Last week, we talked about shopping for kitchen islands, what features are good to look for, and brands we like. There is another option for finding the perfect island: build your own! If you're feeling up to the challenge, we've got a few resources to get you started. Have you ever built something like this?
The folks over at This Old House have an excellent article to help get you thinking about design:
• Building a Better Kitchen Island by Duo Dickenson, This Old House
The article covers how high you should build your island, how big you'll want it, how to integrate different kinds of storage, and aesthetics of the island. It also encourages you to think about how you'll be using the island so you can tailor certain features.
When you're ready to take the plunge, the DIY Network has a well-illustrated tutorial for building a basic kitchen island:
• How to Build a Custom Kitchen Island from the DIY Network
Judging by the pictures, this doesn't look like good project for someone who's never picked up a drill before. That said, it also doesn't look that hard!
The tutorial recommends buying pre-made, unfinished cabinets to use as a base, covering them with panels, and then placing a counter on top. From the pictures and technical directions, this seems like a totally doable weekend project.
Do you have any advice for a project like this?
Related: Five Small Kitchens from This Old House
(Image: The DIY Network)
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My husband made us an island a number of years ago for a rental. The rental was a small galley with laminate counters and I wanted a place that I could put hot pots on (one side of my stove had no counter) more prep space and storage for my kitchen aid, stock pot, and toaster, and use for a buffet. We bought a remnant piece of granite and he built the table for a custom fit. I love it! We since moved and the island came with us. I always figured I could use it outside if it didn't fit my next kitchen. The granite is so heavy we just rest it on top. It was one our best DIY projects, completely worth the time/ money/ custom design trade off.
I did this with my husband and a friend who had power tools. We bought a chunk of butcherblock countertop from ikea and built an MDG base for it. We made cubby-holes at one end that fit some small ikea baskets (easier than drawers). The outside we panelled with beadboard wainscotting and then painted everything (except the counter top of course). Was a weekend project and we built it in our livingroom.
MDG should have been MDF. One special feature I made in the plans was the counter overhang was deeper at one side to leave room for the pasta roller clamp.
Take ikea kitchen wall cabs, install legs (capita) on the bottom, back them up against each other, other, throw a counter on top. Done.
It's pretty amazing what you can do with paint grade 3/4" plywood and screws. If you figure out the dimensions of the pieces you need in advance, you can even get them to cut the sheets up for you at the big box store.
In our last house (postage stamp-sized) kitchen, I built a corner banquette with upholstered, hinged seats and storage below that basically doubled my storage space, plus a sideboard cabinet that housed the microwave and had a pull-out trash bin oodles more storage. All with just plywood, screws, trim and paint. Looked fabulous and probably added $10K to our property value for like $500.
If you're building a custom sized thing vs. using ready made cabinets, keep in mind that most home centers sell standard sizes of doors in at least a couple of styles. Check this out before you start and plan your carcass accordingly. Or, you can order custom doors online in any style/finish you can imagine.
I made mine which can be seen here:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/house-tours/house-tour-peters-light-loft-living-san-francisco--076040
I made my island out of two stock cabinets, some beadboard, molding, and an Ikea butcher block counter top. I love it! It wasn't very expensive and I can take it with me when I move (I'm just renting). Here's a post about it on How I DIY. I didn't think to take pictures while I was building it, but this is still a pretty good how-to. It wasn't very difficult to build at all.
This is so helpful... we've been searching in vain for the perfect kitchen island for a couple of months now, ever since we moved into our new place. Everything has been either totally the opposite of our aesthetic or has no storage space. We've toyed with the idea of building or modifying our own island, but these are some great ideas to help get us started!
I made one in my old home. My 6'4" tall husband bakes, and needed a counter that suited his size to roll out doughs on. I used scrap wood I had laying around, and tiled the top. In hindsight, I would not have tiled the top again, because it collects flour like you wouldn't believe.