Really, what is better than a patio table with a built in cooler! Who really wants to get up to get another beer?

Almost everyone has seen this picture of the wine cooler patio table ether on Pinterest or Reddit.

Right after my husband saw this he asked me to make it happen. I was already in the process of designing a patio table so I decided to take a stab at it. I wanted to make a table that was more than just a table with a cooler in the center all the time. I wanted to have to option of covering it when not in use so we can do full meals on it too. I pulled up SolidWorks and started playing around with the idea. Here is what I came up with:

Patio Table with built in Beer/Wine Cooler with Lids

Like in my farmhouse table post I am going to be breaking the instructions into two parts. The first will be the construction of the table and the second will be the finishing instructions.

Part 1: Table Construction

A little more about the design:

The first thing I did after having the initial concept sketched out in SoildWorks was go out and find the perfect cooler insert. We first looked into getting gutters but they come in large pieces and didn’t seem like they would work well for our design. Next we contemplated using sheet metal and bending it to shape we were looking for. At this point we were still planning on installing a drain at the bottom to let the melted ice out. After walking up and down the aisles at Home Depot we came to the gardening department. The idea clicked, why not use planter boxes and instead of having one long one, having 2 short coolers?

Going back to the drawing board, I played around with the design to incorporate the two planter boxes. We decided to have the planter boxes be removable instead of installing a drain. This was much simpler and now we have the option of replacing the boxes if for some reason they break during the years of future use without having to do construction on the table. The planter boxes also have a nice rim on the outside for the lids to sit on, another added bonus.

Instructions:

After the designs were done was head to our local lumber yard to get our cut list made. At the time, we didn’t have a way to cut wood accurately enough to do our own so we had the lumber yard do this for us (for a small fee).

The first step after getting home with all the boards is to sand all of them. Alex jumped in and did this for me again; I think he secretly loves sanding.

Using the Kreg Jig we put pocket holes in both ends of eight of the top center boards (2X4 @ 1′ 11-3/4″), the other four are going to be used for the lid and do not need these holes. On a side note, this was my first time using theKreg Jig and absolutely love it! It is super easy to set up and use. I used this website to walk me through the set up and how to use it.

Arrange all the top boards on the ground, face down (pocket holes up). Put the planter boxes (PB) into place upside down (hole side down). This was to made sure we left enough space so the PB could lift out from in between the boards.

Next apply wood glue to the ends of the now Kreg Jigged top center boards. Using the 2-1/2″ wood screws, attach the top center boards to the middle board through the pocket holes. Make sure to hold both the boards down when doing this. I actually stood on both the boards while Alex screwed them in.

After the eight boards are attached to the middle board, repeat the same thing for the two side boards attaching them to the center boards.

The Kreg Jig was used again to make holes down the top long boards. Using a pencil, mark off points where the side and middle boards make contact with the long board (two spots at each junction were pocket holes will be made). Six pocket holes are made on each top long board.

Attach the long side board through the pocket holes using 2-1/2″ screws after applying wood glue.

The next step is to make the boxes to go around the PBs. The first step to do this is screwing together the sides of the box. This is done by first counter boring holes then adding wood glue between the attaching surfaces. Make sure to use a square to make everything line up before using 1-1/4″ screws to attach them together..

Then, using a pencil and counter bore bit, mark off and counter bore five even-ish spaced holes on both long sides of the box. The only thing that is important about this step is to get the cross holes to line up enough to be able to screw the bottom supports together.

Put the pb inside the newly made pb support box. On a flat surface, place this assembly upside down. The plastic pb should be the only thing touching the surface. Next take the box supports (1X4 @ 2′ 1-1/4″) and place them up against the wooden box so it is flush on both ends and also siting on the flat surface (the same as the plastic pb).

Using 1-1/4″ screws attach the box support boards to the wooden box. We did not counter bore these screw holes because they are not going to be visible at the end. We did add wood glue.

Here comes a little bit of a tricky part. We need to attach two of the cross beam boards to the box assemblies before assembling the table skirt. This was done by measuring and making the centers of both the cross beam board and the short box side of the wooden box. Use a T-square to make nice straight lines at the proper lengths. I love putting my T-square from my freshman Engineering Graphics class to use.

After the cross beam board is lined up use a clamp to hold it in place. Don’t forget to put wood glue between before clamping.

Then using eight 1-1/4″ screws to attach the cross beam board to the wooden box (four screws in the box supports and four in the wooden box).