The New Kitchen Island (A Start!)

Happy Monday my friends! I hope your weekend was wonderful! We had a basketball game, hosted a baby shower, went out with friends, a bday party, our grandson’s baptism and then a movie with most of my family yesterday evening. It was a fun, wonderful, exhausting weekend and I’m looking forward to a few minutes of relaxing on this Monday. :)

So I have to share the progress of the “new” kitchen island because I’m so pleased with it. I showed you the new wine holder I created last week:

It didn’t look like much, I know. But have faith my friends!! Next up I built the new cabinet for the end of the island. It is just a big box – I used 3/4 inch plywood for this and just used wood glue and screws to put it together like I did the wine rack.

I needed to build it up off the floor a bit so I had some pine cut down to four inches (the exact height I needed – one by fours do not actually measure at one inch by four inches unfortunately) and built a simple box by nailing them together:

It doesn’t need to be perfect because it will be hidden later, it just needed to be strong enough to support the cabinet.

To attach it I screwed scrap pieces of wood into the bottom panel and then attached the frame to those with screws as well:

I flipped it over and then attached it to the end of the island (the wine rack). I was going to secure it through the floor too but realized I really didn’t need to do that once it was installed. It was super sturdy and I knew the new island top would keep it even more secure.

Here’s the new size with the old countertop off:

We have two plugs in the island already – one is for the trash compactor and I had help extending a new plug from that into the new cabinet:

This end will have a shelf and the microwave will sit on the upper shelf. I’m still doing research on what we’ll need to use.

Here’s how the other side looked before the new countertop and before I closed up the end:

Here it is after I covered the end and the new counter on top!:

That wine rack added about six inches to the whole thing which gives us a little more space for the three stools:

Each end of the island will be framed out for an even more custom look and the stools will sit inside. That’s my next project. :)

I framed out the wine rack and it looks a million times better already:

The side of the new cabinet will get the same planking that the rest of the island will get:

I’m going with horizontal planks instead of vertical ones this time and in my head it’s looking great!

The best part though -- the new countertop! Last Thursday I got this beast home in my car and it was slightly terrifying because I had to tie down the back and let it stick out a bit. I have to do that a lot but this thing was so heavy I thought it would just slide right out. I was sweating the whole way home. :) But it arrived safely and it’s just gorgeous!:

I actually wanted to oil it with the Tung oil I usually use but Northwest Lumber (where I got it) put some kind of sealant on it to prevent cracking or warping instead. They said I could sand it down a bit to apply the oil but on closer inspection I realized it would take more than just a slight sanding. And whatever they used is AWESOME because it doesn’t scratch and it stands up great to liquid. My Tung oil does well too, but I can tell this will provide even better protection against scratches. (I’m going to call to ask what the sealant is so I can let you all know.)

I hosted a baby shower this weekend and we had greasy food and wine droplets that sat there for awhile and they wiped right off – I’m very pleased with it so far. I don’t mind some wear and tear on something like this, but it’s not nice to not have to worry about it, you know?

Can I tell you how dreamy the longer island is?? We had a TON of food on it for the shower and it all fit perfectly. I was making food Thursday evening and kept saying out loud how freaking awesome it was to have more space. It is WONDERFUL! It’s nice just to have an island, believe me. But the extra two and half feet is going to rock.

The size is really perfect. We still have tons of open space at this end near the window seat and pantry:

The new larger size is just right for the size of our kitchen now. I really couldn’t be more pleased with it!

I am so excited to see how the vision that’s been in my head for all this time is coming together – and I’ve done it without breaking the bank!! Next up, build the end supports and then wrap the whole thing with the planking. After that I’ll get the base around the whole thing and then paint! The microwave will come later when we’ll tackle the bigger stuff like backsplash and taking down some of the current cabinets.

For now, I leave you with a shot of pretty flowers, because they are hydrangeas and I’ve missed having them in the house so much!:

If I left out any details of what I’ve done so far let me know and I’ll be sure to respond. This really wasn’t hard to do – I completed the two cabinets in a day and then the other trim and details so far were done in a couple hours. I get a LOT done before people come over. ;)

Have a great one!