Castaway: Kitchen Island, Part I

In my blog post Closing Delay, I mentioned the awkward little island in the kitchen and how I had plans to build a peninsula.  You can see it in this picture I snapped when we went to look at the house for the first time.  It just seemed to be the wrong size, in the wrong place, and not really usable for bar stools.  It had to go.

I’ve run through about a dozen different design plans in my head, all of which involved new cabinetry which wasn’t really in the budget.  I also originally planned to order a Craftsman work bench butcher block counter top from Sears and refinish it for about $140.  However, the budget is dwindling and I challenged myself to complete the task for less than $75. I mean, I already have the base cabinet (duh), so that’s a big money saver right off the bat. Game on!

I found some tutorials for making your own butcher block counters and one in particular used 1″x2″ furring strips and gluing, sanding, planing, cutting, and on and on.  Way more work than I really wanted to do.

While roaming the lumber aisles at Home Depot, I came across these edge glued panels and my mind started churning.  The panels are just individual lengths of wood glued together and planed smooth, so the look I was after was already assembled.  It wasn’t necessarily the butcher block I wanted but a sturdy, wooden counter top to add some contrast in the kitchen.  The other laminate counters will get replaced in due time with stone and the island not only offers that contrast now, but also saves some coin in the process.

I decided to purchase two 16″x48″ panels to get the size I wanted. That came to about $25. The panels are thinner than typical counter tops, so I decided to beef up the edges by running mitered 1″x2″ around the perimeter. I needed 11′ of edging and the furring strips are 8′ long.  I purchased two for less than $2.50.  Off to a pretty good start!

I had glue, but needed wood screws, finishing nails, stain, wood filler, a miter box, and saw.  Those supplies, along with the wood, came to $57.  Perfect!  As it turns out, I actually have a compound miter saw in the basement which I had completely forgotten about until I was reminded after the cutting was finished.  Oh, well.  I only had to cut the furring strips, so there wasn’t too much sawing involved.  At least I wasn’t building with 4″x4″ lumber! 🙂

The first step was to remove the old top from the base.  I then laid the two edge glued panels face down on the cabinet and glued them together.  Since I lacked clamps, this was a little tricky, but I decided to screw two strips of wood to the bottom of the counter on either side of the joint to help hold them together.  Worked out well!

After letting the glue set for about 10 minutes, I flipped the newly married boards over and filled in the joint with wood filler.

Then, I began mitering the furring strips for the edge, attaching to the panel with finishing nails.  I measured the cut by placing the strips along the counter top edge and marking where the corner of the top met the edge of the strip.  Then, on the back of the strip I marked which direction the miter should be cut so as not to get confused.  Once they were all nailed into place, I used more wood filler to help fill the gaps.

To help hold the furring strip in place in the miter box, I cut a strip of wood the width of the inside of the box less the width of the strip to be cut.  This kept the board from moving around too much while I sawed.  I was working solo on this project and this little wedge acted as a second set of hands.

Now, I have to say my joints along the perimeter aren’t perfect, but I only had to make my miter cuts once, which I am pretty proud of!

After the filler had time to dry, I sanded it down and smoothed any rough edges on the wood.  I wanted a slightly distressed look, so I banged up the wood with a hammer and a piece of oak quarter round that I had to remove from the base of the cabinet.  Then it was time to stain.

I used Minwax Jacobean wood stain to make the new pine counter top look like an old piece of wood.  I chose not to use the stain and sealer combo because I will be putting more than one coat of wipe-on polyurethane for added protection.  This isn’t in a “wet” area of the kitchen, but I’m sure it will be subjected to stains and spills over the years and I only plan on staining this once.  All I did was wipe the stain on.  The raw wood soaked up the stain immediately, so there wasn’t any need to wipe any off.  I just made sure there were not any drips along the bottom of the furring strips.

Here it is all stained and in place.  I think it looks great for less than $60!

There is still a bit of work left to do on it, which I will cover in Part 2.  The top needs to be screwed to the base from inside the cabinet, support brackets will be added beneath the overhangs, base cabinet will get a coat of paint and new hardware, and the top will get poly added.  I’m debating replacing the cabinet doors on the bar stool side of the island with bead board and carrying it around to the end of the cabinet.

My base cabinet was 36″ x 24″.  By creating a 36″ x 48″ top, I have an overhang of about 1′ on two sides.  When I purchase the new bar stools, this means I’ll be able to seat three at a time instead of just two.

Here it is with all the construction mess cleared away and a few things placed on top.

I am so excited to have this project under way and can’t wait until it is complete!  I also can’t wait to get rid of those crazy cabinet pulls that are smack dab in the middle of each kitchen door…  Who came up with that idea?

Resources

Peacock canvas/turqouise lamp on counter: Old Time Pottery

Counter top supplies: Home Depot

Drawer pull: Hobby Lobby

Teak bar stools: Thrift store find

Lamp on end table: Target

White cookie jar: Williams-Sonoma