Just Finished My XL Egg's New Home

RgrimesMD

After looking around on the boards, it almost felt like a rite of passage as a new Egg owner to build my own table.  I wavered back and forth on a Large vs. XL, but ultimately went for the XL.  We have 5 kids and once I started thinking about cookouts for ball teams and everyone I decided I would need the larger amount of surface area.  

I poured concrete countertops because I wanted to see if I could pick up a new skill.  It wasn't terrible, but I don't think I'll be doing my own kitchen countertops anytime soon.  I used Quikrete's countertop mix and used the terra cotta mix in with just a touch of red to deepen the color.  The body is made out of cedar and finished with 3 coats of Helmsman Spar urethane.  

I decided against a single top design because I felt like the XL was too big to try to maneuver up and then into the hole I would have had to cast.  With this set up I was able to just muscle it out of the nest and onto the bricks I used to line the shelf.  I hope to find some Rubbermaid-type bins with lids to slide into the openings under the counters at some point.

All in all it was a fun project to tackle and only took me about 3 days to finish.  My wife and I are taking a little trip this weekend, but I hope to fire it up for a long, slow smoke next week.

nolaegghead

Nice!  Pretty impressive for 3 days, I spent 3 weeks building mine...

SkinnyV

Nice work, looks real nice.

RgrimesMD

Let me restate that, 3 days AFTER I poured the countertops.  That took a day itself.  So really 4 days.  This is also one of those projects that may never be truly "done".  I've got some ideas about add ons already.

Kristinnn

i LOVE those countertops!  i am doing that when i make a table someday.  i didnt know there was a special countertop mix

RgrimesMD

The Quikrete countertop mix is in a blue bag.  I had to special order it from my local Home Depot, but check around, we have the smallest Home Depot on the planet because of local fears of "Big Box" retailers.  When I ordered the bags, they were making a big deal about finding the updated price before they ordered it for me.  That had me worried that it was going to be some outrageous amount for the concrete, but it came out to about $5 a bag times 3 bags for a grand total of about $15 dollars in concrete for the tops.  I made my mold from a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine which I cut down and used to make the 1 1/2 inch sides for my forms.

BGE4Life

That is one nice table.  Great Work!

ChokeOnSmoke

The Quikrete countertop mix is in a blue bag.  I had to special order it from my local Home Depot, but check around, we have the smallest Home Depot on the planet because of local fears of "Big Box" retailers.  When I ordered the bags, they were making a big deal about finding the updated price before they ordered it for me.  That had me worried that it was going to be some outrageous amount for the concrete, but it came out to about $5 a bag times 3 bags for a grand total of about $15 dollars in concrete for the tops.  I made my mold from a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine which I cut down and used to make the 1 1/2 inch sides for my forms.

Went down the exact same path last year.  Got my Quikrete countertop mix from Home Depot but they had to special order it.  I ended up ordering twice because I decided to pour a shelf and a place for the EGG to sit as well.  It's held up fine so far through a harsh Wisconsin winter so I'm happy.  The one problem I had was that the slab that the egg was on cracked after I cooked on it after only a week.  Dumb on my part.  I've since sealed the crack with silicone and put firebricks between the egg and the concrete and it's doing just fine.  The crack just happens to be in the back so you can't see it anyway.

Nice job on yours, I like the red color!

RgrimesMD

I live in Kansas, so I am glad to hear the concrete weathered OK.  I took the easy road and just made my egg shelf out of cedar and sat firebrick on top of that.  I reinforced my top with some galvanized welded wire fencing because I could only find the 4inch by 4 inch remesh in a giant roll.  I had wanted to grind my tops a bit to expose the aggregate, but chickened out because I was afraid the wire mesh might be shallow or expose itself in one area where it was kind of bent.  I finished the tops with a beeswax/carnuba wax. Does anyone else have any experience with finishing concrete tops?

JWBurns

Great table!

Did you design that yourself or did you find plans somewhere?

newegg13

Nice table, and good touch with the bottle opener!

Sgt93

Nice!

RgrimesMD

I basically just winged it as far as plans.  Wanted to split the top because I didn't want to try the line up the XL in the hole routine.  Overall the table is 75 inches long.  The two counter tops are 24inch wide by 30inch deep.   The space in the middle is 27 inches wide, which gives me about 3/4 of an inch clearance.  The tops are about 37.5 inches tall as is the grill height. I'm 6'2" so the height is perfect for me.  

Griffin

Nice looking table. Like the idea of the concrete table top. Wasn't aware there was a quikrete product you could get to do that. What was the terra cotta mix, though?

Airwolf

It is a dye that you add to the concrete to color it.

http://www.concreteexchange.com/

That is a good resource to see all the different possibilities with concrete.

cortguitarman

Nice looking table. Another concrete option is to find a concrete counter top maker in your area. My buddy happens to make them. He makes them in his shop on a perfectly flat table then grinds them smooth. A counter top maker can add bits of colored glass or aggregate to really licensing up the top. My egg table is concrete and so is my basement bar top and vanity. My kitchen will also have them some day.

probe1957

I have been a fan of concrete counter tops since I saw them on one of those home improvement shows.  Looked into having one made for a large vanity in out main bath.  I will say this...it isn't cheap.  More expensive than granite.

QDude

Nice looking table. Another concrete option is to find a concrete counter top maker in your area. My buddy happens to make them. He makes them in his shop on a perfectly flat table then grinds them smooth. A counter top maker can add bits of colored glass or aggregate to really licensing up the top. My egg table is concrete and so is my basement bar top and vanity. My kitchen will also have them some day.

What did you put in the concrete to get that look?  I am going to do a concrete table for my XL but would like to spiff the top up a little bit, assuming it isn't too expensive to do that.

cortguitarman

My top is actually a bit more simple than some others. The flecks you see are river rock. When my friend makes them, he mixes his own ratios of sand, stone and cement, so in this case hr chose to use river rock instead of limestone. The top was poured upside down on a flat table. When it cured, forms were pulled and the top was flipped over and ground smooth. The grinding is what exposes the rock. I would estimate that to have the top made it would cost around $500. I got the good buddy discount and I'm sworn to secrecy on the price. (300 for materials is what i paid). Shh, don't tell.