My mom's kitchen island

​My mom got the idea to buy a china cabinet off of our local buy & sell, Kijiji, to repurpose into a kitchen island.  She wanted the bottom half of the china cabinet for her island.  Unfortunately, neither of us thought to take a picture BEFORE we began working on it.  Here's a similar one that I found on Kijiji, (thanks to the random stranger for "lending" me your picture, LOL).  The difference between this one and the one Mom bought is that Mom's had a wheat sheaf etched into each of the three doors.

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In December, before Ryan & I built our kitchen countertops, we built Mom's island top.  We used the exact same method and supplies for this island top as when we built our kitchen countertops right after.  For that tutorial, click on the button link.

Countertop Tutorial

The countertop all built, crackfilled, and ready to stain.

The next step, after the countertop portion was complete, was to complete the transformation of the island itself . . . taking it from half of a china cabinet to an actual island.

I pulled off the bottom moulding, as it only encompassed three sides and being solid oak, wasn't able to be easily matched up to finish out.  It was glued and nailed and screwed on so it was interesting getting it off.  Yes, it left some 'blemishes' that I had to fix . . . glue down the splinters of oak that it peeled up, sand it smooth, crackfill and sand some more!

Then, using leftover beadboard from the wainscotting project at my previous house, we (Dad, Mom, & I) glued and air-nailed it to the back.  Then, we air-nailed on new baseboard on all 4 sides.  Due to Dad's mitre saw being off kilter, I spent a long time with the wood filler, palm sander, etc, perfecting the corners as best I could. 

The last piece to this 'construction' was to put wood corner trim to the back two corners to hide the edge of the beadboard.  I measured the top narrow part of the baseboard and purchased corner moulding of the same width so that it would blend together good.

I wood filled the wheat sheaf designs on the doors, finishing off with Dust Control crackfiller.  Once the nails were set and all blemishes crackfilled and sanded, I painted it all with a coat of primer.  I used the same primer that I used on my kitchen cabinets . . . BIN 123.  It claims to be a great bonding primer to all types of surfaces.  Notice I said "claims"?  You see, I am so used to the Inslx primer, Stix, that Benjamin Moore sells that actually performs what it says it will . . . bond to any surface!  Whereas Stix will bond within 24 hours, the 123 takes a couple days.  So, yes, it bonds, but nothing like Stix does.  Needless to say, I will be sticking to Stix from now on.  Pardon the pun.  LOL

Then, I painted the island with Benjamin Moore's color, Kendall Charcoal.  Mom had bought a pint of Aura eggshell and I mixed it with Chalk-tique chalk powder.  I used the same method as I did with my own kitchen cabinets.  One thing I will mention here is that I have since learned that the key seems to be to use a matte paint when mixing with the chalk powder.  One wouldn't think it would make much difference from Aura's eggshell to their matte but it does when mixing with chalk powder.  I can't explain it.  It just really does.  

After the minimum wait of 72 hours after painting, I applied 2 coats of General Finishes Flat Out Flat for a protective topcoat.  It applied shiny and streaky for some weird reason.  I was super frustrated as I am such a perfectionist so went back over the drawers and doors with a coat of Varathane Nano Defense Matte, the same stuff I used on the countertops.  That went much better.

The old outdated hardware was removed and we installed new black hardware.  You may notice that these are both Mom & my favourites now.  I got these exact same ones for my kitchen cabinets and Mom chose them for her bathroom vanity and now her island.  They simply are beautiful.  What can I say?  LOL

The corbels.  Can't forget those beauties!!  Mom & I were browsing at Home Sense in December and she came across these corbels.  They were in the decorative section as bookends.  I was so excited when she found them!  I knew right away they would make perfect corbels for her island!  And at only $24.99 each, they were sooooo much cheaper than even the plainer ones in the actual corbels section at building supply stores!!

​Mom is happy with her finished island and that makes me happy!

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*  You may have noticed . . . one stool is grey and the other is green.  LOL.  We had enough paint to do one coat on one stool but not enough to do the other stool.  So we have pick up a little more paint to finish both stools.  

Stayed tuned for more projects in this kitchen this year!  Mom has more plans up her sleeve.  Mom & I make quite a team!