DIY Kitchen Island Out of Base Cabinents

Confession: we live in a teeny-tiny apartment while S goes to grad school, and I hate it. Okay, so that really isn't a secret for anyone that has ever talked to me. But what is really tiny and I can't deal with is the tiny kitchen and the overall lack of storage and counter space. For a normal person, not a big deal but for a baker and cookie decorator it makes out kitchen a little out of control. Need the waffle maker? I'm sorry, but you have to sift through the 45 assorted cookie sheets and muffin tins in that cabinet. You get the picture.

My solution to this craziness is a kitchen island. When you go to shopping online for one, they are either a million dollars or your pans have to sit out in the open. I really don't want to have to wash my tin, trays, and pans both before and after use. So we started planning one out of kitchen cabinets.

Most of the planning occurred in the hour before we purchased anything and as we were wandering around a home improvement store. Our store of choice this go around happened to be Menard's just because they had the cheapest stuff in our area.

There are a million ways to make a kitchen island. This just happens to be what worked best for us and our situation.

Our Shopping List:
2 base cabinets
counter top
bead board
trim
corner trim
finishing nails
kick board
various sizes of screws
corbels
stair rail posts
island top (we used a high grade step)
silicone caulk
masking tape
polycrylic
stain
paint brushes
shims
felt

Tools needed:
power saw of some sort (we used a circular saw, hand saw, and jig saw)
work bench or saw horses
hammer
measuring tape
power drill
clamps
truck or large SUV to get long boards and big cabinets home
glue gun


We got a large 30" and a smaller 15" base cabinets. We also purchased a 48" laminate countertop. I wanted a butchers block but there was a $150 dollar difference so a $20 laminate countertop it was.

Start by pulling off all of the wrappings and cardboard. Chances are that some of the staples will be still taking residence in your pretty new cabinets. Remove those squatters with your needle nose plyers. If they really won't come out and won't be able to see it when the counter top is on, hammer it in.

Then "use" the drawers. Make sure that they roll on the tracks easily. This is a good time to adjust them before the cabinets have a counter top on them and are visible. You can adjust them as needed by unscrewing the screw in the back portion of the counter and moving the plastic piece from side to side until the drawers move easily. Just re-tighten the screw to keep them in place.

We needed to add a little piece of shim to one of ours to make the tracks parallel and the drawer move smoother.




Then we moved the cabinets so that the faces lined up. Notice that there is about a 1/2" gap in the back. Make sure that the fronts are not angled back.

Then we took out the drawers all together and put a clamp in the drawer spaces to hold the cabinets together. You could also take off the cabinet doors and put a clamp at the bottom too.














We used 1 1/4" screws to screw from each side to hold the cabinet fronts together. Do this in both the cabinet section and the drawer section.

It would also be advisable to use a piece of 1/2" plywood in the gap section between the cabinets and use plywood screws to screw from each side to hold the cabinets together in the back as well. We unfortunately have a ZX2 and a Grand Am and could not fit plywood in either.

We simply screwed them together using 1 1/2" screws with 1/2" of shims to hold them the correct distance apart. We tried to screw through  set of shims in a section and they broke in half. Just make sure that you don't counter sink these screws and get the back section of cabinets to close together.











We also tilted ours on it's face and put some screws in the bottom section too. We will be scooting ours around and don't want them to break apart. This would also be a great time to hot glue some felt to the bottom to make it easier to slide around.

We then cut and attached the bead board and trim to the outside of the cabinets. We measured and then cut to fit. For the section at the bottom we placed the bead board where we wanted it and then drew where to cut out. I used 1/2" finishing nails to put on the bead board. I also used a comb to hold the finishing nail to start it. Have you spotted the purple comb in these pictures?

This is where we cut the kick board and nailed it on as well. This is the point where I recommend painting the cabinets and bead board or staining them if that's the route that you want. We decided to keep the front raw and just stain the bead board.

Tape off the sections  that you don't wait painted/stained. Let this dry overnight and don't forget to ventilate your space really well.

To hold up the breakfast bar part we used spindles from a stair case. That is also the section where we found the "counter top" for the breakfast bar. It's really just a higher end step.

While the bead board was drying, we went ahead and stained the spindles and corner trim. I would cut them first so that you don't have to stain again, We, unfortunately, didn't do that as you can see from this picture.

Attach your counter top from the inside using the counter top anchors in the corner while everything is drying. Again, we put ours on a little too early. If you get a laminate top have someone sit above where you are screwing to help keep it level. There may be a bend in it from standing on end so long.

You also need a support to hold the spindles and corbels to the cabinets since they have just a really thick cardboard back. We used a high quality board at the top and bottom (stained) as a kick board and also a support. After the spindles were mostly dry, we screwed them to the support boards first so that the screws would be hidden. In other words, screw from the side that will be against the cabinet into the spindle to hold it together. This also let us get a good fit with the bead board.

Then attached these to the cabinet by screwing from the inside of the cabinet where it is reinforced to be screwed to the wall. We also screwed the top board into the back of the counter top to make sure everything was really secure. Our board was a little short so we flipped the cabinets on their back and screwed into the board from the underside of the cabinets. We put two really long screws all the way through to the spindles  to make sure everything will hold.

Then attach the corbels. There are several ways to do that. We measured where the screw should be, screw it almost all the way into the spindle, and then slide the corbel on top using the screw support bracket inside. If it slid on easily, take it off and tighten the screw. You should need a hammer to get it level with the counter top. We hammered the corbels down level with the counter top and then put a small finishing screw in the bottom of the corbel to really make sure it doesn't go anywhere.

Then attach your bar counter top. We decided to do this with a really health helping of silicon caulk. We also had a small gap on the bottom that I filled in with silicon. Let this dry at least 24 hours to be safe.








































Now for your corner trim. At this point, everything else should be in place, and you can see any place that you will need to cut out. We attached with more silicon caulk and held in place for 24 hours with masking tape.

Also don't forget to finish the ends of your counter top if you used a laminate. We are planning to trim ours out.

If you didn't pre-sand everything, sand it after everything is dry, do paint and stain touch ups, and then poly or seal for durability. Make sure you use a food safe sealer. It is not necessary to seal, but we figured that unless we wanted a tie-dyed counter top, we probably should. Oh the joys of living with a serial cookier.

We still have some sanding and sealing to do. I will post finished pictures when everything is finished.

How will you build yours differently?