DIY Outdoor Kitchen

One of the things I had in mind to do when I built the decking around the sleepout was to provide some kind of sheltered kitchen facility, that would save the occupant from having to come all the way up to the main house if all they wanted was a quick snack or cup of tea. So I decided to build a kitchen bench starting with whatever timber I had lying around which included a few lengths of 4x2.

 

Knowing what the dimensions should be was a critical first step.
So my starting point was with a laminated bench top I saw at Bunnings for under $100.

The first thing I did was build a frame slightly smaller than the bench top itself which would become the top of the carcass. I made it smaller to allow for a small overhang.

I glued and screwed everything together making sure everything was properly straight and square. Then, using more 4x2 timber lengths I made a few more legs for the frame of the carcass.

I ripped a bit of old decking in half on the table saw, length ways to create a couple of rails which I would use to attach the legs. Also, the plywood base of each cupboard would attach to these rails.

     I positioned 2 of the legs to accommodate a couple of drawers which I had salvaged from an old cabinet we no longer needed. At this point because the cabinet was starting to get rather heavy I moved it into a position nearer to where it would finally reside and continued attaching plywood to create the individual cupboard compartments.

I hasten to point out at this stage that I have very little if any cabinet-making experience, other than a few wood working projects from school nearly a life-time ago. So I was basically making this up as I went along, although I had a very clear idea of what I was aiming to produce.

 

The next thing that was needed were some cupboard doors which I made out of plywood attached to a light timber frame for each door. This was the most challenging part of the job in view of my limited cabinet making skills, but I was very pleased with how it was all coming together at this point. In the mean time I added a couple of shelves and continued to cover the entire cabinet with plywood to finish everything off nicely.

Getting it to this stage I needed a few bits of hardware including hinges and door/draw handles so I decided to replace the existing handles on the drawers to make sure everything matched. In trying to match everything I also had to sand the drawers back to their original lighter colour, although I knew it wouldn't match perfectly, but I told myself: close enough would be good enough.The plywood I used was untreated so I was aware I would need to cover it with a protective layer of stain or varnish. At first I thought of using the same dark stain as I used on that planter box (on the right hand side in the picture above). I thought by doing that, I could hide the fact that there were different coloured timbers showing, but because it's such a light airy space I felt a lighter colour would be better despite the variation in timber colours. 

  

Because I used a stain, that only accentuated the different coloured timbers rather than hid the fact, but I'm not too worried about that. Finally, using the power I'd hooked up for the space, I repurposed a spare fridge, toaster and kettle from the house. I also ran power to a set of down lights which I installed over the bench. Then to finish off I added a splash back on the wall above the bench, which I recycled from the old bathroom.

So now it's a semi-functional al Fresco Kitchen where simple snacks and light meals can be prepared. At this stage there are no proper cooking facilities but I reckon a microwave, electric frying pan and maybe a portable gas cooker might do for basic cooking.