My Own Private Island

"Zaphod's Heart of Gold" (anavriniv) 07/28/2020 at 08:28 • Filed to: private island

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It started as a floor.

Last year we replaced our floors (by we I mean I), changing a mix of carpet, hardwoods, and multi-layered linoleum out for wood laminate. It was a 3-ish week process from tearout to new floors installed and livable but well worth the effort. It also gave me the starer material for the kitchen island we had discussed from the first time we toured the house.

See, our kitchen is a large open space without a lot of counter top area. The outdated writing desk has become home to a slew of small appliances because who needs a writing desk in the kitchen?? Most meal prep is done on a cutting board over half of the double sink for lack of other usable space. But the floor is wide open!

Come on, that’s a wholly ridiculous layout! So much floor (that’s the old floor BTW), so little space...

While pulling up the hardwoods to replace everything I had an idea - what if I can turn this into something? That part of the floor was red oak in good condition and I hated tearing it out but it made sense to with the replacement plan. So I took it up as gently as I could to preserve the pieces and piled them in the garage for later use

This wood was destined to become something new - the top of our kitchen island.

With loving care and a fairly small hammer I removed every nail, ripped the tongues and grooves from the boards, trimmed the ends, planed the bottoms, and sanded the finish off the tops. I laid nearly 50 boards on edge (making sure no nail holes were facing up) and glued them together.

The top was disappointingly not at all flat but a 40 grit flap wheel took down the larger hills and an orbital sander make it a workable surface finish.

And with that done it sat for 6 months, because reasons.

Once the deck was built (see my Houselopnik thread) it was time to revisit this project. I made a base out of the finest pine project boards Home Depot has to offer and painted it an obnoxious shade of green. The top was cut to size and the corners and top were routed with a 1/2" roundover bit. Danish oil brought out ever detail of the wood and a polyurethane coating (or 5) is sealing every inch of the surfaces.

And as of Sunday night it resides in its final resting place, our kitchen!

The top and shelves are curing for a few days before being loaded up but so far it fits right in, even if it’s a bit bright (I love the color, the wife is not 100% sold yet but I think she’ll come around).

Sovande > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 08:56

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Looks great!  I am thinking about redoing my kitchen and I hate granite, but wood would look amazing. 

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > Sovande 07/28/2020 at 08:57

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If I could redo mine I would paint all the cabinets and put in butcher block counters.  I also do not particularly like granite.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 08:58

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Not too shabby at all!

facw > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:01

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Nice, looks like the top came out really well!

Sovande > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:08

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I have a galley kitchen so I’d only need about 24 sqft  of countertop. I just looked at a wood countertop site and it is pricey if you have someone else do it. My father is a carpenter, I guess I’ll ask him...

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > Sovande 07/28/2020 at 09:11

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Are full kitchen butcher block counter tops a thing? I feel like this should be a thing. 

Sovande > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul 07/28/2020 at 09:15

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Apparently! And I just looked at what seemed to be an expensi ve site and it would be about $70 a square foot for the material . Now that was mahogany at 2"thick with a radiused edge, but that’s spendy. My father has all the things I’d need to make on and a giant planer at his old shop at work. I think it would look great, es pecially since my kitchen is so small.

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul 07/28/2020 at 09:20

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It’s an old thing, not a new thing.  Personally I’m a fan.

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > Sovande 07/28/2020 at 09:26

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Mahogany is going to be expensive to buy and is very hard so working it can be difficult.  You’ll probably to better with maple or oak - oak can be used as a counter and maple can be used as an actual work surface.  Neither will be super cheap but if you have the tools available and are willing to spend the time you could build them like I built mine for just material cost.  Labor will be intensive but if I had a 25" planer or large drum sander at my disposal I think I’d go for it.

Sovande > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:35

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I have access to a planer that I think will do 30" wide, I think . It handled this with no problem. I cut the plank in half so it wouldn’t split, and then glued it back together with some walnut butterflies.

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > Sovande 07/28/2020 at 09:37

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I’m over here massively jealous of your tool availability.  I cannot nearly afford a planer that big and would have nowhere to store it besides.  If I was okay having someone else handle my work I could have gone to a cabinet shop but that’s not how I roll.

shop-teacher > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:40

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Nicely done! That's a ton of work.

CalzoneGolem > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:45

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All oppo is peeping your light fixtures.

phenotyp > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:46

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I love butcher block counters.  I built a rolling island years ago (never actually finished the interior shelving) that pulls double duty as kitchen island and work station. Just refinished it’s again a few weeks ago. 

Brickman > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:47

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Amazing!  A lot of work making the top, but you can see your work for decades to come :)

Sovande > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:47

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My father is a (laid off) carpenter at George Washington’s old house, Mt Vernon. They have a huge workshop with lots of nice old tools. Giant lathe, giant bandsaw, giant planer, giant drill press, giant table saw. He has limited access to the place now, but over the years he has made me a ton of beautiful furniture out of old wood . His home shop has a lot of nice tools too.  Most are Festool, except his table saw which is a Hitachi. My shop has all the metal working tools so I can make the legs and frames. The table above was made from a tree that fell at Mt Vernon that my father then milled. The table below was made with some old oak flooring f rom Mt Vernon   that we glued up.

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > shop-teacher 07/28/2020 at 09:50

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The painting and finishing takes me SO MUCH LONGER than most of the wood work.  I did spend a fair bit of time on the top but I have time, and I’d rather not spend unnecessary money

Sovande > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:51

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He also made this out of 200 year old heart pine. Nail holes and all.

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > CalzoneGolem 07/28/2020 at 09:52

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Most of those were there when I moved in. We like the style and changed the rest out to oil rubbed bronze finish, and the door knobs were all changed to ORB levers. They match the floors well.

I trust my wife on the style and I do all the work

CalzoneGolem > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:53

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My wife i s also all about ORB.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:53

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Great job!

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > Brickman 07/28/2020 at 09:54

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That’s the hope!  I have made a lot of the furniture in our house.  Most of it is simple, I only started wood working a few years ago in my spare time, but it fits our style and general demeanor.

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > phenotyp 07/28/2020 at 09:55

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I have casters on this one, it just sits very close to the floor (closer than I expected actually).  I can unlock the swivels and move it about if I need to, better than lifting this beast

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > CalzoneGolem 07/28/2020 at 09:56

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There are also glimpses of my project ‘56 in the garage, that’s moving very slowly but steadily going back together.

shop-teacher > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 09:59

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I hate painting so much.

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > shop-teacher 07/28/2020 at 10:02

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I’m getting used to it but the paint I used SUCKED for this application.  It’s the Behr Marquee from HD with a blended in primer.  It’s crazy thick and heavy, dries too quickly outside where I was working so spreading and flattening was very difficult, but worst of all whenever I would sand it to flatten out high spots IT CHANGED COLOR.  The top layer color was different than the sanded color so eventually I had to lay on a final coat and just live with it.  Not real happy with it but from 10' the color is good, and I covered it in an ungodly amount of PU since there will be cast iron pans and heavy bowls and baskets and such scraping across the shelves for years to come.

CalzoneGolem > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 10:05

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I love the boot scrap er.

Your island looks great btw I’d love to have a huge chunk of butcher block for a desk

Stef Schrader > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 10:33

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Nice! I like the green.

Zaphod's Heart of Gold > Stef Schrader 07/28/2020 at 10:49

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Thanks, I think it brightens up a fairly dark room well

jminer > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 10:50

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Looks awesome! I love that color too.

Tripper > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 11:25

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Hey man this is fuckin awesome!!! Nice work!

jeepoftheseus > Zaphod's Heart of Gold 07/28/2020 at 13:24

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Looks great man! 

*furiously scribbles notes for kitchen island project of own