Functional, Durable, Clean! Finally done with my eggs new home :)

ringkingpin

Hey gang,

I've been a member / lurker for a while but not a frequent poster.  I've been cooking on BGE's for about 10 years now.  I have a large, a small and a mini.  

I want to share with you my completed outdoor kitchen and some of the various steps of construction.  

The design was to be durable, functional and clean looking.  I went through many, many variations of the layout and decided on my 2stone Pizza Grill, a small BGE and a Large BGE.  There is a 15" wide drawer that pulls out for a garbage can and storage and then two more for coal storage, tools, utensils, etc and a 'fridge.

I just finished it last week and have cooked on it a number of times and it's a joy to work on.  I couldn't be happier.  One thing I noticed on my first cook which was a paella was how nice it is to have the eggs perfectly leveled for certain things.  When the paella pan was filled up with liquid, it stayed perfectly dispersed and more importantly evaporated evenly, ensuring a nice, thick, even soccorat.

This was the first drawing I made this winter, not what I made but a starting point:

a later, computer rendering of a different layout

we sunk a number of tubes past the frost line to make a foundation:

the foundation was plumbed with water, electric and gas, all in boring sleeves.  You can see some of the 8x8 limestone in the corner of this pic.  The sides and back are limestone.

ok, jump forward quite a bit.  Here the limestone block work is more or less done.  Also all of the wood frame work for the cabinertry was done too, in marine plywood and sealed.  The frame for the concrete countertop is made and they're working away on the counter:

two rolled aluminum angle rings as molds for the eggs

this is a 2x2 stainless angle flange for the pizza grill which sticks above the surface 3/8" 

working it

the finished, dried surface two weeks later

more progress, 24" 2 drawer perlick fridge installed

the finished product!  Pizza oven installed, capstone installed, cedar cabinetry done.  

We're modifiying the grill top so it goes over the flange, all the way down so water won't get in there

not a very good pic, I should get more but this kinda shows how the eggs are mounted.  We made two trays out of 3/16" 304 stainless 3" deep. In each tray is a 1" drain in the corner.  The cabinets are lined with concrete board, and then stainless angle was screwed to the sides to hold the tray.  The small egg tray is a bit high than the larges so the drain from the small one goes in to the large ones and then down a tube, in to the ground. 

In the back of unit, we sunk two dozen, 1" stainless rounds that are 8" long and drilled and tapped at one end.  These are there to mount whatever off in the future, lights, heaters, awning, etc.  I think I'm going to work on the lighting next, right now I just have that machinsts light and want something a little more appropriate.  

Anyhew, I'm pysched it's done and love using it!  

Eggcelsior

You win the internets tonight. There are not enough superlatives to describe how well done that is. Absolutely beautiful and supremely functional.

minniemoh

I must say, that is spectacular! Now sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Terrebandit

That is awesome!

EgginMisfit

We'll that makes my fancy new cart I built look like fire wood! Haha props to you and your construction ability. I'm 1000% jealous! Great job!

Cookinbob

Holy Cow!  I say you win!  I hope your outdoor season is longer than mine is here in Rochester NY!
That is amazing!

bud812

Fan frikken tastic. ^:)^ =D>

TexanOfTheNorth

Looks fantastic. What/how were the water and gas lines used for?

ringkingpin

Thanks guys!  I'm very pleased with the way it came out.  FYI, I did very little of the actual work but did the design and layout.  

We plumbed it will all of that stuff "just in case."  The water isn't being used at the moment, but the elctric and the gas are.  I converted my propane 2stone pizza grill to natural gas.  I almost forgot, this is one of the coolest parts, watch the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaTIo4fpSXw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUsaFnV-KGZr2JJWvtGKGrYA&noredirect=1

tulocay

Wow, that is one awesome looking outdoor kitchen. The details are incredible and the video of the pizza oven rising up was very cool. Nice job.

cazzy

Holy poop, that's awesome! The 2stone coming up is some MTV Cribs type stuff. Table is beautiful! Love the cabinet/concrete color combo! Very classy.

My only concern is airflow for the eggs. Maybe you could have cabinets that open and slide in. That way you don't have to egg with them open and obstructing.

None the less, fabulous job!

johnnyspo

Awesome job!!

ringkingpin

Cazzy, that was one of my concerns as well.  Considering the volume of the inside of that structure and the 1/2" opening arond both eggs, I hoped it would be sufficient airflow to let them breath.  This turns out to be the case, I've gotten the eggs super hot and I've also let them chugged along nice and mellow and haven't noticed a difference in the cooking when comparing them to how they worked in their nests.  Now that I've proved that they breath just fine, I'm actually thinking they might be more stable in there because heavy winds won't affect the draft as much.  That's just speculation on my part but it's what I'm thinking.  I probably won't notice a difference.  

ringkingpin

Cookinbob said:

Holy Cow!  I say you win!  I hope your outdoor season is longer than mine is here in Rochester NY!
That is amazing!

Thanks Bob,

I bet my season isn't a whole lot longer than yours as I'm in NW Indiana.  That said, I cook outdoors year round.  I'm also in the process of getting my eggs in a row (har!) to buy some Solaria Alpha series infrared heaters.  I'm going to put three of them above the dining table and then one or two on the backside of the kitchen to help warm things up a little

http://www.solairaheaters.com/products_alpha_series.html

henapple

Let me start off by saying I hate you. ) jk

That's one sweet setup. My only concern is what appears to be cedar shingles behind it. Highly flammable. Maybe a few coats of clear fire retardant? The chances are slim, but....

ringkingpin

hey Hen,

I actually have some clear fire proofing product, which I bought from Sherwin Williams I believe. You're correct, that is cedar shake.  I opted not to apply that coating yet because it requires maintenance and I'm a good ways off that wall actually.  The other thing is that is the same location I've been grilling in with the BGE and before, with my Weber for over ten years.  I appreciate your concern though and might still slop some of that stuff on there.  

henapple

No problem... Looks damn good. I'm jealous.

TonyA

When i only saw the drawing first I thought this was a joke .. That's sharp!! Enjoy it.

robnybbq

That is beautiful.  I would love to have that.  That counter tops looks really nice as well.

One day.

lousubcap

What a set-up.  Congrats!  Waaaay beyond my skill-set.

RAC

WOW! That is awesome.

Spaightlabs

Your outside kitchen I waaaay nicer than my inside kitchen. Beautiful egg haven you have there.

SoCal_Griller

Very nice and inspirational.  Now I really need to get off my duff and do something like this.  Great job!

Aquacop

Is it rude to say I Hate You? Simply awesome, congrats

Botch

Sah-Weeet!!   =D>

ringkingpin

haha, thanks for the accolades guys, a lot of time, energy and thought was put in to this project and it really paid off.  

Some of you guys are cracking me up, please don't hate me, I'm one of the good guys

yzzi

I was disappointed when the pictures stopped. Off to watch the video... Really nice!

ringkingpin

We continue to tweak this unit... more pics to come! 

A week back, I was quite surprised to open the garbage bin and find five inches of standing water in the bottom.  The good part of this showed that the joinery and sealer was all very good.  The bad part was that there was water getting in! Arggggg...  I got a hose and started showering the top of the counter to try to figure out what was going on.  It looked like all the water was going right towards the garbage bin so we put a straight edge on top and sure enough,

So, we came up with a pretty good fix that was a little bit of a pain to do.  We removed all of the handles, got a die grinder and ground a groove on the underside of the concrete countertop overhand.  We went about 3/8" wide and 1/4" deep.  This created a drip edge and prevents the water from creeping back in to the cabinet.  Last night we got a really heavy rain, our first one since we did that and eureka, it's bone dry.

Logger

Glad to hear the "fix" worked.
Great looking job and a nice video too!

BigGreenDawg

Wow. I'm speachless. Nicest egg holder I've ever seen

StlScott

Jaw droppingly beautiful. Nicely done

StlScott