BBQ Island Build

geoff7877

geoff7877

Full Fledged Farker
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Location
Petaluma...
Hi everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. I think the last time I was active was when I built my pizza oven 7 years ago here: https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=237241

I’ve decided to build a full island with a built in Santa Maria grill on one side, the pizza that I built 7 years ago on the other side with some workspace in between and storage underneath. Concrete countertops to finish it off.

I’ve never built anything like this but I figured, why not! Taking my time and carefully thinking out every step along the way.

The entire island is being built from cinder blocks, bricks and concrete. Work is underway and I will post my progress as I go.

Hope you like it!
 
Nice! Looking forward to seeing the progress.

I remember the pizza oven build— though in my case rather than providing inspiration to consider trying it myself it made me realize that I’d need to save up some $$ to buy one if I was going to get one. :oops:
 
Thanks everyone! I kinda lost the “fire” for cooking outside for a while. I still do it all the time, but having equipment that inspires me to cook has a big impact. Plus the ridiculous amount of rain that we had this winter helped push me inside. Now I’ll be able to use the pizza oven and Santa Maria together and create kind of an outside destination to cook in.

Pics coming soon!
 
Somehow I missed that Pizza oven build. Just had a quick look and very impressive!

Will be following this with great interest!

Cheers!

Bill
 
Well, I have pics to show but can’t post them. I remember this from the pizza oven thread and I had to delete pics from previous posts to make room.
 
So, here’s the spot. Please forgive the mess and the splotchy looking pergola. I’m working on evening out the discoloration and re-straining it.

This before pic was taken in January. I did a quick dry fit of the front as I had designed it. I quickly realized it wasn’t long enough and the two openings would have to be moved to accommodate the Santa Maria on the left and allow for storage. The opening on the right will stay open to hold firewood. Additionally, this design would not have allowed for any usable prep space in between the grill and the pizza oven, so it definitely needed to be changed.

IMG_1015.jpegIMG_1016.jpeg
 
I installed the paver patio 4 years ago this summer and my original thought was to build the island directly on top of the pavers. Luckily, I waited to build the island because I realized what a dumb thought that was.

So, after reimagining my dimensions, I removed the pavers and dug out the paver sand and top layer of road base to pour a 4” thick, rebar reinforced slab.

I used the pavers as my reinforcement for the wood forms. ***WORDS OF CAUTION*** Never use OSB for concrete forms. I was looking for the thinnest possible material for the form because I had the pavers to hold up the forms. I had some OSB leftover from the garage shelving I built and it was perfect thickness at 1/4”. Well, the OSB soaked up the wet concrete like a sponge, swelled up and then dried as hard as, CONCRETE! It’s almost impossible to get out. I can’t even move the pavers that supported the forms due to the swelling and hardening. Rookie mistake, but not the end of the world…

Moving on.


IMG_1106.jpegIMG_1109.jpegIMG_1110.jpeg
 
After I poured the foundation, we have 5 straight weekends of horrible weather so nothing happened. I did start attempting to pull the forms after a few days of pouring the foundation and was a little premature. I’ve never poured a foundation and parts of the edges broke off in the process but I fixed it. I needed to just leave it alone and let the concrete do its thing. The weather forcing me to not touch it did the trick.

So, 5 weeks later and a cured foundation, I started laying down the blocks. I’ve never done this before either, so I took my time, making sure the mortar was the right thickness all the way around and that every block was level.


IMG_1229.jpegIMG_1230.jpegIMG_1232.jpeg
 
At this point, it’s actually starting to take shape instead of looking like a pile of cinder blocks.

This end is where the grill will be. The grill will be built on top of a poured slab that will cover the opening shown here. I’m supporting the slab with two Stacks of blocks that will be stacked three blocks high each in the middle of the island.

IMG_1278.jpeg

The opening in the front will be storage and the outer block support for the grill slab will act a a wall for the storage space. I’m going to make 2 cedar doors to finish off the storage area.

IMG_1279.jpeg

This side is where the pizza oven will go. The opening here will be for wood storage. I decided to build up the blocks in the middle to create a back wall for the wood storage, but more importantly, doubles as much needed support for the pizza oven. The two rows of blocks at the very back is for extra support where the pizza oven will be placed. The pizza will exceed the width of the island, so this seems like the best solution.

IMG_1297.jpeg

From the pizza oven end…

IMG_1299.jpeg
 
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