Installing a grill island in your yard is a rewarding project that will give you a focal point for cooking and spending time with your family, and it can even add value to your home.
Furthermore, if you build it yourself, you can install something that suits your needs perfectly while also saving yourself plenty of cash – and if you want to know how, here are 17 plans that will teach you everything you need to know.
Table of Contents
1. How to Build a Grilling Island
As this blog explains, installing a grill island gives you a handy place to prepare food as well as providing a stylish place to sit, chat, eat and drink while everything is cooking. Adding one to your home can be a large undertaking, and you’ll have lots to think about before you start. Fortunately, this tutorial gives you help at each step of the process, from designing the layout to cutting and attaching the frame pieces right through to installing a fridge and finishing the job. In short, it tells you everything you need to know to make the project a success – so be sure to check it out before you start.
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2. Amazing DIY Outdoor Kitchen with Grill and Sink
This video takes you through this YouTuber’s project to build an outdoor kitchen, which is more or less the same thing as a grill island, and most of the techniques required are similar. Adding something like an outdoor kitchen or a grill island to your home is a big job, and the details will be different for everyone. However, by watching videos like this, you can give yourself a good idea of the kind of thing you’ll need to think about, making it well worth a watch.
3. 7 Mistakes to Avoid when Building Your Outdoor Kitchen
When people decide to build an outdoor kitchen or grill island, the same mistakes come up over and over, but if you take the time to think things through properly, these are mistakes that are easy to avoid. In this blog post, we learn about seven of the most common mistakes that people make, so if you don’t want to fall into the same traps when you start work on yours, this guide is recommended reading.
4. How to Make a Stone BBQ Island on a Budget
A lot of the plans we’ve seen online are for grand and elaborate grill islands that look like they cost a fortune. However, if you don’t have an unlimited budget, there’s still plenty you can do, and this video shows you how to build a more modest yet highly functional version for less. We think it looks fantastic, and if you think you’d like to own something similar, why not have a go at copying his plan?
5. How to Build an Outdoor Kitchen and BBQ Island
When you open this page, the first thing you see is a hugely impressive grill island, complete with deck, sink, work surface and the grill itself. The good news is, for those willing to DIY it, installing something like this will cost a fraction of what it would if you paid professionals to do the work. With some basic skills and a little determination, it’s not even that difficult either, and if you feel like trying, this plan has all the details you need to build something just as good.
6. DIY Outdoor Kitchen with Built-In Grill Station
Here’s an interesting video that shows us how this YouTuber took an ugly old grilling station and incorporated it into a beautiful outdoor kitchen. Perhaps this is not everyone’s image of a “grill island”, but it’s a great concept, and if you are making any kind of grill island or outdoor kitchen, you can easily build ideas like this into your design. He also gives you plenty of tips as he explains his project, making this a video that’s well worth a watch.
7. The Benefits of Building a DIY BBQ Island
Whether you DIY it or pay to have it installed, deciding to add a grill island to your home can be a big decision, and if you choose to go ahead with it, it will probably require a significant investment of both time and money. However, there are plenty of great reasons for doing it, and when it’s finished, there’s every chance you’ll be thrilled with the result. And if you’re looking for arguments to convince you, this blog will give you some of the most important.
8. DIY BBQ Island Completed
In this video, you get to see the finishing touches this YouTuber gives to his ambitious grill island project that cost him around $3100. As you can see, the finished island is extremely impressive, and although it’s not the cheapest version possible, most people will agree that it’s money well spent. This is the final video in a seven-part series – check out the rest of them if you want to see how the project began.
9. Rolling Outdoor Island Building Plans
If you don’t want to install a permanent grill island in your yard, another option is to build a rolling one. That way, you can wheel it out in the summer – or whenever you need it – and when you aren’t using it, you can put it back into storage. This will allow you to have most of the benefits of a permanent grill island but will also help you save space and money. And if that sounds like something you might be interested in, this plan will show you how to make one.
10. How to Build a Fireproof Charcoal BBQ Grilling Station for Your Deck
If you already have a deck in your yard, you might want to convert it into a grilling island by adding a barbecue, and in this video, we get to see how just such a project would look. This YouTuber has a highly impressive self-built PVC deck, and in this tutorial, he demonstrates the procedure for installing the grill. He’s a highly talented DIYer, and everything he builds looks fantastic – so this video is a recommended watch because most people will be able to learn lots from seeing him work.
11. DIY Mobile Island/Grill Cart
Here’s another great plan for a cute mobile option that will allow you to enjoy all the benefits of having a true grill island without needing to spend lots of time or money on building one. As this blogger writes, it even has extra advantages since it’s multifunctional and can be used for more than just grilling. Think you might like one yourself? Then this blog has the plans for building it!
12. Stack & Go Grill Island Project
Here’s a super-simple plan for a grill island that anyone will be able to copy. The secret is the special type of blocks that just need to be stacked up and fixed together. The fact that the video only last three minutes should give you an idea of how easy this idea is to reproduce, so check it out and see if you might like to try!
13. How We DIYed Our Built-In Grill
A popular option for constructing a grill island is to buy the grill itself and then design a DIY island around it. That’s what these DIYers have done, and their blog post gives you all the details. When it’s done, it includes the grill, a fridge and storage, so all in all, an impressive piece of work – and a great plan to follow if you want something similar.
14. DIY Outdoor Barbecue
If you find the right plan to follow, you can build a great-looking grill island for less money than you might imagine – and in this video, you learn about an inexpensive way to add the cladding to the frame. This is not a plan for the whole grill island, but it’s an idea you can incorporate into your overall design – and we’re sure you’ll agree that the effect it creates gives it a highly attractive look.
15. DIY Barbecue Island Project
This video is a great source of inspiration if you’re thinking about installing a simple grill island in your yard. The YouTuber who uploaded this video talks us through the steps he went through for building his grill island, and we loved watching the project as it took shape. It’s also an easy project to replicate for anyone who has a few basic DIY skills, so why not give it a watch and see if you’re up to the challenge?
16. How to Build an Outdoor Kitchen Island
As this YouTuber explains, although a large outdoor grilling area might be the perfect way to keep you and your friends entertained and well-fed, sometimes that kind of thing is not practical due to a lack of space or financial limitations. However, far more affordable DIY options are available that are almost as good, and this is a plan that will show you how to put one together in no more than a weekend.
17. DIY Weekend Barbecue Island
Here’s another video showing you how to build a grill island that will only take a weekend to finish. It’s a simple plan –the tutorial only lasts just over a minute, and that’s all the time it needs to show you how to construct a grill island you’ll be proud to own. Want to know how? Then give the video a watch!
Plenty of great plans to copy
As you can see, there are plenty of great plans to copy to build grill islands to suit almost any budget. We’ve enjoyed finding these plans for you, so we hope you’ve enjoyed reading and watching them too – and above all, we hope we’ve helped you find the inspiration you needed to get started on a DIY grill island project of your own!