How to Make an Island…and Save Thousands!

3 Materials
$1460
14 Hours
Medium

After pricing an island or our closet we learned it was WAY more than we wanted to spend. So…we learned how to make an island! This one is in a closet, but could work for a kitchen, too!

The best answer turned out to be four unfinished drawer base cabinets from Home Depot. These cabinets cost $165 each. The cabinets were screwed together back to back and side to side and secured with Liquid Nails. The ends were finished with 1/2″ x 4″ poplar trim from Home Depot for a total of $50. They were attached with contact cement. Joints were finished with spackle and then sanded.  

I primed the cabinets with a good bonding primer from Benjamin Moore. Only one coat of primer was needed.

The paint I used was General Finishes Persian Blue Milk Paint. I only needed to add one coat of paint to the island. I did not even use one quart of the paint. I then finished it with two coats of Behr Decorative Finish Wax.  This is the kind of wax, another brand that you can have delivered from Amazon.

A friend recommended a local company that gave us a great price of $650 on our stone top! It really finishes off the lovely addition to our closet. Who would have thought that my husband and I could make an island? We did….and for a FRACTION of the price of having it built for us!

Don’t overlook the option of making an island for yourself. No matter if it is for your closet like ours, or a more traditional kitchen island. I now have a surface for folding clothes or packing suitcases!

The handles I selected were Sonoma Cabinet Hardware from Amazon.

Resources for this project:
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Chloe Crabtree
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  • Kathy Wilderman Kathy Wilderman on Aug 03, 2020

    I really like this. It would go in my kitchen perfectly. I do have one question. Did you have to reinforce the cabinets to hold a heavy large stone ?

  • Holly Donahue-Bannon Holly Donahue-Bannon on Aug 09, 2020

    Beautiful job. Does the stone just sit on top or do you have to do something to affix it so it doesn’t slide?

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