Scavenger Chic

Upcycled Dresser and Door Kitchen Island Part 2

• By Joan
• November 23, 2022
• 9 Comments

Upcycled Dresser and Door Kitchen Island Part 2

If you are following along with my projects, you may remember that last week I shared with you Part 1 of a dresser to kitchen island DIY conversion.

On my last post I got as far as adding an addition to the back of an existing dresser, painting and trimming out the back of the extension.

I’ve been working on this kitchen island in my own kitchen because it was far too heavy to lug down the stairs to my basement workshop.  Even if I did manage to get the dresser down the stairs and put it in the workshop there would be no room for me to walk, much less work.  So here it sits in my kitchen and I’ve been getting plenty of exercise running up and down the stairs doing all my cuts.

When we last saw my kitchen island made from a dresser, it still needed a countertop and the ends needed to be finished.

Create your Countertop

The countertop is going to be constructed from a used, solid, plain door I rescued from the dump pile at my local architectural salvage yard.  I don’t know what kind of door knob it had in it’s past, because it only had this one notch out of the side.  So much easier to patch than a standard doorknob hole.

I cut the hole patch out of a piece of the door I had cut off the length of the door and glued into place.

When the glue is dry, fill any crevices with wood filler, sand when dry. I like using the powdered Durham’s water putty.  It doesn’t dry out before you get a chance to use it and you only mix up as much as you need.

After sanding the top, I gave my countertop 2 coats of black chalk paint.

The door was plenty long enough to have an overhang on the end but for the sake of uniformity I chopped a large section of it off.  If I added trim to the sides of the door, I wanted the same trim to be added to the ends.  My goal was  to have a wide enough countertop so that you could comfortably  sit at it with a counter stool.  In other words, a 10 to 12 inch overhang.

To the door countertop I added a 1 inch strip of oak trim all the way around the countertop.  This was another piece of salvaged lumber, an old oak shelf that I cut into strips.  Each strip was attached with a generous layer of wood glue and 2 1/2 inch finish nails.  Use a nail gun if you have access to one, so easy!

The oak shelving strips finish off beautifully with walnut stain.

With the addition of the oak trim I’ve added 2 inches to both the length and width of the countertop.  If you do not need to have counter stools around your island you could stop right now.

In order to place those stools,  I had a long way to go.

After the border of oak trim, my next layer was a 1×2 piece of pine.  The pine is slightly narrower than the oak giving me another 1 1/2″ in total to the length and width of the countertop.

Before I attached the pine, I painted it with black chalk paint, like the center of the countertop.  

The pine was also glued and nailed into place.  Try to get your trim pieces as level as possible with the central door.

With 3 inch wood screws I followed up the glue and finish nails all around the border of the door giving the edges more strength.

Alternate the oak and the pine until your countertop is the necessary width and length.  With both sides together I’ve added about 9″.  With the door already overhanging the edge by a couple inches, I now have a great overhang for counter stools.

Make sure you keep adding wood glue, nails and screws as you go.

Any slight differences in wood levels should be sanded off.

Touch up any sanded paint as needed.

Restain the oak, let dry, then finish the entire countertop with clear or antique wax.  Since the countertop will get heavy use, use at least 2 coats of wax. Paint on the wax, and wipe off the excess. When dry, buff with fine steel wool to a nice waxy finish.

Finally moving day, moving the kitchen island out of my kitchen and into my son’s house.

The island got moved in three pieces, the base and counter extension, the dresser, and the countertop.

Here, my son Keith is using a found piece of molding and wood screws  to attach  the 2×4 island extension  into the floor.

Just need to place the dresser on top of the base and screw the extension to the dresser.  In part 1 I showed you where I placed those screws .

A heavy dose of construction adhesive attaches the countertop to the dresser.

I can finally finish attaching the side trim and bead board to the island.

The knobs are the original knobs from the dresser spray painted black.

The handles are from Hobby Lobby.  Make sure you hit one of their sales when the handles are half off.

Only have 2 stools around the island right now but there is plenty of room for at least 2 more.

So excited to get this project off the to do list.  If I didn’t have an island in my kitchen already I  would definitely make one for myself.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Until next time, stay inspired.

Related posts:

DIY Upcycled Dresser Kitchen Island Part 1 Kitchen Island from a Dresser Decorating, Scavenger Chic Style DIY Parcheesi Game Board from an old Door