Grill Table for weber kettle

[Darko]

Believe me, you have nothing to apologize for. It looks good now, but I'm sure it will look fantastic once the stain is done in the spring.

[bbquy]

Awesome!!

[gchenworth]

Thanks for the kind words folks...  @WNC The sink is intended really for just washing hands, maybe rinse a thing or two..  So I'll put a y at the hose spigot and run a length along the side of my house to the back of the table, enter through a hole and using the right fittings, connect to thee faucet.  Right now I'm just planning to put a left over chlorine bucket (maybe 8 gallons or so) in the cabinet under the sink to collect water which I'll dump after the cook.  I'll be getting a new hose for the project, will initially disinfect with chlorinated water for a day or two, then connect and keep it pressurized all summer until threat of frost, then take it down for the season.  I'm planning to turn on the water about the same time I put in my tomatoes...  Not worried about the hose freezing but don't want the pipe behind the spigot to burst.

All I'm trying to accomplish with the sink is to keep from running in the house to wash my hands every time I touch some charcoal, raw meat or something else...  Wife wanted to know how I was going to do the dishes in that little sink...  I'm not!

[Seth1025]

Very cool.   An outdoor hose pipe supplied sink is on my todo list this summer.  Will be great for grilling cleaning fish, and for kids and parties.   I've also been looking into how hook up a hose to the drain. 


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[gchenworth]

@DerekNIU The sealer was probably the trickiest part of the whole process.  There is no perfect solution.  The acrylics are easy to apply but will eventually get scratched and may not hold up really well to high heat (meaning placing a hot pot on the surface).  There are some polyurethanes that offer more of a "pop" finish and they are more durable, but more complicated to apply.  You can't use an epoxy because as I understand it, none of them tolerate UV exposure and will yellow and flake it exposed to direct sunlight.

I ultimately went with the Buddy Rhoads PS1 Reactive Sealer.  It's a combination product that includes some concrete hardener (densifier) and surface sealer which I'm pretty sure is an acrylic (they don't say precisely what's in it).  Bottom line, I'm expecting that I'll pull out the sander with a 400 grit pad every few years to remove the old sealer and re-apply.  I don't plan to try to baby the surface for fear of damaging the sealer because a light sanding and re-application is really a couple hour project at worst.  And I built it to use it.  I expect it will hold up better than a wood top, but a granite slab would require less maintenance though with a much higher price tag... and it didn't fit with my intent to DIY the whole project.

It is critical to seal it because as you mentioned, concrete will stain but also because since it's such a (relatively) thin slab, if it gets saturated with rain that freezes hard before having the opportunity to dry apparently bad things could happen (micro-fractures, chips and maybe not micro-fractures).

I keep it covered when I'm not using it anyway to keep bird droppings and other gross stuff off of it.  For a cover, I simply cut up an old canopy cover I had from an old broken 12x12 canopy.  Draped it over the table, cut the excess material, got a cheap grommet kit from Lowes and put a rope through the gromets to lock it in place.  Because the material is light, it folds and easily fits in one of the cabinets while I'm using the grill.  Not really water proof, just keeps stuff from accumulating on the concrete surface.

Good luck if you decide to build a concrete top.  If you do and you want to discuss what to avoid, I can sure help you with some of that...

[DerekNIU]

Excellent!  Thanks for the detailed information.  I hope you don't mind if I take you up on the lessons-learned offer this spring/summer when I get around to this.  A table is high on my list and I definitely would like to go with a concrete top.

[gchenworth]

@Seth1025 I found that the threads for pvc adapters doesn't match a standard hose thread.  My solution was to grab a hose repair kit in the hose area at Home Depot and carry it to the plumbing department until I was able to find pieces that I could get a solid connection.  I went through this process for a sprinkler for the vegetable garden that's fed by my hose.  I found the pvc adapter that could connect to a hose near the sprinkler systems.  Female hose thread on one side and glue fitting for 3/4" pvc on the other side.  Glue to the pvc and at the other end of the pvc, glued a regular plumbing male threated piece that then connects to the faucet.  Hope that helps.

[gchenworth]

@DerekNIU I'll be happy too.  I spent way too much time researching something I knew nothing about, trying to anticipate all the errors I should avoid, only to uncover other stuff that I should have known but didn't anticipate.  Now I have this knowledge about something I'll probably never use again...

[Pyromaniac Spouse]

A great design! I'd love to copy lots of it, if I may! How did you fit the kettle into the worktop?  And did you leave the front of the kettle open for ventilation?  Did you seal the top (I'm assuming that is concrete?)  Many thanks for your pictures!!!!  They're the best I've seen for what I'm hoping to do.

[Jazzbert]

Beautiful setup! 

Planning my build for this spring and I too would love info on the sink setup as I will be a ways from the kitchen.

[BertVentures]

Definitely beautiful setup!  Where did you get the ash pan under the grill from?

[gchenworth]

@Pyromaniac Spouse After building the form for the concrete I glued and screwed in 1.5" foam insulation board cut to create an opening for the grill and the sink. Once the concrete is removed from the form, a hammer easily removes the foam inserts.  Before pouring concrete I checked and rechecked that the grill and sink would fit in the openings created by the knockouts.  The kettle is a performer.  I thought about drilling holes in the concrete for screws to attach kettle but decided to try a silicone glue to hold it down.  The front is open for ventilation and the concrete is sealed.  When / if it ever gets nice around here I'll post more detailed pics so you can see how I worked through some issues.

[gchenworth]

@BertVentures what you're looking at under the grill is a rotisserie ring.  The ash can hangs from the bottom like every performer.