The first project we’re tackling for our new house is the kitchen. Well that’s kind of only half true. The first project is we’ve taken on is taking out a staircase right by the kitchen. But because we’re taking out a staircase, we’ll need to match the flooring and while we’re doing that, we might as well do the kitchen floors and while we’re doing that, we might as well do the backsplash, but what’s the point of doing the backsplash if we’re not going to do the counter tops, because you can’t do that in reverse order SO THE GOOD NEWS IS we’re now completely renovating our fugging kitchen.

The subject of the kitchen island has been tricky. How much to spend - to buy or get crafty and make. Do we spend the money on a hood fan or an island, especially when we have decent counter space. I have been humming, hawing, internet searching and tinkering around with ideas since we moved in. How big, how long, the materials, the budget - level of satisfaction anyone?? Because let’s call a spade a spade - when you’re DIY-ing, about 1 in every 10 projects comes out half decent, much less perfect.

Well, call me a white cow. Aren’t I a lucky little duckling?

When we moved, as I’ve said before, we inherited a lot treasures. One was a work bench in the garage. I have been staring at it every time I have driven in the house for the last two months. About a week ago, I drove in and a weird, tealy-green light bulb went off.

That rugged old work bench was our new kitchen island.

As you can see from THIS photo - it was a workbench. For sure. Splattered in paint. Hardware sticking out. A TROUGH.

We hauled it up to the kitchen to test out the size and wouldn’t you know it - it fit perfectly, der.

So I grabbed my half can of Annie Sloan paint in Old White - because there is no project better than this for Annie Sloan - and painted the legs and frame. I took some wood treatment oil from Ikea and did the top and the bottom. Annie Sloan is great for a project like this - two coats was more than enough, no smell, minimal clean and (as usual for me) no prep work. The best part is now the island matches my Annie Sloan’d cabinets. And I have still have basically half a can left. Check. Mate. 

All in all the project took me two half hours - first coat and second coat. Total cost - well, since the workbench came with the house and the paint was left over - dare I say it was a $0 project? 

Winner. Winner. Chicken. Dinner. 

Here are some of the pics!

Fear not, all of you think I am going to be cutting up meat on this. I know the wood is not meant to be a cutting board - some woods hold germs better than others and some woods are even smart enough to help germs fester. This is more of a ceremal making, unloading groceries, salad spinning type of island. So if one more person explains to me the health risks like I am a 5 year old using a butter knife for the first time, I will unfriend you permanently.

This last shot is how to show you how surprisingly well it fits in the kitchen - we can open the doors fully on the pantry near the sink, and on the same side as me (taking the photo) is the fridge and both those doors can open fully. 

Sarah said it reminds her of a lot of furniture from Four Hands - ya it does. An island that would have cost me $2000 bucks in a store, $500 bucks and a lot of time and swearing to make cost me zero dollars and zero cents to upgrade. YES.

Next on the kitchen reno docket - the counter tops!