DIY A Stylish Grilling Station For Your Backyard With Leftover Cinder Blocks

Throughout the summer and on plenty of warm days after that, we love to grill. You have a good-looking grill and love to cook out, but often find yourself without enough space to work. Most grills come with side shelves, or a place to store utensils and other accouterments, but there's never enough space. It seems you always have to run back to the kitchen for plates, seasoning, or to prep food going on and coming off the heat. The solution is to make a handy, spacious grill station. If you've got a bunch of cinder blocks piled somewhere, you're halfway there.

Before you start, it's good to know how much it costs to add an outdoor kitchen to your backyard. The answer can be "a lot." However, you can save money and time by using cinder blocks as your building material. They are inexpensive and readily available. They're also sturdy, reliable, easy to work with, and you can build your station without mortar by doing what's called dry stacking. This makes the project even more affordable and much faster to complete. You can find cinder blocks at any home improvement store. The standard 8 x 8 x 16-inch block is easy to come by, but depending on your design, you may need half blocks or narrow strips to fill in. All of which can be had for under $3 a piece. If your design requires an unusual size, you can trim blocks or bricks with an angle grinder and concrete chisel and hammer or cut the block to size using a circular saw and a cement cutting blade. The best thing about this DIY is you can make it as large or as small, and as complex or simple as you want.

Know what's crucial before building your outdoor kitchen or grill station. To determine how many blocks you need, figure out the area and height of your grill station design. Those numbers will guide you for how many blocks you need. With your design in hand and cinder blocks at the ready, snap a chalk line to capture the area. This will help keep things square and even. Lay down your first set of bricks according to your chalk line, checking that your base layer is level as you go. With the next row, stack the blocks in a running bond pattern. This is a simple pattern in which one row of blocks with their long sides oriented outward is offset from the other. As you go, ensure everything is level from time to time. Use brick shims as needed to keep your wall level.

With the cinder blocks built up around your grill, perhaps with it shelves removed, you'll want to top the wall. Use patio stone, pavers, or make a concrete top. The blocks alone will look great, but you can paint them using spray cans or a spray gun. For more stability and an attractive stucco look, add surface bonding cement to the sides. You can also add surface bonding cement under your base row, if your station is on a solid surface, to secure it in place. Now that your grill station is up and running, keep your grill in tip-top shape with these cleaning tips.