stone Home; 1801 W. Bakerview Rd., Bellingham, Washington 98226; Phone: (800) 578-6836; Website: www.woodstonehome.com.