Kitchen Island

The problem with declaring that you will become a cabinet maker and furnish your own home with (dubious) quality furniture is that your wife then starts to list the things she wants, when she'll give you to have them done by.

While I'm contemplating the artistic creation of a chippendale style bedroom chair, or gothic writing desk she wants a wardrobe, a bathroom cabinet and a kitchen island. When we viewed this house the current owners had already put in a modern kitchen with a large, inviting space in the middle - they'd filled it with a glass table but we wanted extra storage and a good sized work surface. 

So I made the cabinet and got it on the wall then focused on the island. We wanted a double cupboard, shelving and some veg storage baskets all incorporated in a rustic style. I chose to build the carcass out of builders yard pine as it would be stained and varnished but I wanted a decent hardwood top. Shropshire Hardwood who I use quite a bit suggested some sycamore and with a bit of planer use I bought home sufficient to make a surface about 1m x 1.8m

After a bit of edge planing, glueing and sanding it looked really good - I'd kept the wainey edge down the long sides for a bit of character and after some oiling which really bought out the golden colour it was done.

In finishing the base I tried a technique that I read online to age the pine a bit. I loved the effect it gave using:

- A couple of strong black tea washes to add tanins to the wood

- Once the tea washes had dried I painted on some vinegar that had had some wire wool laying in it for 24 hours, I decided to do two coats.

Nothing happened at first but after a couple of hours the reaction had kicked in causing the pine to grey up and look less new - even after colouring the wood the effect adds something to the look.

The final bit of character consisted of adding about thirty old fashioned black door studs to hid my dowel filled screw holes and imply some age, they look good (got them from Ebay as always!)

It's surprising just how large the thing is but it fits the space nicely and the huge double door cupboard has really helped us to organise our kitchen, no more packed storage filled with stuff that you can't see.



Checking the layout of the top before glueing up - note the clean and tidy workspace



Shelving at this end, big double doors

I made a knife holder and oil holder sunk into the top, they can be removed for cleaning and the knife holder is made from hundreds (about 1100) kebab sticks on end in a box - this means any type and size of knife can be pushed in as needed

The nicer end, baskets were purchased to fit the shelving