This piece continues the ongoing saga of our house remodel.

Before moving upstairs to tackle the bath and bedrooms, we removed a load bearing wall between the kitchen & living room.  We also moved the dining area from a small room off the kitchen to one end of the living room.  That living room was large... and long...

 

To help make up the loss in counter and storage space I thought it would be nice to build a kitchen island.  After a few hours on pinterest and other picture sites (unnamed and I think I have deleted browser history...) we settled on a plan.  A little of this pic, a little of that pic.  You can relate.  So the island started out at 5 feet, then had a six foot bar height counter added.  Keep in mind, this is a temporary piece.  When we actually start the kitchen remodel this may stay or go.  I am already leaning on the "go" as I think I can do a better working design considering the kitchen-living-dining area as a whole.  With that in mind from the get-go, this project introduces me to cabinetry and allows us to try out a few new (to us) ideas.  Cabinet drawers, counter to sit at, the whole open concept thing.

 

The chairs I purchased at auction over the summer.  The Mrs. recovered the seats and backs.  I think they came out pretty awesome.  One thing that surprised me was the cost of this thing.  Not even adding in items already on hand I am kinda in shock over the final cost. That is because I use a lot of recycled wood, and I have a stack of oak and pine cut from our yard.  I used oak and birch plywood on this for ease, speed and (I thought) cost!

Cal

 

 

Edited November 20, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston
tags added

That came out Super!

that came out great...

Looks AWESOME

NICE!

Awesome job Cal! Great design and execution.

Thanks for sharing.

Really nice. 

You did a marvelous job,Cal. Me thinks you are going to like the open space from the dining room to the kitchen and also a place to sit and talk with the cook,while sipping a hot drink. So are visitors the cook will like the idea that the visitors can sit and talk and be out of the way. I see the kitchen ceiling is lower, is that the way it was or did you do that when you put the beam in to support the floor joist for the upstairs?

 

One question I have and not a criticism , but it is odd to have a lower cabinet door to open shelves..

Looks good you are on your way to new vanity in the bathroom upstairs.

Herb

 

Hello Herb,

The door pulls on the outside are just for balance and our "visual appeal".

The kitchen ceiling must be just an optical illusion.  It is all level between the kitchen and living room.  There is a two foot section in there were the beam was placed that does not have any popcorn.  The drywall in that area is temporary, it gives me access to work on replacing the water lines to upstairs, electrical and such.

 

BTW - the open area is already a hit with the cook.  I like it a lot also so far.

 

Thanks everyone, for the kind words.

Cal

I under stand now,clever thinking on your part for the open shelves and faux doors.. And I see the ceiling too, that is a good idea to get access to the pipes and give the ceiling a semi finished look for the holidays.

Herb