apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

• Black and Decker Drill


• Tool box with assorted tools…

Share step by step instructions for how you completed the project:

DAY 1:
The first thing we did was built up the island since it was the easiest thing to do. We basically put 2 Ikea Bravad kitchen drawers together without the included tabletops. We hated the black fake marble kitchen tops so decided to ditch them and purchased a nice Oak to match our beams and floor.

For our tabletops, we measured the length of wood required for our workspace and had it cut at a local hardware store. Make sure you triple check your measurements, for some reason our hole for the sink was a little too small so we had to spend a good 30-40 min sanding it down.

Next we took down the simple black shelf and installed Ikea Cabinets on the wall…this gave us much more room for our glassware as we were currently storing them outside the kitchen.

DAY 2:
The next part required us to rearrange our appliances. We bought a new oven and installed it where the washing machine used to be. We also decided to move the sink over to where the dishwasher was since we wanted more workspace around the oven. (*note: stay away from Ikea sinks…they tend to leak). Lastly, the fridge switched over to the island side since there was no need for it to be connected to any pipes. We spent a good amount of time leveling everything so that it’s completely horizontal to the floor…it was extremely tedious making micro adjustments on all the heavy appliances, but was necessary if the tabletop were to fit properly.

Day 3:
Fitted in the tabletops…only minor problems here with regards to the sink measurements. We then installed the ikea spots along the beam above the island.

Technically the process took one week to finish, but that was because we had to wait for the hardware store to cut our wood. Also…we had some wood left over and decided to create a mini bar top along the island…it worked out perfectly.