How to build supports onto a kitchen island

February 17, 2015

There’s a bit of progress happening to the kitchen island! It’s so fun to see something come together as you had planned it in your head for months. Well, mostly how it was in my head – I’ve tweaked a few things. 

If you want to catch up you can see my plan for the island my plan for the island, how I made the built in wine rack and then how I extended the original island.

First up, I had the lights over the island installed last week. I was going to wait to do it but I had money left in the budget and went ahead. I picked out these lights from Lowe’s:

pendant lights over island

They are the Progress Archie lights in bronze. I’m mixing metals in here like I do throughout the rest of the house and I love how it’s looking! The new lights and those over the window seat all have a vintage/farmhouse vibe so they work well together.

I don’t know why the price is so high online – they were $60-something at Lowe’s (on sale). I LOVE them. 

I love that vintage look of the glass shade:

Archie lights Lowe's over island

Excuse the ceiling patches that still need to be painted!

They are on the same switch as the other kitchen lights. I’d love to have them on a separate one but that would have involved more holes in the ceiling and I’m kind of over those and need a break for awhile. ;) Maybe we’ll have it done in the future but for now it doesn’t bother me.

They are on a dimmer with the rest of the lights too, so I can turn them down. They offer great light – the shades keep the bulbs from being glaring but they are still really bright. I have 40 watt bulbs in them and it’s plenty:

two lights over island

You may notice another small addition to the island in that pic – I finally got the side “supports” built! They are very basic, I just built them with 1 x 4s:

extending out kitchen island

I attached one flat to the side of the island first, then attached two to the side of that. I cut down two pieces at the length I needed for the top and bottom and attached those with screws, then finished it up with the end piece and the two on the side of that:

extending kitchen island

Very simple, very quick. I used three pieces of pine for each side, so these cost about $15 so far. By the way, these are not to support the countertop, they are just for looks so they don’t need to be structural. But they are super secure and aren’t going ANYWHERE.

I will wrap one side of them to match up with the sides of the island, then I can start with my planking! I hope to get some of that done today. I can’t believe how much more custom the island already looks. Here’s a before: adding on to a kitchen island

And here’s how it looks now:

decorative supports under island countertop

See?? I think it’s going to look so good! I had originally hoped for a wider island top that would go past the stools so they would tuck under perfectly, but butcher block in that size is incredibly hard to find. By the way, IKEA still lists their island butcher block online but they are discontinued. (They are the only ones I know of who carry the wider size.) Boo.

I thought of something this morning though – I may adjust those top supports that are attached to the countertop from underneath. If I ever need to remove the top I’ll have to pull everything apart to get to that, which I really, really don’t feel like ever doing again. Ever. :) We only had to take the old countertop off once and that was to move the island, but still. Just in case I’ll probably remove those screws into the top, which will mean making some small adjustments.

But I’m VERY excited to see how it’s coming together…very soon this will look like an actual finished piece. The “art” will be gone, ha!:

support columns on islandI’ve had a few visitors to our house and readers think that the design on the island is intentional – when it’s just glue from the old boards that I had on there years ago. I’m and artist and didn’t even know it! ;)   

So there you go, a bit of progress to share! I’m thinking next time I share this it will be done. No promises though. But I do hope to be done with it by next week sometime!

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Comments

  1. Where are your counter stools from, may I ask? I love them:)

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    1. Me too! :) They were from HomeGoods (I actually found two and then one more months later) but I did find a tag on the bottom -- if you search "sean barstool dark moon canvas" a bunch of them come up. I'm betting the HG price is better, but at least you can find them that way!

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    2. I actually found the stools at Homegoods and TJMaxx this weekend. They are way cheaper compare to the online price. Did you cut them down? Do you mind sharing how you did it?

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    3. Yes April I am sharing that this week! I've had to do it for both sets of chairs we've had at the island.

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  2. Oh wait... it's not solid wood. :-/ Well, maybe they do still have it, it's just not on the site.

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  3. If you have a Lumber Liquidators near you can order island butcher block through them

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    1. I checked them out a few weeks ago and the widest they have is 36 inches as well. I was hoping for the 40 inch IKEA had but it's not a big deal. The new longer top makes up for it. :)

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  4. Nice progress on the island. It's starting to come together beautifully. Love the light fixtures, especially the texture on the glass shades.

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  5. Love the progress thus far, but I've always liked your kitchen !!

    Paige.Rose
    www.TheQuaintSanctuary.blogspot.com

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  6. I am excited to see the finished look! and I love those lights!!

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  7. Looks great, love your choice of lighting.

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  8. Giiiiirl, your kitchen is going to be your best reveal yet. Patiently waiting to see the final result!!!! :)

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  9. Looks like things are progressing! I know I am going through remodeling in my home and I am so looking forward to the end of it all!

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  10. Check that your family can sit on the bar stools all at the same time before you finish up the end supports! Get some of your son's friends to sit up there with him and see how easy it is for them to swing their legs up on to the bar stools when there are three people sitting there. It looks too close together with the end supports up.
    You don't want the stools to be decorative, but they might be too close together for use, with the end supports in place.

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    1. The spacing is good -- I extended the island more so I could make more room for just that reason. :)

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  11. This is coming along great! I like that you are able to do it in small chucks rather than feeling like you need to get it done in one weekend. It makes projects like this more manageable. I have trouble breaking them into smaller chunks and therefore have trouble starting if I know I will not get it done in one go!

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    1. Sometimes it kills me to do that but it's how I work. (Most of the time!) It's good for me because I usually find I'll tweak things along the way.

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  12. How do you keep your cats from "knitting" on material such as the top of your bar stools? I would love to have something like those but know that our cats would probably ruin them.

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  13. Great work! It's so cool to watch a progress of something your building on your own. Looks great! I love that counter top, my dream in my future kitchen is to have wood countertops :) Cant wait to see the final reveal!

    Lauren
    LB Designs
    xx

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  14. I really like your new light fixtures over the island. It is so refreshing to finally see a homeowner address the issue of glare from lights. It looks like your shades have that issue under control. You did mention that you were using a 40 watt bulb, but I was wondering if there is more than one bulb in each fixture? Great job, and thanks for sharing your progress. You amaze me.

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  15. Wow, impressive and it's going to look great when it's finished!

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  16. I see where the lights (which are so cute) can take a 100w medium base bulb (e26 base) and you chose to go with a 60w instead. I did some research and got a bit bogged down; but, I believe there are dimmable LED bulbs that would fit what you need and be non-glare. Incandescent bulbs put off so much heat that you can feel as though the light is cooking you, especially in the summer when you are working to cool your house. I have noticed that restaurants often put non-glare bulbs in all their down-light fixtures over their tables so customers aren't blinded and/or cooked. You didn't mention the bulbs except to say you went with less wattage. Maybe there is something even MORE perfect out there you could use.

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    1. Thanks Dianne! I actually used 40 watt for each one and with the dimmer they are perfect! I've just started using LEDs elsewhere in the house and still am not in love with them, but they are growing on me. :)

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