Extend Your Kitchen Island With an Open Bookshelf

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We are in the midst of a kitchen renovation and decided that we wanted to extend our kitchen island. We used an old upper cabinet to create an open bookshelf for this almost free update!
We started with 2 upper cabinets that came down from our kitchen when we removed a wall last fall.
We trimmed off excess height due to this cabinet originally being an upper. Alternatively you could build a simple wooden box as your cabinet form.
We wood glued the top of the cabinet back in place and then spackled and sanded.
Here you can see an original cabinet vs a modified one.
We screwed the cabinet into place and used a jig saw to create a hole to pull the outlet through.
Here is the "after" - though we are having new counters installed that will extend to cover the top.
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Morgan McBride
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Wes15890151 Wes15890151 on Feb 27, 2017
    Don't understand why you cut off top ? Couldn't you just leave in place and continue ?
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  • Barbara Barbara on Feb 10, 2018

    Looks great! I got my cheapy kitchen island by putting two sofa tables I already had back to back, attaching them with screw in brackets underneath and covering it with a checkered table cloth.

    • Jodi Jodi on Apr 06, 2020

      May I pls see a pic of your Homemade Kitchen Island ?

  • Bernice H Bernice H on Nov 05, 2018

    This is a great easy do...thank you. I did want an end bookcase type at the end of the island of our kitchen redo..for what I wanted the price was stupid high,so I bagged it. Just as well..but still a very good idea. 👏

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