While Bull owners can handily order a front shelf in shiny stainless with the bull head logo stamped in it, we lesser sized owners have been left out by the guys at RT. When I got the 590 I didn't think I'd need a shelf across the front as my outdoor kitchen has plenty of counter surface, and the pellet bin top offers a smallish but generally adequate landing zone. All the same, there have been a couple times where it seemed that a front shelf would add some versatility. As with most things it's a matter of making time to work out the details and then the installation process.
First obvious step is to measure the width to figure out what to look for. I wanted to make it fold down so some sort of hinge/bracket needed to be sourced. To my happy surprise the front panel/leg spacing measured out at a nominal 28", I started looking for folding shelf assemblies without sufficient success, but then the light bulb went on. I've got some steel storage cabinets in my garage that came with more shelves than fit my use, and they just happened to be exactly 28" wide by 12" deep...………..bonus! They were also powder coated a satin black that isn't too far off from the RT color, though less glossy. Good ol' Amazon has become a go to site for finding all sorts of oddments and a few minutes of searching turned up some folding brackets made of 304 stainless that just happened to have a mounting flange narrow enough to work with the 590 legs. In reading the reviews I was somewhat disheartened to see a repetitive complaint that the bracket didn't unfold to exactly 90 degrees leaving the shelf with a slight tilt to the front edge. Fortunately the same company made another version with a longer release lever that didn't have those same negative comments. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M2UYPHS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 When I received them the first thing I did was get my framing square and check...…..it was just slightly over 90, and in fact, all installed the shelf has a tiny, tiny slant to the back...…..perfect! A second bit of luck was the spacing on the pre-drilled holes in the vertical part of the bracket. The center one lined up exactly with the RT bolt holding the leg to the apron when the shelf was at the desired location. Only thing I needed to do was drill the hole larger to fit the existing RT bolt. I did have to enlarge the others as well but only because I wanted to use some 1/4-20 stainless fasteners I already owned. So here are the pics of the parts and finished product. Not as jazzy as the logo stamped stainless variety, but it only cost me $20 for the hinges and some labor time.
First obvious step is to measure the width to figure out what to look for. I wanted to make it fold down so some sort of hinge/bracket needed to be sourced. To my happy surprise the front panel/leg spacing measured out at a nominal 28", I started looking for folding shelf assemblies without sufficient success, but then the light bulb went on. I've got some steel storage cabinets in my garage that came with more shelves than fit my use, and they just happened to be exactly 28" wide by 12" deep...………..bonus! They were also powder coated a satin black that isn't too far off from the RT color, though less glossy. Good ol' Amazon has become a go to site for finding all sorts of oddments and a few minutes of searching turned up some folding brackets made of 304 stainless that just happened to have a mounting flange narrow enough to work with the 590 legs. In reading the reviews I was somewhat disheartened to see a repetitive complaint that the bracket didn't unfold to exactly 90 degrees leaving the shelf with a slight tilt to the front edge. Fortunately the same company made another version with a longer release lever that didn't have those same negative comments. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M2UYPHS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 When I received them the first thing I did was get my framing square and check...…..it was just slightly over 90, and in fact, all installed the shelf has a tiny, tiny slant to the back...…..perfect! A second bit of luck was the spacing on the pre-drilled holes in the vertical part of the bracket. The center one lined up exactly with the RT bolt holding the leg to the apron when the shelf was at the desired location. Only thing I needed to do was drill the hole larger to fit the existing RT bolt. I did have to enlarge the others as well but only because I wanted to use some 1/4-20 stainless fasteners I already owned. So here are the pics of the parts and finished product. Not as jazzy as the logo stamped stainless variety, but it only cost me $20 for the hinges and some labor time.
