25 Smart Outdoor Bar Ideas to Steal for Your Own Backyard

Whether it's a standalone feature or part of a complete kitchen, an outdoor bar can make your backyard a destination.

It can be as simple or elaborate as you and your budget allow: Many outdoor bars are made of repurposed objects and materials like pallets and barrels, while others are part of a home chef's customized dream kitchen. Some bars are attached to interior kitchens and are a narrow countertop connected via a pass-through window. Others are modified sheds or playhouses reimagined as man caves and entertainment centers or quiet places to escape.

Known as outdoor bars, pub sheds, home bars, backyard bars, outdoor pubs, or their owners' special names, bars are populating backyards and outdoor spaces throughout the world. Have fun and get inspired as we explore 25 very different outdoor bars. Cheers!

01 of 25

Airy and Expansive Outdoor Bar

9th Avenue Designs

Created by 9th Avenue Designs, an elaborate estate in Brecksville, Ohio features a huge yard that's an entertainer's fantasy. An L-shaped bar allows plenty of friends and family to enjoy drinks and nibble on some of the chef's experiments, right off the grill.

Continue to 2 of 25 below.
02 of 25

Pallet Bar With Storage

Pip and Eva

Pip & Eva create all kinds of things out of wood, like cutting boards, wine tables, and table decor. For this outdoor bar, the Santa Rosa, California-based couple used pallets to build a simple but sturdy bar they use for events and parties. The other side is equipped with shelves to store bottles, glasses, and bar tools.

Continue to 3 of 25 below.
03 of 25

Outdoor Bar With Pizza Oven

Summers of Sussex

Mady Summers is a designer who employs her talents at the overnight rental properties she owns in Sussex and Brighton, England. The three-sided wooden pub in her yard features a stylish little pizza oven. Pizzas can be assembled on the countertops and decorated with fresh herbs snipped right from the garden.

Continue to 4 of 25 below.
04 of 25

Happy 21st Bar

Kaz's Cakes

Kaz is a hobby baker and cake maker who lives near Adelaide, Australia, and operates Cakes by Kaz. Her daughter's 21st birthday featured a boho design style that included a pretty pallet bar with personalized signs, wine labels, mason jars, cupcake toppers, and chocolate wrappers to delight the lucky birthday girl and her guests.

Continue to 5 of 25 below.
05 of 25

Farmhouse Bar

@cypressfarmhouse

Life on a real-life working farm is chronicled on the Instagram account of a family that lives in Cypress, Texas, with their assorted menagerie. There's a donkey named Billy, a cow named Elsa, Shetland ponies, and other creatures that inhabit the farm. Amy Major gardens, repurpose objects like old license plates and windows in her decor, makes pillows, and whips up some fine-looking food. The bar was made from a frame that had been sitting around the farm for 20 years or so and includes wood and corrugated galvanized steel.

Continue to 6 of 25 below.
06 of 25

Blue Resin Bar

Steve Robinson

Resin artist and photographer Steve Robinson says this gleaming blue bar that he made and installed recently for a family in Naples, Florida, is one of his favorite projects.

Continue to 7 of 25 below.
07 of 25

Mixed Stone Bar

Altered Grounds

St. Louis, Missouri-based Altered Grounds Landscaping designed a handsome backyard bar of stone that features a bar-height counter that conceals a kitchen-height counter for the outdoor chef.

Continue to 8 of 25 below.
08 of 25

Mixologist's Bar

John B

John Bodenschatz is a member of Cockluck, which stands for Cocktail Potluck, a group of Ohio cocktail enthusiasts and mixologists. When Bodenschatz relocated to Palm Springs, his custom-made barrel-and-wood bar was shipped to be enjoyed in its owner's new digs.

Continue to 9 of 25 below.
09 of 25

Outdoor Kitchen and Bar Combo

Stout Design-Build

A fully equipped outdoor kitchen designed by Stout Design-Build of Los Angeles includes plenty of counter space to prep, cook, and for guests to enjoy a drink while watching and chatting with the chef. Conversations always warm up with that countertop fire pit, which features mesmerizing blue fire glass.

Continue to 10 of 25 below.
10 of 25

Wood Wall-Mounted Bar

Reclaimed Dorset

With an emphasis on saving space, decluttering, upcycling, reclaiming, and recycling, Reclaimed Dorset makes a wood wall-mounted bar dubbed the Drinky Shelf. Also known as a Murphy bar (influenced by the old fold-out Murphy bed), garden mini bar, and drinks cabinet, Reclaimed Dorset creates these handy pubs from ever-popular and versatile pallet wood.

Continue to 11 of 25 below.
11 of 25

Bottle Cap Countertop

@rob_mo623

Yes, those are bottle caps from the assorted beers that Robert Morones of Arizona and his friends have sampled. His clever and appropriate backyard beer bar was made with corrugated metal, wood, and all those caps embedded in epoxy.

Continue to 12 of 25 below.
12 of 25

Black Dog Bar

The Lizton Sign Shop

When an Ohio backyard bar called The Black Dog burned down, they rallied and rebuilt. The kind people at The Lizton Sign Shop made a new sign for the wood and corrugated metal bar and it was back in business.

Continue to 13 of 25 below.
13 of 25

Tropical Pallet Bar

@i_scott_macleod

Doing a tropical take on a standard pallet bar, Scott Macleod of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, designed and built his backyard bar in just a week. Thatch covers the spaces in the pallets and gives it a tropical vibe, good for serving Mai Tais and Margaritas.

Continue to 14 of 25 below.
14 of 25

Pass-Through Bar

Leonie Knight

For the past seven years, Leonie Night has shared the stress and joy of renovating a Hertfordshire, England, home in her blog, Fur Coat and No Knickers. During this time, builders have taken down and rebuilt sheds, removed and redesigned landscaping, taken down walls, filled in a couple of old fish ponds, and built this fabulous pass-through bar.

Continue to 15 of 25 below.
15 of 25

Fold-Out Bar

@doxyinterior

Murphy bars are popular on Pinterest and this one built by Carmel McCusker and her husband features shelves, a longer table to accommodate four chairs, and the fold-out (or down) action. The bar was inspired by a similar one featured in an Irish home and garden magazine. Carmel lives in Ireland and is "chuffed to bits" when one of her DIY or decorating projects works out well. She makes the most of her petite Victorian house and front and backyards, economizing on space but not on style and originality.

Continue to 16 of 25 below.
16 of 25

Industrial Pub Shed

@864pubshed

A backyard pub shed was a years-long project for Brian Godfrey and his wife of Moonville, South Carolina. Constructed of barrels, reclaimed and recycled wood, and corrugated, galvanized steel, the couple threw a grand opening party. There, they enjoy hanging out and testing craft brews.

Continue to 17 of 25 below.
17 of 25

Sidebar Pub Shed

@njmundyesq

The bar in the New Jersey backyard of Nicholas Mundy's house is known as the Sidebar Pub Shed. There, he entertains friends and family, hangs out with his loyal dog, and watches Yankee games while enjoying cigars, good food, and serving his favorite beverages. Constructed of barn wood, and stone, the Sidebar features a beadboard ceiling, liquor shelves, a countertop made from a single piece of live-edge wood, and a wood pellet stove on the porch. Other amenities include a beer dispenser, wired internet, a TV, ceiling fan, vintage stools, and custom signs.

Continue to 18 of 25 below.
18 of 25

A Bar With a View

Aquidneck Landworks

Katherine Field and Associates designed this elegant outdoor bar along with Aquidneck Landworks of Barrington, Rhode Island. Created with an emphasis on clean, modern lines and materials, the drinking and eating bar was planned to take advantage of the views of Narragansett Bay.

Continue to 19 of 25 below.
19 of 25

Backyard Pub

@nunnyville

Lee Nunn built a pub shed in his garden in North Lincolnshire, England, that is equipped with his favorite signs, drinks, game (Drinko Plinko), and even his lucky black cat.

Continue to 20 of 25 below.
20 of 25

Outdoor Tropical Bar

@zillyadventures

When Zilly of zillyadventures, a mother of toddler twins, gets an occasional break, she doesn't have to go far to her local pub—it's right in her own backyard in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Club Tropicana is a backyard shack that is painted white and has a slightly Spanish flair with some modern touches like those nickel wall sconces and twirling barstools.

Continue to 21 of 25 below.
21 of 25

Bar Focal Point

Chas Metivier Photography

The biggest challenge for R. Johnston Interiors in designing this outdoor bar was creating a covered area that would work with an in-place patio cover while integrating existing materials in the new area. For the shade structure, the designers reached high to enable a connection to the existing structure, create visual interest, and make the bar the focal point of the outdoor space. Accent up-and-down lights were added to the patio columns, while subtle spot lighting added function in the bar area. Stucco that matches the house was used as the main material for the bar, while bouquet stone accents and a tile top united the patio with the pool.

Continue to 22 of 25 below.
22 of 25

Red Cedar Hideaway

Gill Country Clear Woodworks

Sam French, owner of Gill Country Clear Woodworks in Gill, Massachusetts. made a stunning bar out of red cedar bar for a local client. French uses lumber that is sustainably harvested and often sawn on site.

Continue to 23 of 25 below.
23 of 25

Seaside Gazebo With Bar

Tudor Villas Cromer

A painted pallet bar is protected by a gazebo in one of the gardens at Tudor Villas in Norfolk, England. A vintage glass Moroccan-style pendant lamp lends an eclectic feel to the relaxing outdoor pub.

Continue to 24 of 25 below.
24 of 25

Cabin Bar

@thomaspitts1982

Log cabin-style siding makes the exterior of this backyard pub warm and slightly rustic. Thomas Pitts, a father of two young boys, built it in an otherwise child-friendly yard.

Continue to 25 of 25 below.
25 of 25

Northampton Backyard Pub

Pop of Pink Bungalow

Calling it a work in progress, Donna painted her backyard pub black, added a metal sign, and has plans to equip it with string lights, plants, and bar stools, of course.