Homemade Kitchen Island made from Reused Mess
This made the front page of Care2, vote for it yo
Since me n’ Tiff bought and moved into our bodacious townhome last summer, we’ve changed a lot about it. A big thing we changed was the kitchen; with the help of Leon, Bil-lay, and 10, we took out a lot of old and put in a lot of used (new for us) things. I saved a lot of what we took out (nails, wood, etc.), and have reused those materials to make some new things.
For Valentines’ Day, I made Tiff a kitchen island with these saved materials. I started with not much, but with a lil’ gumption and elbow grease, the kitchen island was completed. Here is its story…
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. With this handy advice in my noggin, I drew out the plans for the island. I wanted to make it the same height as our counters, and also make sure that there was enough room for our trash can to fit in it. Before I show you my plans, please remember that they are copyrighted, so if you copy them I’ll sue your pants off.
The top of the island came from the piece of countertop that we cut out to make a hole for the sink.
I reused nails that I had taken out of old pieces of wood. Some (most) of the nails were bent, therefore I had to straighten them out to use ‘em.
I used some old wooden posts to build the top frame.
Here’s the wood I saved from the kitchen remodeling. Yayo is guarding it.
I took that giant piece o’ wood and trimmed it down so it’d be the right size. Note the clamps holding it to my flimsy card table, thus enabling me to saw the heck out of it.
I also had to use the ol’ saw to cut lots of 2x4s — two-bys, as we say in construction lingo, but I digress…
To attach the posts to the bottom platform, I used the unbent nails and some ol’ fashioned glue.
And voila, we have half of the bottom platform. The other half will be a mirror image o’ this one.
The next step wasn’t too hard. Just put the above platform onto a frame made with 2x4s, nails, and love.
I then figured that the middle of the platform might be weak, so I engineered in a special wooden piece to exponentially increase the middle of the platform’s strength. Apparently, I took this next picture as I was running by, hence the blurriness.
As you can probably tell, by this point it’s getting dark. Luckily I can expand my pupils at will. So I pressed on, and finished the other half of the bottom platform. I then connected the top frame to hold the whole thing together.
Here’s a picture where I actually USED the flash.
By now this beast of a kitchen island was almost done, but I wanted to make sure that it was muy fuerte. So I built some side supports out of our old door frame. Speaking of the old door frame, here’s part of it now.
I used some clamps to hold the side supports in place after I glued them. While they were clamped, I used some screws to attach them securely.
Phew, that was a lot of work. The next day, I primed the whole thing, and then painted it white. After that, I screwed on the wheels (they were the only non-reused thing I used to make this).
Finally, the last big step was to use construction adhesive to glue down the old counter top. After letting the adhesive dry for about a day, I presented the brand new homemade kitchen island to Tiff for Valentine’s Day. Here you can see a picture of it in all its glory, as Yayo does a quick walk-by inspection of it.
In conclusion, ’twas fun to reuse all the old wood, nails, and the old counter top, and turn them into something new and useful. I hope you enjoyed this presentation, and may you have a t-riffic day.
i had no idea, i didn’t even see the dang thang
in the amount of time that you’ve wasted making that poor excuse for a kitchen island. you could have worked at target. and the money you made from that can buy a few kitchen islands. hence…while it’s cute and give you a good feeling. you are mistaken as you could be more productive and “greener” working at target instead.
First off, how is it a “poor excuse”? It matches everything else in the kitchen and is the perfect size.
Second, I don’t feel like working at Target. I’d rather build something like this. Therefore, it’s a better use of my time.
Third, if you think it’s “greener” to work at Target and buy a brand new kitchen island, you need to do some serious learning. In the amount of time you’ve wasted leaving your worthless comment, you could’ve been learning what “greener” actually means.
I think it looks pretty shaweet.
First off, how is it a “poor excuse”?…
-touche. if it is something you want good.
Second, I don’t feel like working at Target.
-touche again. if your aim is not to work at Target; your time is always better spent doing what you want to.
Third, if you think it’s “greener”.
-overall…greener is about maximizing everyone’s productivity hence less energy consumption. also aiming for maximum sustainability. best example is. I can try to recycle my own newspaper by myself but that is inefficient so I let someone else that’s better at it take my newspaper and recycle it for me…or not print newspaper at all. same with the island idea. you’re not AS GOOD at making it as the third world countries. or even if you are, you are semi educated, your time is more productive doing something else. (unless of course your aim is to do what YOU want to do but that’s not being “greener”)
making stuff on your own isn’t always the “greener” route as all natural, no additives, wholefoods, corporate hating, fun loving hippies would have you believe. but I digress, what does greener mean to you?
My time is not more productive doing something else; it was something I wanted to do, therefore, I saved money, reused some old things instead of throwing them away, and made a good ol’ island thing.
I do agree that making stuff on your own isn’t always the “greener” way to do things; I would hope you could make that argument without resorting to ad hominem attacks, but apparently you couldn’t.
I’d define “greener” as meaning “in a way that uses less resources and/or uses resources more efficiently”. I’m sure I could add to that, but that’s the jist of it, if you will…
ad hominem? I may have committed a logical fallacy. but ad hominem attacks are so much fun.
It is time I start working instead of posting on random blogs.
I love it. I’d rather see a person who can build something like this then a generic cashier at a Target. Any old “joe” can work at Target but not everyone can build a kitchen island out of scrap materials. Good re-use of items and very good design based on a picture that looked like a claw tub.
Quiet impressive what you choose to do with your free time. Rather see someone do that then waste it on the computer.
Pretty cool stuff. I might have to hire Joe to make one for me. I like the cats, too.
You can pay me in food if you want me to make one. But it has to be good food
personally i think it’s pretty gay but, whatev…
>_
I wouldn’t pay you in left over food to make something like that then again I’m just hating. ha ha.
how about learning and educating on the computer?
Suze, you have shattered my fragile ego with that hurtful comment.
Nelson, I am down for learning and educating on a computer, especially if it involves Number Munchers, one of the greatest games ever.
ECO JOE IF THEY AINT HATIN THEN U DOING SOMETHING WRONG KEEP IT UP! PROPS FOR YOUR TABLE PEOPLE GOT 2 HATE..
[...] wood, old and sometimes bent nails, and an old and rather ugly counter-top to make a lovely kitchen island for his townhome. He documents the whole project with complete instructions and pictures. Pretty [...]
i like it. and think it’s an excellent idea. wish i woulda thunk it before i wasted $200 at ikea for mine.
mine is solid tho.
my question is: it doesn’t really matter if we go green really because that’s not stopping the corporations from making more and more crap and shipping it over from china. just a thunk. what d u thunk?
nikki
Nikki – Well, the main way that this table is “green” is cause I used some old mess that was otherwise just gonna be thrown away. Companies will make as much of something as they can sell; if people stop buying something, they’ll stop making it. But I do see your point.
I for one, like it! Would I of made it? No. I would of gone to Ikea, but I’m the furthest thing from a carpenter. I think you have done a great job.
I love it! Thank you for demonstrating that we don’t need to hit the the stores for something new every time we want/need something functional. I love how your vision and planning gave you the product you needed.
love it.
Zig
This is some funny stuff.
I happened here looking for some “green reused wood counters” that a client wants. From their description I can’t see putting a bunch of old 2×4′s together to make a pseudo butcherblock, just doesn’t seem too sanitary to me.
As for the island, I think it is cute, my only critique would be to have cut a hole in the counter above the trash can to drop trash into. The way it sits under there I can see myself missing it constantly.
I made an aquarium stand using the same type of layout (no copywrite infringement…been 15 years ago), worked well for me and got rid of a bunch of crap in my basement.
When it comes to the new “green” I fear it will be the future “red” for our economy as it grinds to a halt and none of us have jobs any more! Too much of anything is never good.
I don’t think it was a waste of time or material. Quite innovative. I’m sure who ever received it appreciates it. That’s all that matters.
I don’t usually comment on blog posts… but this was a good post.. keep up the good work
Thanks Julio. I shall strive to keep up the “good” work.
I love it! Think you did an awesome job and feel inspired to make one myself. Thanks!!
Jawsome. Let me know how it goes if you make one, por favor. Just as an update, the kitchen island is still going strong. I do wish I'd cut a hole above the trash can, but besides that, it's quite boss.
I don't believe you would post that piece of crap.
Belee dat
Not my cup of tea, but it is a good looking kitchen cart.
Great use of old materials.
Loving Yayo
Yayo is on a diet now, she has ballooned to a hefty 15 pounds
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Fascinating article. Were did you got all the information from…
Not understanding the hate here. Good job Joe! The only thing I would change if it were mine..I would have cut the two front corners to match the top. They look like they would jab ya when ya walk by…otherwise..PERFECT! I'm sure your wife loves it! Hey, anytime a hubby MAKES something for his wife it's perfect!
That's what I'm screaming, farm marm! I like your suggestion, but I'm not one to "cut corners", as they say.
As for the haters: http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/hater…
[...] wood, old and sometimes bent nails, and an old and rather ugly counter-top to make a lovely kitchen island for his townhome. He documents the whole project with complete instructions and pictures. Pretty [...]
very creative, It takes a special someone to create such a work of art! hands to you!
Fia, you're not the first person to call me "special". Thanks.
Great recycling project! A lot of hard work but it looks perfectly made for your kitchen.
It is great that you took the initiative to build something yourself instead of buying ready-made ones from the store. I am thinking of having something like that in my own modern kitchen, but I wonder if I have the perseverance to go about doing everything needed in the process.
Trash or treasure! You have showed the path to treasure everything!
I think that he did a great job with this! Why would you want to waste your money on buying something when you can make it yourself? It’s always good to reuse different materials to create new things. I liked the way the table turned out. Nice work!
black peppercorns…
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