Create an outdoor kitchen island with these free build plans. This portable kitchen island will transform your barbecue into a functional outdoor kitchen.

If you’ve always wanted a beautiful outdoor kitchen, but never had it in your budget, this outdoor kitchen island is the answer. The large rolling kitchen island can store all your barbecue and entertaining gear, while giving you a large area for food prep and serving. The other side of the portable kitchen island has room for bar stools to transform your patio into the perfect gathering space.

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and the leaves are falling! It’s a beautiful fall day and I am so excited to be enjoying it under our new pergola! But now that the pergola is built and we have installed the clear roof, it’s time to fill it up. What good is a big covered patio area if there is no furniture for gathering and entertaining.

When we started planning what we wanted for our unused side yard, I knew I wanted a place to eat outdoors. I love dining al fresco in the summer. And the kids always ask if we can eat outside. But we didn’t have a space for it. We have tried to make due with just the kid’s nautical picnic table while my husband and I hold plates on our laps. However, that only worked after we prepared the food and served it indoors. Not really the perfect outdoor dining experience I had in mind.

Now that we have a large covered patio we can finally create the perfect dining area so our family can enjoy those beautiful dinners under the sun and stars. But first, we needed a place to prepare and serve the food (no more doing that in the house).

About 6 years ago I purchased a large stainless steel table top from a scratch and dent furniture store. It did not have legs, just the table top. I have held onto it for ever (or at least if felt like that while taking up valuable space in our tiny garage). When I purchased it, I did so with the idea to use it outside to create a prep area next to the barbecue. So we dusted it off and I set to work designing the perfect outdoor kitchen island.

I knew I wanted to create a portable kitchen island. Something that could be moved around depending on our needs. I also wanted somewhere to store all those outdoor dining and cooking supplies so we wouldn’t have to run back and forth from the patio to the house. And finally, I wanted an area for seating on one side so the kids could sit up and help with the cooking. They love to be involved. What we came up with is the perfect portable outdoor kitchen!

Instead of cupboards and drawers that would not be water tight, I chose to make shelves to hold plastic bins with lids. And in the middle is a large area to hold a cooler. Now any food needed can stay cool while you are cooking (or better yet, a perfect place for drinks on ice). The sides and back of the outdoor kitchen island are wrapped in cedar fence pickets to add lots of warmth to the stainless steel top.

Now it’s time to build the outdoor dining table and benches so we can really start enjoying our new patio and portable outdoor kitchen area. And if the weather stays so nice, maybe we will get in a few meals outside before the snow starts falling!

For the easy outdoor kitchen island build plans, click the arrow below. Then don’t forget to check out the rest of my woodworking tutorials.