We recently purchased home and needed a large cook prep area due to limited counter space. So my wife and I looked at islands and thought the were too expensive. So after discussing what she would like I began to design and build it. We had an old out dated armoire that had great drawers and had good bones. I took it apart cut it down and made it the center. I framed the rest of the project with 3/4 sanded plywood that was on sale it took 3 sheets. We also wanted turned columns on each end, interior posts were expensive, I used Exterior runs hand rail an a fraction of the cost. The top was the next challenge. Granite is expensive and butcher block would have been also. I found a supplier of rough black walnut 1.5 inches thick. I plained and sized the planks then made the counter out it. The entire island was finished antique red with a glade finish. Top was finished in polyurethane .
We recently purchased home and needed a large cook prep area due to limited counter space. So my wife and I looked at islands and thought the were too expensive. So after discussing what she would like I began to design and build it. We had an old out dated armoire that had great drawers and had good bones. I took it apart cut it down and made it the center. I framed the rest of the project with 3/4 sanded plywood that was on sale it took 3 sheets. We also wanted turned columns on each end, interior posts were expensive, I used Exterior runs hand rail an a fraction of the cost. The top was the next challenge. Granite is expensive and butcher block would have been also. I found a supplier of rough black walnut 1.5 inches thick. I plained and sized the planks then made the counter out it. The entire island was finished antique red with a glade finish. Top was finished in polyurethane .
