DIY Kitchen Island (top)

 

I’ve had this jig for a few months now. I love the things I can do with it. You saw that I used it yesterday to attach the desk to the base to make my kitchen island.

The first thing I do is set the drill bit to the proper depth. That little collar makes sure that you don’t drill too deep.

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Then you set the Kreg Jig to the proper thickness of the wood you are drilling.

 

 

There are a few things to notice in this picture. First if you look at the longer board you will see the infamous green paint. .51 cents at Home Depot! I measured approximately every 8 inches and clamped and drilled my pocket holes. I then used my bar clamps to hold the two boards together while I screwed in some 2.5 inch Kreg screws. What you won’t see is glue. This makes such a tight fit there is no need for glue.

 

Now this part is off the top of my head. Hindsight 20/20 this may not be the way to go. I didn’t stop to read up on this,  but looking back it seems like maybe I should have staggered the holes in between the set on the first board.

 

Here are my four boards attached.

 

Another view.

 

I have showed you this technique before. Clamping a piece of lumber to keep the shoe straight as you cut.

 

I don’t have a circular saw that works. I have a battery operated one but it will not run long enough to cut. I used my jigsaw.

 

Things don’t always go as planned! You thought I was perfect? Than I never make mistakes? nah! I make plenty of mistakes! I just don’t get all of them captured with the camera. I know WHAT happened (the blade leaned)  I’m just not sure HOW it happened. The first board cut perfectly!

 

This clearly would not work. When I left the boards varying lengths, my intent was to put the entire piece on the table saw and make them all exactly the same. Bad idea. The piece was too heavy and cumbersome for me to handle alone. That’s why I used the jigsaw.

Long story short, I ended up having to draw a line and cut on the table saw freehand (without the fence). Which by the way I’m really good at. It just makes me nervous when cutting a large (heavy) piece.

 

Testing to see if it’s too big or if I need to rip some off of it. Works for me! Look! There are the all too pretty pocket holes that helped me attach the desk to the base.

EDITED TO ADD:  turn your boards one up, one down, one up, one down (end wood grain) to make it lay flatter than this one. Live and learn! 🙂

You can pick up a Kreg Jig on Amazon. I will earn a little commission,  but you won't pay any extra money.

 

 

I used my orbital sander to smooth it all pretty! The sanding also removed some black printing on the boards and some green paint.

 

I was ready to stain the top. This picture is from a couple of years ago when my sister gave me all these cans of spray paint and stain. As you can see, I have several choices of stain! It was hard to narrow it down. I wanted something dark, but not a shade of red.

 

I settled on this stain by Minwax.

 

I actually used just one coat of stain. After the stain dried I applied 3 coats of Polycrylic, sanding in between coats.

Edited to add:  When I removed the original top I saved all the screws and reused them to screw the new top on right in the original holes.

 

 

And here is the top on my kitchen island/bar.

 

Not bad for $2.04, huh?

The total cost of the island is as follows:

desk-free

beadboard $1.01 (cull bin)

osb .51 cents (cull bin)

Luan .51 cents (cull bin)

casters a couple of bucks each

legs/feet $2.00  (they cost $4.00, but I still have half left)

island top $2.04

baseboard $15.00  OUCH! that was tough!

less than $30.00. Most of the material I already had on hand. (previously purchased)  I only bought the casters and the baseboard for this project.

 

The Kreg company did not compensate me in any way, nor did they furnish me with any product. I simply LOVE their jig, and I’m sure you would too if you put it on your “wish list”.

gail

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