Outdoor Kitchen Coming Along
After a trip to Lowes the other night for more building supplies, I started my day yesterday by moving all the lumber we bought from my car to dry areas I have setup in our yard. Then I got started on pulling power tools out of the shed and collecting all the other tools I would need for the day.
Once everything was organized and setup, I began cutting and assembling the back of the base cabinets and end panels on the base cabinets for our outdoor kitchen. This actually went fairly quickly but all the bending and twisting was brutal on my spinal injuries.
This is the view as you are coming up the stone path to our back door...
Here you can see how the cabinets form a "U". I still need to cut and assemble the face frames for the left and the back side of the "U". The wood you see in the photo is actually the back panel. Since there is no countertop in place yet (I haven't even begun to cut and assemble the butcher block countertop yet), the inside of the back panels are illuminated and easy to see making it look like the front of the cabinet instead.
The grill was a time consuming, painful, project yesterday. I had to carefully lift the grill up onto blocks so I could remove the wheels. After wasting some time trying to figure out how to remove the wheels and then remove the wheels, I was able to get some more accurate measurements so I could build the base for the grill. After cutting and ripping some treated lumber and then assembling the base, I placed the base in front of the grill on top of smooth pieces of wood that I would use as runners. (This is an idea I stole from ancient Egyptian builders.) I then lifted the grill, one side at a time, and zig-zagged it into place on top of the new base frame. Once it was on the new base frame, I removed the big 4x4 blocking I used to prop up the grill... I was able to easily slide the whole grill and base back into place on my improvised wood runners... then I slightly lifted each end to remove each runner.
After the grill was in place, I cut and assembled a wood enclosure under the side burner of the grill. That side burner just floating off the side of the grill has always bothered me. Now it is all framed and looks like it belongs in the kitchen cabinets...
It will be a tight little kitchen but very functional. I won't need to get soaked in the rain or endure snow and ice falling from the sky anymore! I also won't need to scrape off snow and ice from the grill before being able to use it!
I designed the backs of these cabinets to match the new trash shed and some new fencing that will be part of my new astronomy observatory.
It is supposed to rain most of the day and this evening so I am indoors today. We have a new dryer arriving on Saturday so I need to remove all my tools from that back mud room/laundry room and clean the room up a bit.
I'll move the old dryer out of the way... finish reinforcing the floor for the bigger, better, heavier dryer (we purchased a new dryer that is the matching pair to our fairly new Samsung front loading washer)... paint the extended floor to match the washer side of the reinforced area... clean out the dryer vent... vacuum all the cob webs and dust behind the dryer... then put the old dryer back into place until Saturday when we will place it in the yard for pickup when the new dryer arrives. So, that is today's project... if I can find the energy. Just writing all of that wore me out.
I hope to get back outside to work on the kitchen tomorrow. I will work on cutting and assembling the face frames for the new cabinets. I might have enough lumber leftover to start making doors too. I need to make four or five doors (still undecided). I hadn't planned to add any drawers but that might be an idea... maybe four doors and a few drawers. The drawers, however, will add significantly to time and costs.
I also have to finish up the electrical work. That can wait until the end of the project though.
It is looking more and more like a real kitchen every day!
Once everything was organized and setup, I began cutting and assembling the back of the base cabinets and end panels on the base cabinets for our outdoor kitchen. This actually went fairly quickly but all the bending and twisting was brutal on my spinal injuries.
This is the view as you are coming up the stone path to our back door...
Here you can see how the cabinets form a "U". I still need to cut and assemble the face frames for the left and the back side of the "U". The wood you see in the photo is actually the back panel. Since there is no countertop in place yet (I haven't even begun to cut and assemble the butcher block countertop yet), the inside of the back panels are illuminated and easy to see making it look like the front of the cabinet instead.
The grill was a time consuming, painful, project yesterday. I had to carefully lift the grill up onto blocks so I could remove the wheels. After wasting some time trying to figure out how to remove the wheels and then remove the wheels, I was able to get some more accurate measurements so I could build the base for the grill. After cutting and ripping some treated lumber and then assembling the base, I placed the base in front of the grill on top of smooth pieces of wood that I would use as runners. (This is an idea I stole from ancient Egyptian builders.) I then lifted the grill, one side at a time, and zig-zagged it into place on top of the new base frame. Once it was on the new base frame, I removed the big 4x4 blocking I used to prop up the grill... I was able to easily slide the whole grill and base back into place on my improvised wood runners... then I slightly lifted each end to remove each runner.
After the grill was in place, I cut and assembled a wood enclosure under the side burner of the grill. That side burner just floating off the side of the grill has always bothered me. Now it is all framed and looks like it belongs in the kitchen cabinets...
The extra propane tank would no longer fit underneath the side burner so I made a place for it inside the kitchen base cabinets on the opposite side of the grill. The grill now looks a lot better wrapped in our new kitchen cabinets. Notice the new grass behind the grill... that wasn't there a week ago.
It will be a tight little kitchen but very functional. I won't need to get soaked in the rain or endure snow and ice falling from the sky anymore! I also won't need to scrape off snow and ice from the grill before being able to use it!
I designed the backs of these cabinets to match the new trash shed and some new fencing that will be part of my new astronomy observatory.
It is supposed to rain most of the day and this evening so I am indoors today. We have a new dryer arriving on Saturday so I need to remove all my tools from that back mud room/laundry room and clean the room up a bit.
I'll move the old dryer out of the way... finish reinforcing the floor for the bigger, better, heavier dryer (we purchased a new dryer that is the matching pair to our fairly new Samsung front loading washer)... paint the extended floor to match the washer side of the reinforced area... clean out the dryer vent... vacuum all the cob webs and dust behind the dryer... then put the old dryer back into place until Saturday when we will place it in the yard for pickup when the new dryer arrives. So, that is today's project... if I can find the energy. Just writing all of that wore me out.
I hope to get back outside to work on the kitchen tomorrow. I will work on cutting and assembling the face frames for the new cabinets. I might have enough lumber leftover to start making doors too. I need to make four or five doors (still undecided). I hadn't planned to add any drawers but that might be an idea... maybe four doors and a few drawers. The drawers, however, will add significantly to time and costs.
I also have to finish up the electrical work. That can wait until the end of the project though.
It is looking more and more like a real kitchen every day!
Comments
Post a Comment