The steaks are on, the hood is down, and there is nowhere to put anything. The tongs end up balanced on the hood handle, the plate of raw chicken shares a shelf with the cooked snags, and someone's drink is sitting on the pavers. A BBQ prep station fixes all of that for a fraction of what the barbecue cost, and it is the piece most Australian backyards never get around to buying.
This guide is about add-on prep surfaces: the side tables, trolleys and landing zones you park beside a barbecue you already own. It is not about pouring a slab and building a masonry bench. Everything here can be ordered, carried out the back and put to work the same weekend, and most of it sits in our outdoor side tables range.
What a BBQ prep station actually has to do
Watch anyone cook on a barbecue and the same four moments keep repeating. Something raw comes out of the house. Something cooked needs somewhere to go. A tool gets put down mid-flip, and a drink needs a home that is not the ground.
That is the entire brief. You are not building a kitchen, you are buying somewhere to put things down within arm's reach of the hotplate. Get the height, the width and the distance from the heat right, and cooking stops feeling like a juggling act.
A prep surface also gives the kit a home. Tongs, a spatula and a brush all need somewhere to sit mid-cook, and a boxed set such as the Coleman 11pc BBQ Tool Set with Case ($79.95) moves from cupboard to table in one trip.
The three landing zones every cook uses
Split the surface into three jobs before you go shopping. It is the quickest way to work out how much space you need.
The in zone holds what is waiting to be cooked: raw meat, a bowl of marinade, a tray of skewers. It wants to sit furthest from the heat and closest to the back door, and it should never share a surface with food that has already come off.
The out zone takes cooked food and the resting tray. It earns its place closest to the hotplate, because you are carrying hot food with one hand and holding tongs in the other. A short reach here beats a big surface.
The drop zone is for everything else: tongs, the brush, a drink, someone's phone. It is the zone people forget when shopping, and why a second small table almost always gets used.
Keeping raw and cooked food apart is basic food safety rather than fussiness, and it is far easier with two surfaces than one crowded shelf.
Side table, trolley or a run of low modules?
Three formats cover nearly every backyard. Which one suits you comes down to whether the barbecue is fixed in place, how many people you usually cook for, and how much room there is to move around it.
| Option | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| A single side table | Built-in barbecues with a shelf that needs backup, and small courtyards | One surface fills fast once raw food, cooked food and tools compete for it |
| A trolley or cart on wheels | Portable barbecues, and cooks who set up in a different spot each time | Wheels want firm, flat ground; they bog down on lawn and loose gravel |
| A run of two or three low modules | Long alfresco walls, regular entertaining, separating the three zones | Takes more floor space, and each piece shifts separately to clean behind |
Matching the surface to your space
Measure the gap beside your barbecue before you look at anything. Take the width of the space, the depth from the wall, and the height of the barbecue's cooking surface. Those three numbers rule out most of the catalogue in a minute.
For a tight gap between the barbecue and a wall, a narrow table wins. The Menzin Outdoor Side Table ($282) measures 40 by 30 centimetres, so it slots into a space that would swallow nothing else and still holds a tray of snags.
Where there is more room, a square top gives you a genuine work surface. The Shelby Outdoor Side Table ($212) is 50 by 50 centimetres, enough for a chopping board and a plate side by side rather than stacked.
If the barbecue sits against a long wall, a low run reads more like a bench. The Cuban Modular Outdoor Side Table ($374) is 85 by 30 centimetres, giving you a strip of landing space without pushing out into the walkway.
Then there is the drinks table, which belongs well away from the heat so guests are not reaching past the cook. A Round Outdoor Side Table ($150) parked near the seating keeps traffic out of the cooking lane.
Heat clearance and the Australian backyard
This is the part worth getting right. A side table next to a barbecue must be non-combustible, or it must be kept at a safe distance, and your appliance manual is the authority on what that distance is. Read it before you position anything.
Powder-coated aluminium and steel frames with metal or ceramic tops sit in the non-combustible camp. Timber, timber-look tops, woven wicker and anything with a plastic or fabric component do not, and they need real separation from radiant heat and spitting fat.
Wind is the factor people underestimate. A table that is safe on a still evening is different when a hot westerly pushes flame sideways, so leave extra clearance if your cooking area is exposed.
Climate shapes the choice too. On the coast, from Perth to the Sunshine Coast, salt air finds any untreated metal, so a coated finish earns the extra. If you cook on solid fuel, total fire ban days apply and the rules vary by state and council, so check with your local fire service before lighting anything that burns wood. Apartment dwellers should confirm what their strata or body corporate allows on a balcony.
Once the surfaces are sorted, think about what lands on them. Our guide to which BBQ tools to buy first covers the four pieces that genuinely get used, and the rest sits in our BBQ accessories collection.
BBQ prep station questions, answered
How close can a side table sit to a barbecue?
As close as your barbecue's manual allows, and only if the table is non-combustible. Manufacturers publish minimum clearances, and they differ between hooded, open-plate and built-in models. If the manual is long gone, keep combustible materials well clear and treat metal-framed tables as the safer option.
What height should a prep surface be?
Ideally near the height of the barbecue's cooking surface, so you slide food across rather than lifting it up. Most outdoor side tables sit at lounge height, which is lower than a barbecue, so pair a low table with a taller one where you can. A low table still works well for drinks and tools.
Is a trolley better than a fixed side table?
A trolley wins when your cooking spot moves and loses when your ground is uneven. Wheels are brilliant on tiles, pavers and decking, and frustrating on lawn or loose gravel. If the barbecue never moves, a table on four legs is steadier.
How much prep space do I need beside a barbecue?
Enough for a chopping board, a plate going in and a plate coming out, which means at least one square surface plus somewhere to park tools. Cooks feeding eight or more usually want two separate surfaces so raw and cooked food never meet.
Shop the range
Measure the gap beside your barbecue, then pick the surface that fits it rather than the one that photographs best. The BBQs and outdoor cooking range sits alongside the side tables and accessories linked above, so you can sort the cooking and the prep in one go.
We deliver Australia-wide, delivery is free on orders over $100, and most orders are dispatched in 3 to 10 business days. Returns are accepted within 30 days with no restocking fee, and installation is available on request.
