Beat Up Garage Cabinet Becomes a Custom Kitchen Countertop Base

This cabinet stored tools in a deep, dark corner of the garage. Its black color and chipping paint made me pass it up time and time again, until one day, when I was reorganizing the garage, and started opening up the drawers. They were solid and dovetailed, and the piece was solid wood. I decided to bring it back to life and back into the kitchen, which is where I think its life originally began many years ago.
My best guess is that this was a handmade baker's cabinet. It has a large drawer that might have been for a flour bin, and a pull out wood cutting board on the top.
Because of its chippy nature to start, I decided to give this piece a layered look, highlighting some of the original chipping, but also adding color to the piece.
I painted a light blue first, and then red, and then a darker blue. I've explained the complete process for bringing out those different layers of paint - there's a few tricks that really help!
The rest of the kitchen has butcher block countertops, so we got another slab and installed it on top of the cabinet. The other side rests on a cleat we attached the wall. We didn't reroute the electrical outlet, so we had to extend the cord up through the countertop. No, it's not the right way to do it, but with a door on either side of this little corner, there's no other outlet that's accessible!
This beverage area is at our little lake house cottage, where we host a lot of guests. When people come up, they consider it to be a special occasion or a mini vacation, so we always try to have something for guests in the fridge.
I know this layered look is not for everyone, nor does it work on every piece, but I really love how it turned out on this cabinet.
We fill the cabinet with the snacks and dry goods for the weekend, and the fridge is always ready with a cold beverage! For more information on this cabinet, click on the link below. Or, see how we transformed the entire kitchen for less than $500 here - http://www.refreshliving.us/2014/08/kitchen-refresh-on-budget.html
Jenny @ Refresh Living
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Christine Kotlark Christine Kotlark on Feb 22, 2016
    This will sound silly, but I have gotten jute splinters before, how do you avoid this when using it around something you have to pull on? Do you seal it with something?
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  • Vickie Miles Vickie Miles on Apr 23, 2016
    So love this! Jute handles ate so cute. Only I thing....maybe put a piece of matching trim above your fridge? I see it Dosent quite fit, but otherwise, outstanding!!
  • Virginia Virginia on May 23, 2016
    This got my wheels.turning I have an extra fridge from my bar area
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