Well I have been working on my outdoor kitchen for about a year now. Not straight, but so goes the life of a DIY'er. Anyway I have been posting more detail on another site, but thought I would share here as well.

The plan


The start. First time working with metal studs. Took a bit to get used to.


Progress


Only the raised bar left to frame


Framing done, enjoying a cold one


I might as well try some concrete countertops too.


Test section of conrete turned out well, full steam ahead.


Concrete finished, polished, sealed and a bit of backsplash tile installed


A bit of a close-up of the counters


That's about it to date. I hope to install some more tile around the face of the bar tops, as well as along the base. Then I plan to stucco the sides and last, but not least, I will install a pergola over the entire kitchen. Oh yeah, then there are lights, fans, etc. etc. etc.

Riles

That's pretty cool. How hard was it to do the concrete counter tops? Any tips?

I would not say the concrete countertop where that hard, but they did take some time. Especially the grinding/polishing part of it.

Tips:

- The best tip I was given was to get the book Concrete Countertops, written by Cheng. It walks through most of the details.
- It's nice to have a very sturdy work area, that is covered and you can clean out fairly easily. I do not have a garage, so I had to get a large canopy to put over my improvised work area. It worked pretty good.
- I think pouring them into to forms is more DIY friendly, but I have seen other pour in-place. With pouring in-place, there is the advantage of not having to move large heavy pieces of concrete but the downside is that finishing can be a challenge, it is tough to re-do any mistakes, and finishing is more difficult.
- You need access to some muscle to help flip some of these sections (depending on your counter size). I had some pieces that were pushing 500 pounds.
- I decided, after the fact, that I was going to grind it down to expose some of the aggregate. I wish I had known that going in, because that work should be done at around day 4. Some of my concrete was several weeks to a month old before I decided to grind and it made it much more time consuming due to the fact that they at full strength.
- I suggest going with concrete mixes designed for that purpose. Cheng is what I used, but Buddy Rhodes is also another reputable DIY mix.

Let me know if you have any specific quesitons.

Riles

This looks very nice. A couple of questions...

What is the sonotube for? What are the appliances? I can see a grill (built-in or rolled in?) and sink/bar, but I also see a couple of others. Are those burners? NG or propane? Any plans to cover it, or will it be out in the open. If the latter, how do you protect your appliances? I'm in the process of designing a remodel of our current outdoor kitchen, and it's good to see what others are doing.

Craig

The sonotube was for the pergola, which I have not installed yet. It was just sitting there in the photo.

My appliances consist of a built-in Napoleon Mirage, natural gas grill, a Kitchen-Aid double side burner (natural gas), a Kitchen-Aid refreshment center, a Kitchen-Aid pull-out trash bin, Frigidaire Mini-Fridge, Marvel Kegerator, Big Green Egg (large) and two sets of doors. Not everything is installed yet as it is a work in progress.

Yes, I have a pergola planned to go over the top, but it is open to the elements and I don't plan to do much more than that.

Made a little progress. Finished the stucco, placed the tile and put up the pergola. I still have to grout the tile, install another row of beams on the pergola, add some access lights and some pendant lights, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Here are some pics.

Added a few lights this weekend. Here is a shot at dusk. Almost there! Yeah.

Awesome.....

You did a fantastic job Riles. The only thing you could do nicer would be to come over and build one at my house. I really want to do a combo kitchen/living area but after taking almost six years to finish rebuilding all the properties after Katrina I just don't have the energy to start now. Hopefully I will within the next year. Keep posting, I need the inspiration!

Take Care

Fantastic! I bet you saved a fortune doing it yourself, great job.