Friday, September 20, 2013

Island Time!

Unfortunately the title of this post isn't referring to a getaway vacation (I wish). I'm talking about building a kitchen island. Ever since moving into the house we knew this big 'ole kitchen was begging for an island. See the space below from when we moved in

 
 
Before being able to lay down the flooring, we knew we needed to get to work on the island. While a custom-made island would have been wonderful, it just didn't fit into the budget. After walking about Menard's and Home Depot's island/cabinet areas, we wandered into the free-standing cabinet island. Bingo! We found two sets of cabinets that we could pair together. It was the perfect width (at a minimum the spacing between cabinet and island counter tops should be 3') and beautifully in our price range. So we brought them home...
 
 
 

 
To secure them to the floor, Mike drilled 2x4 planks into the ground. We, then, set the island over top of them because the shelves create a natural gap at the bottom. See below, Mike drilling the island into the already secured 2x4's
 
 
Because we used a basic set of cabinets (which we secured together), we had to put some sort of back on the cabinets to give it a finished look. We chose wainscoting for the back, which we bought in planks similar to this. To secure the wainscoting, we used wood glue. Because the planks fit together with a tongue-and-groove system, we put glue in the grooves to make it more secure.
 
 
Note: We taped the boards together and let the glue bond for 24 hours. After this, we used the same glue to secure the wainscoting (now) board to the cabinets. Mike went a little crazy with the glue the next day...
 

 
 

 
Again, we let the glue bond for 24 hours and taped it for extra security.
 
 
 
To add the finishing touches, we bought base and corner material. Mike used the miter saw to cut the pieces to the correct lengths and angles
 
 
 
Next up - more painting! (P.S. You may be wondering about the counter top. It's actually an old door that was doubling as a workbench tabletop in our basement. It was left behind by the old owners, so we're putting it to good use until we can afford new counter tops. I'm still brainstorming finishing ideas in the meantime!)

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