DIY: Kitchen Island

Mary Catherine has a smallish house with this great kitchen space…but, there was no counter space and not a lot of cupboard space either. So in our love of  remodeling projects, we decided to make her and her husband a “KITCHEN ISLAND” for Christmas. Check out our DIY: Kitchen Island.

 

When we told them of the planned project and excitement started immediately. We discussed size, placement  and design. First stop Home Depot.

 

 The size changed a couple of times because of availability and cost of 24″ base cabinet drawers.

We started with 3 finished ready to install cabinets; 2-18″ base cabinets and 1- 18″ base cabinet drawers.

Step 1 – Assemble Cabinets. Cut off the toe space to adjust height for legs. Remove drawers and set side by side, the base drawers in the center. Attach through the sides using wood screws.

 

Step 2- Attach Bead Board. Glue and tack pre-finished bead board panels to the backside of island.

Step 3- Cut Sheet Metal. We wanted a play center for the kids on one end. We purchased a piece of sheet metal trimmed it to size, painted it with a metal primer then sprayed it with chalkboard paint.

Step 4- Painting. Tape edges and cover finished cabinets. Spray paint the bead board.  We used black semi-gloss. Two coats.

Step 5-  Attach legs and towel rack. We purchased and spray painted 4 – 4″ legs and attached them to each corner.  A nice black towel rack was installed on one end. Time to deliver it to her house.

Step 6-  Counter top. We went to our local tile outlet store and found this beautiful granite remnant which they cut to size and installed.

Step 7- Moldings and installing the metal chalkboard. Using a spray adhesive place the metal on the cabinet wall and nail the pre-cut molding pieces around the chalkboard as well as the corners and along the bottom edge (not shown in this picture) in place.

It worked out perfectly without taking away valuable space. There is still plenty of walking space and room for their table and chairs. It is so much fun making something beautiful especially when it works out like you envision it.  Sadly it wasn’t finished by Christmas. It was in however before her birthday.

Have fun creating and building.