Kitchen Island Makeover Tutorial

Here is my completed kitchen remodeled as featured in Better Homes and Gardens! My island is still holding up great and I love it!

photo courtesy of BHG

As just a little recap. I am in the middle of a major DIY Kitchen Remodel.  It has been a multi-step process over several months and it is….almost….done…. The most recent project that I competed just this past weekend was the transformation of my kitchen island.  Here is a little before and after.

(mouse over for before and after)

Now if you are anything like me you’re thinking. “Yep. love it. Now the tutorial please.” See, I knew I wanted an island like this, but I couldn’t find an all encompassing tutorial anywhere.  So by combining various “how to posts” from some fabulous bloggers like Sarah from Thrifty Décor Chick, having my friend Kristin at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia stand on her head (okay not really but almost to get the shots I needed) to photograph her beautiful island (which inspired mine) and a lot of trial and error. I successfully pulled off this island transformation and I am going to show you how you can makeover yours as well.

STEPS IN PROCESS:

(Step 1)Painting cabinets, adding beadboard, trim and hardware.
(Step 2)Staining and adding butcher block top to island.
(Step 3) Adding furniture leg addition, and baseboards to island{Click on this link for printable list of supplies and tools needed}

Step One: Painting and Adding Beadboard

The first step in my island makeover was wrapping the island in beadboard and painting the island front and cabinet doors.

This was the easiest part of the makeover but definitely the most time consuming. Sarah at Thrifty Décor Chick gives a great tutorial on adding beadboard to an island.  She used the individual pieces of beadboard, we used the primed panels.  They are slightly more cost effective and since we were using the panels in other parts of the kitchen we wanted the beadboard to match.  Pros of panels: cheap, only need to make a few large cuts and install in one piece. Cons of panels: hard to transport home, unyielding (you will need someone to help you cut them), a pain to cut out outlet holes. So you decide what works best for your job.
1.  First I removed the corner trim piece on each outer corner of the island, using a crowbar.  Then, measured off the dimensions of the front and side of the island. Using a band saw we cut them to size.2.  We marked off the measurements for the outlet. Our jigsaw worked great for this.  Make sure to start your pilot hole for the jigsaw by first drilling a hole in one corner.

3. Using Liquid Nails paneling glue, we attached the beadboard panels to the island.  To make sure the beadboard was extra secure we used paneling nails in each corner, making sure to recess them with a nail setter.

4. Once the panels were attached we noticed small gaps in the corners where the paneling meets up (or didn’t quite in our case). To fix this we glued small wooden  dowels in the outside corners.  When painted this mimics a “bead” in the beadboard.

5.  After your beadboard is attached to three sides, it’s time to prime and paint the exposed part of your island and the cabinet doors.  I chose to clean, sand, clean, prime, sand, prime and paint twice all of my cabinets.  It was a huge job but worth the effort for durability.  I used an oil based primer and paint. You will not need to prime your beadboard since it comes primed.  After your paint has completely cured you can add or change out your hardware if desired.  I also chose to run beadboard wallpaper on the “kick…” of my island and add my faux cabinet feet to the front (as you can see in the finished photograph). You could also just paint the kick …to match your cabinets.

Step Two: Staining and Adding a Butcher Block Island Top

Step two in this project was adding stained butcher block to the island.  One feature of my “old” island I hated was the wide counter top and how much space it took up.  Between the overhand and the bar-stools it left mere inches between someone sitting in the stool and my refrigerator.  This made food preparation difficult when people were over and wanted to sit and chat while I cooked.  My dream had always been to put them at the “end” of the island out of the kitchen work space.  We achieved this by narrowing and lengthening the counter.

1.  First we were extremely lucky to find a piece of butcher block at our Ikea and even more luck that it was a piece of Lagan which is the cheaper version.  I wasn’t sure if the thinner piece would look funny or vastly difference from the height of my other counters, but it doesn’t look any different and it saved quite a bit of money!
2.  Once we got our butcher block home, we removed the original counter.

and placed the butcher block piece on the island to get a feel for the length we wanted.

We even practiced sitting at it and walking around it to see how far out we were comfortable with it coming into the eating area.  When we had determined a length we liked we placed a chalk line to get a precise cut, and cut off the access wood using a circular saw with a new blade.  The blade was approximately $10 and worth the purchase to get a nice clean cut.

The we placed the piece back on the island to make sure it was exactly the length we wanted.

All of these steps are important to avoid mistakes and having to “redo” your work.

3.  After lightly sanding the cut edge and the tops and side to remove the light factory finish, I applied a wood conditioner to the top, sides and several inches underneath.  This is an important step before staining your wood, for a nice uniform finish.

4.  Now it was time to stain the butcher block. Again I turned to the internet for help.   Erin from Stillwater Story has a fabulous tutorial on how she stained her Ikea counters and she got her information from Vanessa from This and That who also has a great tutorial.  I’ll be honest I don’t have much to add to their fabulous posts.  I decided on the Minwax Dark Walnut because I wanted a dark wood but not red undertones like you see with cherry finishes.  I applied two coats of stain to top, sides and about 6 inches in on the underside.  Here is the butcher block after one coat

You can see how uneven the coloring is still with just one coat.  I wanted a darker finish and everything I had read stated that the Waterlox lightens the stain about a shade.  Waterlox is a permanent food grade varnish that you can apply to your counters.

It is a little time consuming and pricey but you will never have to prepare your butcher block again.  Sounds like my kind of product!  Because of the lightening effect of the Waterlox I applied a second coat of stain.

After a light sanding between coats,  here is the final finish minus the Waterlox.

In the spirit of honesty I’ll admit I haven’t applied the Waterlox yet. I have had so many projects to finish that for now the butcher block is just sitting on the island and we are not using it for food preparation (unsealed stained surfaces are not food grade) but I will be applying it soon, and will share that step with you when I am finished.  The tutorials I have listed above include this important step so please refer to them if you are completing this project anytime in the near future.

I am seriously so in love with my butcher block, we’ve even wondered now if we should have installed it everywhere in the kitchen but I also like what we chose for the perimeter cabinets as well.  I’ll be sharing those with you soon!

 

Step Three: Adding furniture legs and baseboard trim to island

From the beginning inception of my kitchen remodel plans I knew I wanted legs for my island.  I was in love with the look and it fit with my idea of a sophisticated farmhouse look.

1. First goal, find legs for the island.  Warning you cannot find these in your big box stores and I my budget and time frame did not allow for me to special order them.  Time to get creative.  Enter…newel posts.  You know those poles that are at the end of your staircase.  Here are the ones I purchased from Lowe’s.

<

There were $26 each and of course would need modified.  Using the electric miter saw I rented from Home Depot, I cut the round ball and decorative trim off of the top part of the post and then measured and cut off the excess from the bottom of the post.  These posts are 48” and I needed a 36” post.  Measure your posts according to the height of your island.  (Speaking of renting a miter saw, it was so fun to see the face of the tool rental guy when he learned the miter saw was for me and that I was remodeling my kitchen on my own.  Love dropping that on the sales people at Lowe’s and Home Depot, they are never sure quite what to say.) heh.

2.  For the apron of my leg addition to the island I purchased a simple square piece of 3” primed MDF.  Using the miter saw I cut to size one of the side pieces of the island.  Be sure to measure and measure again. I came back in the house often while cutting my pieces to dry fit them and make sure I had my measurements correct.  One I was satisfied with the first side piece I attached it to the leg using Heavy Duty Liquid Nails

and then screwed in one of the triangle corner brackets.  I highly recommend starting a small pilot hole with an appropriate sized drill bit for each screw.  This will help you avoid splitting the wood.

I clamped the apron piece in place so it would stay straight and flush with the front of the leg, while the glue dried.

 
3.  After the glue has dried I attached the side piece of the apron to my island using an 3” L bracket.

Here is what the corner bracket looks like, this will be screwed into the counter top once building the legs and apron are complete.

And this is what you phone will look like after cutting all of this woods.  The perils of belonging to a DIY Blogger.

4.  We repeated the same steps for the other side of the island.

5. Once you’ve established the exact location of each leg and side piece of the apron and they are secure to the island, measure you center apron piece and cut to fit.

Using a thin layer of glue and 2 additional 3 inch L brackets at the bottom of the center apron piece attach the center piece to the legs. Make sure that the apron front is level with the front of the legs. Here is what this section looks like when completed without the island top.

7. Once your glue is completely dry and your leg addition feels secure, you can caulk, prime and paint your legs and the apron. Island legs might need a light sanding before painting because they are unfinished wood. Remember, caulk is not sandable but wood filler or putty is.  If you have a fairly large gap you might want to fill it with wood putty or filler and then sand it smooth, otherwise paintable white caulk will work great!

(As a final step you can add a nice wide trim to your island.  I love how Kristin had the wide trim so that she could have her cabinet feet on the front, but it didn’t look funny with her furniture legs when you looked at the island from the side.)

8.  To achieve this look, choose a wide baseboard (I chose a 3” wide primed baseboard) make sure you measure you island well so that you purchase a long enough piece of baseboard.

9.  One one end you will cut a straight cut.  To do this place your miter saw at 0 degrees.

10. For your outside corners cut your baseboard at a 45 degree angle. To know if it’s cut right you want to be cutting away the back of the baseboard (where the front or primed side is longer than the back side of the mitered edge (hope that made sense!) After cutting your pieces and dry fitting them to make sure your cuts fit together well, apply at least one coat of your paint. Remember if you end up with a slight gap between your mitered edges, it’s okay. That’s why they invented caulk.
11. Once you’ve cut your baseboard to size, attach with glue and a few paneling nails if necessary ( I did not end up needing them.) And you’re done!

<

Whew! So that’s about it.  I want to state for the record I am truly a DIYer.  I have learned a lot of this through trial and error.  I was able to achieve all of the remodeling of this island by myself except for Bama Boy cutting some of the paneling for me (I’m still a little scared of the circular saw..lol). I would not want a carpenter going over it with a magnifying glass, but I am pleased with how it turned out! I can’t guarantee you’ll get the exact same results that I did but I can tell you that if you decide you want to remodel your island following my instructions I think you’ll be pleased with the results. I know I am!

If you have any questions I didn’t answer please feel free to ask in the comments section.  I will try and answer them on here as well, so others can see the response.  Also, feel free to email me through our contact page.  And thank you again for all of your sweet comments on my island reveal. I can’t wait to share the whole kitchen with you, it truly is an amazing transformation!