DIY Kitchen Island

Our old kitchen had a big, empty area in the middle. The day we moved in, I stuck a table there, using it as a kitchen island. But really, it was way too small, and I needed more storage. Plus, it just looked bad (ignore the mismatched cabinets-- I was in the process of painting them when I took this photo!):

After some brainstorming and research, I figured I could make one. Why not? I'd never done anything remotely like that before, but that has never stopped me, haha! Some people might call me impulsive. Or a little crazy. But I just knew I could figure something out-- and I DID! So there! In a lot of ways, this one project was when my inner DIY-er first emerged! :P

Things to consider before you begin:

• How do you plan to use the island? Will you need a seating area? What kind of storage is your kitchen lacking? For me, it was drawers!
• Where, exactly, will it go? Make sure to leave adequate room for foot traffic, as well as doing things like opening your dishwasher or refrigerator!
• What are you going to do for a counter top? I did basic white tile to match the rest of the kitchen. Plus, it was cheap!

STEP 1: Buy some cabinets. You can buy ones that match your current cabinetry, or you can do what I did: I got the cheapest, most basic ones that came unfinished from Lowe's. I ordered them online after measuring the area and sketching out exactly what I wanted. Then I picked them up from the store with help from my dad and my hubby's truck!

STEP 2: Get everything situated where you want it to be in the kitchen, and use clamps to hold the cabinets together tightly. (Just a heads-up: The island was never attached/anchored to the floor in any way-- it just sat on top, like a piece of furniture. It LOOKED and FELT permanent, though. By the time the counter was on and the cabinets were full, there was NO WAY that the thing was going to move anywhere!)

STEP 3: Use wood screws and screw the cabinets to each other. Use lots of screws-- how's that for a specific instruction?? haha! But you don't want this thing pulling apart! Be sure to screw the backs and sides together, along with the face frames. All the screws should be hidden once the doors and drawers are in, so be strategic. Once you've finished this step, you can remove the clamps.

STEP 4: Measure your counter top-- be sure to add in a few inches on each side for overhang, and even more if you plan to have a breakfast bar/seating area! Cut a piece of plywood (I used 3/4") to the right dimensions (I got the people at Home Depot to cut it for me when I bought it). P.S. Plywood is super heavy, especially a big piece like that! It was quite a task for me to get it home and into the house all by myself. But I did!

STEP 5: Attach the plywood to the cabinets from below, using wood screws (make sure they aren't so long that they poke out the other side of the plywood!). The cabinets should already have little brackets with pre-drilled screw holes in them for attaching the counter top-- so use those! This whole step was surprisingly unpleasant, I have to say! Squishing yourself inside a cabinet to get a good angle was not super fun. But it went pretty quickly!

STEP 6: At this point, I decided to add a layer of green cement board on top, just to make it waterproof! I cut the cement board to size, and attached it with screws from the top.

STEP 7: Siiiiigh... I was so tired, and it was time to tile! But one thing I did before adding all the weight of the tile was to get my hubby to help me move the island to EXACTLY where it needed to be. I measured the distances from the cabinets like crazy, making sure it was square with the rest of the kitchen. Once the tile was on, it became impossibly heavy to move! Also, you will probably want to tile before you paint, because grouting your tile can get pretty messy!

STEP 8: Tile the counter top, or apply whatever material you are planning to use. I laid out all the tiles ahead of time, with spacers, to see where I would need to make cuts and planned accordingly. If you have never tiled before, it's really not hard! But please do a little research first, or your tiles won't stay stuck! I will be writing a separate post on tiling in the near future!

STEP 9: Trim time! I didn't like the exposed ends of the cabinets, so I bought two thin sheets of wood veneer (cheap!) which I cut to size and attached to the ends. But the icing on the cake was installing inexpensive baseboard around the bottom-- it gave the whole thing a very polished look!

STEP 10: Paint the cabinets (check out my Repainting Kitchen Cabinets BEFORE and DURING/AFTER posts for more info!) and apply hardware. You might need to drill holes in the new cabinet doors and drawers for the hardware, but that's not too bad if you make a template first!

STEP 11: Move your stuff in and ENJOY!!! And be sure to tell every living soul who enters your house that you built the island all by yourself! I still have friends who talk about it. Considering how little I knew about building things at the time, it was sort of a miracle that it turned out as well as it did!

TOTAL COST OF PROJECT: Less than $700 for cabinets, wood veneer, trim, hardware, tile, tiling supplies, plywood, and cement board. I already had the big tools and the paint. And I busted this entire project out in under a week! :)

Have YOU made your own kitchen island? Leave your tips and tricks in the comments!