How to: Make an Outdoor Table with a Built-in Cooler

A fantastic, easy project for summer: add a built-in cooler to a wooden picnic table to store drinks, keep condiments cool, and, generally, be an outdoor dining, grill-dominating mastermind.I spied this photo from Dwell magazine on Pinterest: it was taken at Medlock Ames Tasting Room, a Sonoma County winery. It might look like a custom piece, but it’s really a simple hack you can add to any wooden picnic or outdoor table:

Just head to the hardware store and pick up a galvanized steel gutter, or consider a galvanized bucket if your table is round. Trace the shape onto the table, and cut it out with a jigsaw. Insert the gutter, and secure with galvanized nuts and bolts and steel mending plates.

Done and done.