DIY Kitchen Island, Take V

It's been a bit of a process... not super long, but longer than I had hoped. Mostly because I like instant gratification. I'm in the middle of rearranging a few things in my kitchen but I couldn't wait any longer to share this with you...

First, a quick re-cap:

Take I... I modified the kitchen island plans I found on Ana White's website to meet my needs and wants. I made it a smaller, added a side rail above the shelf, and extended the counter to create a bar-ledge.

DIY Kitchen Island, Take IV

Yes, another island post. I promise I am almost finished! (And I can't wait!!)

Since the last update the drawer faces have been made and the drawer slides have been installed--so I have working drawers! My dad got a bit creative and added a nice routered edge to the drawers... I love details.

DIY Kitchen Island, Take III

I've made some good progress on my kitchen island! (Again, with loads of help from mom and dad!)

I picked up some stain and sealer for my counter. After much discussion, pondering and soul searching (or something) I decided to stain the counter with a standard wood stain (Cabot's Penetrating Wood Stain in Pecan) and then seal it with a wax-free shellac that is safe to use on toys.



There are many opinions and options out there for finishing a DIY wood counter. Since my counter is not intended to be used as a butcher block/cutting surface I felt that this option worked best for my situation. I might change my mind and do something else to it... but for now this is what I'm going with.

DIY Kitchen Island, Take II

I ran out of time to start working on my kitchen island after I bought the lumber so I had to wait until the next day to get started.

DIY Kitchen Island, Take I

Last Friday I was thinking about what I would do over the weekend.

Clean the house? Organize my garage? Sleep?

Nah.

I decided to finally build myself a kitchen island like I've been talking about for... well, awhile. (Like when I found inspiration photos/designs here, or when I first found out about Knock-Off-Wood last year!)

But first I needed a design.

Enter Ana White! I built my daybed based on her Simple Daybed plans last year (see part one, part two, and part three) back when her site was still "Knock-Off-Wood."