Sunday, September 20, 2015

We are building a kitchen island!

Thanks to this design and the instructions, we are beefing up our existing kitchen island!  http://build-basic.com/build-a-diy-kitchen-island-2/#.Vf92jPSqHJo

I couldn't be happier!  I showed the plans to Sweet Man and he accepted the challenge!  I think he is doing a wonderful job too.

Here is the before, somewhat! We removed the drawer fronts and the doors - there are doors on both sides of the island, drawers on one side, and fake drawers on the other side.


And here is what it looks like now, with one coat of primer - the build is in progress.  It is in three pieces, plus the existing island. We placed our existing Formica top on the pieces for now so we can  use the island.  As you can see, the footprint is slightly larger than the original - probably about six to ten inches wider and deeper.


Please excuse the kitchen.  We are in the process of painting the kitchen cabinets (no more orangey maple).  We chose Benjamin Moore White Dove. And we had our hardwood floors refinished.  They too used to be orangey-stained red oak.  Now they have a fumed look, without the upkeep.  We used three Minwax stains to achieve this look, as well as a matte water-based polyurethane. Don't panic - that's brown paper on the floor in front of the island in the picture above.  

Here is a photo of before-priming.  My husband tried to talk me out of adding the padding behind the baseboards.  I'm so glad we stuck to the plan.  We did change up the design very slightly.  We added the shaker-style look to the back of the cabinet, in addition to the two sides.  And instead of placing the horizontal pieces and then the vertical pieces between the horizontal pieces, we placed our vertical pieces first, then cut the horizontal pieces to fit between them - to give it a more authentic shaker-style cabinet look (at least from what I have observed). 


Hopefully this week the cabinets will be ready for new counter tops.  Then a new backsplash. I really want to go with a Quartz but I'm afraid they won't be in the budget.  I found a pretty granite - light with some grays in it.  I think it will be a good compromise.  We will also get a new sink and faucet, and hopefully some updated lighting. Here is a picture of some of the cabinet doors after one coat of primer. Not only is Sweet Man pretty handy with woodworking, he does a beautiful job at spray painting - he uses a Wagner HVLP spray gun and his Makita air compressor.


Our wall color in the kitchen is Farrow & Ball's Shaded White (I had SW match the color).  Our appliances are Samsung Stainless - they are less than a year old - and the dishwasher is only weeks old.  

Since replacing our kitchen cabinets and/or door fronts were not in the budget, I think adding this shaker style island will update our farmhouse kitchen. This puts us one step closer to listing our house.  I cannot wait for God to reveal to us our next homestead!

1 comment:

  1. I just found your site, you have so many great ideas. Thanks for the details and the photos.

    ReplyDelete