Happy New Year Friends! Right after Christmas I was ready to start making some things in our home a little different. I am out to create the kitchen island of my dreams – let me show you what has happened.
Remember after we moved into this house I made over this big kitchen island HERE?
While I loved the rustic wood I have been craving a lighter wood and wanting the front to match the back more.
BEFORE/BEFORE:
This is the island when we moved in –
THEN – The next BEFORE:
I did the wood and trim around the pillars in THIS post.
The front cabinets were still the original super dark stain.
It’s really dark with no wood grain showing through.
I had to doctor up the front cabinets to bring in the rustic vibe I was craving.
Here’s how I got it to look like this:
I removed the cabinet doors and drawer fronts and took them out to the garage. I used Citrus Strip to get the dark stain to lift. Then sanded them down.
The middle of the shaker style cabinets is where I added some new wood.
It was hard to get the existing wood as light as I wanted and to make the front go better with the back so I bought lattice wood and molding. I cut them down to fit vertically inside the door-front-outer molding.
They are attached with tiny nails applied with my brad nail gun.
I used two stains to make it match the other side.
Now I have vertical wood that looks more like the back side of the island.
The whole thing was sanded and some parts were brought down to raw wood so I could stain it a little lighter and make the woods more varied in color than they already were.
I used these products:
If you want to see a little video of the process you can visit my Instagram story highlights HERE.
I absolutely love the results.
To make the island less traditional, I removed the door on one end and made an open shelf. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this, I put the things I use most here like casserole dishes or my white serving bowls. I NEVER opened that cabinet before this, hardly ever!
On the opposite end the drawer fronts could be unscrewed. I actually loved the drawer boxes so I made them look more like crates by adding lattice around the edges.
I cut the wood at 45 degree angles and used a brad nail gun to attach them.
On the inside of the attached molding I painted it black because it wasn’t a stainable wood there. I really like that it looks different and more rustic.
I love the look and ease of open shelving and this island had none of that. By changing the two end cabinets gave me the look I was wanting and I use those two cabinets way more than before.
There is a little gold hook on each end too. This side has a produce bag full of onions.
This end holds oven mitts.
The project took a little elbow grease and about $50 in supplies. I wanted the island to NOT match the outer kitchen cabinets – and that was accomplished. Right Mazi and Maya?
I hope you enjoyed seeing the kitchen island of my dreams – redo for the second (not promising the last) time.
Have a question or comment? Send me a message.
In other news – I am doing a program called Whole 30 right now. So far I like the food but I spend a lot more time in this kitchen preparing my foods. It’s fresh eating with no sugar or dairy. I am not one to diet but I like this program. It makes you really think about what you are putting in your body.
Now I need an exercise routine to love. Any ideas?
Thanks for stopping by and Happy 2021!
