Progress on the Kitchen Island

I hope everyone survived the snowpocalypse last week. We did get a few more inches of snow here in Louisville, KY but we missed out on the big snowfall that hit much of the East Coast thank goodness. I don’t know about you but I am OVER the snow! I have started some Lavender, Lamb’s Ear and Salvia seedlings in hopes of being able to get outside and work in the yard in the next 6 weeks or so… I think I need some outdoor time badly!

We began working on our kitchen island last week and over this past weekend. So far we have painted the kitchen, added a backsplash and added some pendant lights over the island. My original plan was to paint the island a cream color and leave the other cabinets as is, but after looking at the wear on the other cabinets I decided to paint them all… just not all at once.

I’ll share with you where we are now as there are some final touches left to do in order for the island to be considered finished. I had already removed the shoe molding and toe kick at this point in the process.

It’s a nice size island and the shape works great in this kitchen, but as you can see the back boards have had a lot of wear and tear from people sitting there. It’s also very plain looking so I wanted to add some detail and interest to it.

I drew up this mock of what I wanted the island sides to look like. I used Word, because my drawing skills suck, so I could show my hubby what I was thinking about doing. I think the rendering came out pretty darn good if I do say so myself!

After removing the toe kick and shoe molding I removed all of the doors and drawer fronts, being sure to number them as I removed them.  I filled in the bottom hole on each door because I am going to install new hardware.

We built a top for our pool table so we can use it as a table when we need to, I’m using it to paint the drawer fronts and doors which is much better than putting them on the floor. I first cleaned them all with Formula 409 and a scrub sponge and then sanded any areas necessary before priming them.

I didn’t have enough plastic triangles so these small plastic drink cups were the PERFECT solution! They kept the pieces stable and I happen to have a bunch of them on hand.

The fronts are still wet, but you get the idea… I used a soft bristle Purdy brush and a foam roller to get the smoothest finish I could. The paint is Benjamin Moore Advance in Black Iron, the paint is self leveling and has a nice hard finish once cured.

My hubby cut all of the trim for the island. I am the installer and caulker extraordinaire!

I was so happy I got to use my new “toy”! I got this fabulous deal at Home Depot right before Christmas on a air compressor and 2 nail gun set. I really did want need this… the smallest nails our other gun can handle is 2” and that was WAY to long for this project. We used Liquid Nails and 1” nails for all of the trim. The baseboard is 4.25” and matches the rest of the trim in the house.

The trim I chose is actually chair rail backing, which has great detail on it and I really like it used this way. Seriously my friend caulk and I have spent a lot of time together on this project!

This is after one coat of paint. I have to wait 16 hours between coats, which seems like forever, but I can get a good feel for how this is going to finish up!

I am still waiting for my appliques to come in and then I have to prime, paint and install the center detail work, but I am thrilled with how it looks so far. The addition of the trim really bulks up the cabinet and the paint helps this piece look brand new!

So now you know what I will be working on this week… I hope my back can stand it! I will share with you some good before and after shots once it’s all complete.

Hope you all have a great week ahead, thanks as always for stopping by!

Until next time…