Scavenger Chic

DIY Upcycled Dresser Kitchen Island Part 1

• By Joan
• November 16, 2022
• 3 Comments

DIY Upcycled Dresser Kitchen Island

Recently I’ve been sharing with you parts of my son and daughter-in-law’s house that they bought as an investment. 

Most of the house was coming along great but the kitchen needed something, and that something was a kitchen island.  They had every intention of purchasing an island when I, in a moment of insanity, offered to make them one. And they, in another moment of insanity, agreed to take me up on my offer.

How hard can it possibly be?  I’ll just convert a dresser or buffet into a beautiful kitchen island.  Sounds easy, right?

I lost a week and a half of construction time when I was called on to babysit my grandson but I was finally on the hunt for the perfect dresser or buffet.  The last time I needed a dresser I found one almost immediately in the first place I checked, an online auction.  

I started online, facebook marketplace, Craig’s list, online auctions.  Next came the local restore, Goodwill, Salvation army. Nothing.  Uh oh, I was starting to get a little worried.

I had to go further afield, more thrift stores, discount furniture stores…I set off one morning and vowed not to go home before I had something in hand.

Finally found this dresser at a used furniture store. It was far more than I wanted to spend at $300, but at this point I was getting a little desperate and I did want to go home at some point. Texted my daughter-in-law and was given the go ahead. Yea, I can go home a happy scavenger!

The dresser was far too nice and had far too much molding for what I needed it for but it was about counter height, it was about 5 feet in length and it was built extremely sturdy.

The dresser had 6 beautiful feet which weren’t particularly practical for a kitchen island.  I wanted the underneath part of the cabinet to be enclosed to ward off dirt and crumbs.

The base also had to be slightly recessed to allow for a toe kick.

I easily unscrewed the feet , but don’t worry I’ll use them in some undetermined future project.

This is the start of my new cabinet base constructed out of 2×4’s.  The larger rectangle  with the center divide will hold the existing dresser.  The skinnier rectangle is an addition to the dresser to make it wider.  All the pieces are screwed together with wood screws.

The dresser is turned upside down and the cabinet base is on top.  While I would have liked to keep the lip around the bottom of the dresser, it’s going to have to go if I’m going to finish the side with uninterrupted trim. 

Out came the circular saw, no more lip.

This is actually closer to where the new base will sit, a few inches back from the front to give a proper toe kick.

I also needed another inch and a half to bring the dresser up to a standard counter height, hence the added 2×4 (make sure you take into account the additional height of your countertop when measuring).

Everything is back upright.  

The molding on the top of the dresser wrapped all the way around to the sides.  That would have worked fine if I hadn’t created the 2×4 addition.  The molding would just end halfway and there would be nothing on the extension.

I hate to do it, but like the molding on the bottom of the dresser it would have to go as well.

Out came the circular saw once again.

With more 2×4’s I completed the extension.

Where the arrows are pointing are a whole line of wood screws, halfway screwed in,  that will eventually attach the extension to the dresser permanently.  I’m leaving them unscrewed at this point and just holding the pieces together with long clamps so that (1) the pieces will fit in my car and (2) so that it can fit out the door and (3)so it can still be lifted.  

I gave the happy homeowners a choice of backing for their new island.  Would they like board and batten,  plain wood, beadboard or shiplap.

They chose beadboard,  I found these strips of beadboard at a local architectural salvage yard.  They are used but not very old, I’m thinking about 30 years.  I had the exact same beadboard trim in my bedroom.

With a nail gun and a level I attached the beadboard trim to the back of the 2×4 island extension.

I added a 1×4 with mitered ends to the bottom edge.  That same 1×4 will eventually wrap around the entire island.

Above the 1×4 is 1/4″ mdf cut into 4 inch strips and creating a window pane effect.

On the ends are my  corner molding made from a 2×4.  Make sure you go back a couple weeks to my past post on how you can create your own corner molding  inexpensively.

Where I had chopped off the moldings on the top and bottom on the front of the dresser was replaced by 2 pieces of salvaged trim.

Where the moldings have been cut off on the sides will be covered by the bead board.

When painted you would hardly know I had totally destroyed the original dresser. 😆 

I’m using a medium grey chalk paint on the kitchen island.  Chalk paint covers extremely well and often you don’t even have to prep your surface.  Because the original finish of the drawers was pretty slick and because an island should get tons of use, I did rough up the surface of the dresser and drawers with sand paper.

This is as much as I can finish on the kitchen island before it’s moved to it’s permanent home. The 2×4 extension is still not screwed permanently to the dresser.  Likewise, I can’t finish the side trim until the final installation as that would be attached to both the dresser and the base.

Next week, I’ll bring you part 2 of my DIY Kitchen Island from a Dresser.  Make sure you check back and I’ll share how the island looks in his new home and what I used for a countertop.

Until next time, stay inspired.

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