How We Made Our Kitchen Island
First, a little background for those viewers who are new here. In a couple of previous posts I shared the Ranch Home Makeover my husband and I did on our new home in 2013, which starts here. Now lets see and talk about that Kitchen Island.
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| Cottage Kitchen Island - AFTER |
I want to start by explaining that my husband and I are NOT carpenters, just determined. And we've a teensy bit of experience creating a kitchen island. Here is one we did back around 2004 for our home at the time.
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| Kitchen Island - 2004 |
Now to get on with explaining just how we made our kitchen island. We simply started with a leftover 18 inch kitchen cabinet to which we added a few purchased pieces, including:
(1) a Rev-A-Shelf 6 inch cabinet pull-out from Ebay
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| Cottage Kitchen Island - condiment pull-out |
(2) a microwave cabinet in unfinished oak, purchased locally
(3) a bookcase in unfinished pine from TheWoodlandMills on Etsy (comes unassembled but inexpensive and easy peasy, only took about 30 min)
(4) island legs from Van Dykes (sometimes a bit pricey but their selection is gynormous!)
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| Cottage Kitchen Island - DURING |
And the scalloped detail (called "aprons") I made from 1 x 6 stock pine lumber using a jig saw. Again, I am no carpenter but I'll admit that once upon a time I had an art biz making birdhouses so I do know how to use a few basic woodworking tools.
Here is the backside of the cabinet components during the assembly of our Cottage Kitchen Island.
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| Cottage Kitchen Island - DURING |
And to this we added beadboard paneling to the back and one side, and also to the inside back of the bookcase. Next we installed the legs and scalloped aprons, which we assembled and attached to the island using small wood cleats. Lastly, we used stock primed 1 x 6 lumber to make the base. This is basic construction, really, I promise!
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| Cottage Kitchen Island - AFTER |
The finishing touch, our awesome cutting board style walnut countertop that I had commissioned by a local cabinet maker (who also did our walnut countertops.) I simply asked him to take the various tones of wood he had from his inventory of walnut boards and create a top to resemble an artisan made cutting board. (Note: I do keep a large, actually HUGE, wood cutting board as a work surface on top of the island.) Mind you, we are empty-nesters with no grandchildren so our countertops do not get a lot of abuse.
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| Cottage Kitchen Island - Walnut Countertop |
Here are a few photos of our new kitchen with the island in the context of the space.
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| Cottage Kitchen Island - AFTER |
And the view from our tiny den/living room:
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| Cottage Ranch House Makeover - AFTER |
And last, a photo of a change I made recently (2015) where I replaced the glass knobs with wood and added the green tray over the range. (Don't ask why, I just get these notions to change details from time to time. No doubt, my fellow decorating-obsessed viewers will understand.)
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| New Wood Cabinet Knobs added 2015 |
So that's it! I hope you've enjoyed my Cottage Kitchen Island post and are inspired!
Any questions, just email me - the link is on the right sidebar.
Now I must bid you adieu, because as most of you already know.....
