DIY Kitchen Island

This was a kitchen with zero counter space and nothing really dividing it from the living room except for a table and chairs. I'm a big lover of kitchen islands and thought that would be the perfect thing to add counter space and visually separate the kitchen from the living room. Here's what we did. Once we got the ball rolling the whole thing was done in about a week. But it took seven years to get the ball rolling.

Started with Lowes unstained, off the shelf, cabinets.

Fitting together two tiny cabinets and a medium one. The edges are not straight so this takes some sanding and wood filler for the gaps. Cabinets are screwed together from the inside.

Fast forward two months (just kidding) and here it is, all four cabinets are one unit.  Sanded and shimmed to rest on the tile without wobbling.

Added panels and framing to the particle board sides and back.

This piece on top is just a scrap piece of MDF that we temporarily put there. It was removed when the walnut top arrived.

Ordered a John Boos walnut top online. I was not going to go with something this extravagant. I was going to stain a slab of less expensive wood. I know, I know, you cannot prepare or cut food on toxic stain. But I was fine with that. After my husband invested so much sweat and time into the base he wanted to top it with "quality." This walnut is oiled and unsealed. Safe for food prep.

Adding more framing to cover the seams of the panels.

Home Depot brackets.

Afterthought to add more trim to the inside of the framing.

Finishing up and looking at a green stain sample.

Staining green.

Needs one more coat of stain and some knobs.

I bought the chairs online at Walmart's Canopy line. Now we've moved on to the kitchen counters, stove, and backsplash.

The progress so far. I have to glue and grout the tiles still. They're just resting there until I get the pattern right.  You can see more of the progress here.

**Update** finished backsplash. You can see a tutorial here, Here is the kitchen now.