We wanted more counter space in our kitchen so we started looking at buying one of those kitchen island kits. They ranged from ~$200-1000 dollars, but none of them were really what we were looking for. My work place was renovating their space so I decided to salvage one of their old cabinets and turn it into a new kitchen island. The thing was solid enough but covered in a plastic coating that would not hold paint, and the cabinet and drawer faces were done in.

Step 1: Cover Up That Horrible Plastic Fascade

I bought some thin birch plywood and cut it to fit each side. I glued it it place and then tacked it with finishing nails.

Step 2: Cutting the Cupboard Holes

I drilled a few pilot holes and then used a jigsaw to cut out the openings for the drawers and the cupboards. It's slowly coming together.

Step 3: Adding Trim

We wanted the island to match the look of our kitchen cupboards so I added some trim to it. I cut thin strips of MDF to use as the trim. Since I did not have a table saw, I used a circular saw and a guide. They did not come out perfect, but overall I was happy with them. I glued them in place and then tacked them with finishing nails. I filled any defects or nail holes with wood filler and then sanded smooth.

Step 4: Making New Doors

The old drawer doors and cupboard doors that came with it were not salvageable so I needed to make new ones. Pretty straight forward; measure the old ones and cut new ones out of 1/2 inch MDF and then attached the trim pieces and filled in any holes or gaps with wood filler and sanded smooth.

Step 5: Finished Product

I matched the paint colour of our kitchen cabinets and painted the whole thing. It took 3 coats total before I was happy with it. I attached the doors with some new hinges that matched the rest of our kitchen and put on new hardware that also matched. I measured the top and took that to Home Depot and had them make me a counter top that would fit and match the current counter top of our kitchen.

Overall I am really happy with how it turned out. It adds so much extra counter space to work on and there is a ton of extra storage now. Thanks for taking the time to check it out!