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For years we had an ongoing argument discussion regarding a kitchen island. Johnny wanted one and I didn't. I wanted a dishwasher, he didn't think we needed one. Of course not, he had one, ME! Anyway one day he said fine, I could have a dishwasher, but we would have to put it in an island, because I was not allowed to touch the existing cabinets. I thought about it for a whole year before I decided to go ahead with it. I didn't want a modern looking, run of the mill island. You have to realize, this was before the wonder of Google and Pinterest, I had to come up with this on my own, ha ha. I had come across an old oak door, which Johnny said I couldn't have, but I couldn't leave it behind, so I brought it home for my sister. She never picked it up. I decided that I could probably use it for the top of my island. Then one day Johnny came home and told me that my sister Leata had a desk in the basement of her shop that she wanted to give me. It would have to be taken apart in order to get it out of the basement. I went to look at it and realized that although the top was trashed, the panels were gorgeous quarter sawn oak. I came home and was talking to Johnny about it and he says "You can't have it." "What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled. "You can't have it, you don't need it." "Well, why did you tell me about it?" I demanded asked meekly (ha ha, okay, even I can't keep a straight face after that one). His response was "Because she told me to, but you still can't have it." Okay, when somebody offers me a gorgeous (or even ugly, really) piece of furniture, I have to figure out how to get it. I asked my friend and neighbour if I could use her little workshop to store the panels and refinish them. So that's what I did. I salvaged all of the panels and drawers, once I knew what I had to work with I designed the island. The picture below (which I found on the net) is sort of what the desk looked like, I don't have any pics of the original, or if I do, they are way too buried to dig them out, this was before digital cameras.
There were a lot of things to take into consideration while planning the island. It had to house the dishwasher, a baking counter where I could make bread and roll out pie crust, and provide seating. I built the dishwasher into the end near the sink, used the door as a display unit for the top, and dropped down the counter on the backside for my baking station. Also, I had to use as many of the panels as I could. I didn't have any panels for the back, so it is completely different, but you don't see that unless you are on the other side.
The oak door was painted turquoise and at the time I couldn't wait to strip the old paint off of it, now, I wouldn't touch it, it would be so in style. I built the little display space underneath, and at the last minute decided the drawers were just too good to waste, so I fit some of them into the plan.
I built four big drawers for the baking side, and there are three fake drawers beside them. I needed a surface for the baking counter, I decided to paint plywood to look like mosaic tile. I wasn't sure what design I wanted and Johnny suggested that I paint the star with wings, which is a family design. My Grandad owned a transportatjon company in the 30's and it was the symbol for his company. Orange and yellow were his company colours. Later, my Dad and Uncle owned a smaller transportation company and kept the orange and yellow colours, we refer to them as the "Starratt colours"
Okay, this is where I admit that it is not quite finished, it's that 98% thing that I have mentioned in previous posts. I couldn't decide what I wanted for the little piece of counter top on one corner, now I know that I want to paint it to match the baking counter, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I should have put the drawer pulls on the fake drawers before we installed the dishwasher, because it is pretty tight now, hmm, maybe I can glue them on. Also, I'm tired of the flowers that trim the counter top, and will probably change that up, but for now, this is it. Are you ready to see it?
I love the grain in this wood.
Take a look on the right half way down the door, see the door knob, there were holes from the original hardware, so I printed a doorknob and lockset from the internet, cut it out, and laid it there under the glass.
The surprise on the back side. See that long narrow backsplash, I actually took that to work and would whip out my paintbrush on my coffee break and paint for 15 minutes and for half an hour at lunch time. I hate wasting time :)
We are planning to tile the kitchen soon, Johnny wants to lift this and tile under it. I try to make him understand that I built a piece, put it in place, and then built on to it, and then built on to it again. I don't see this moving in one piece, we could end up breaking it up completely, not sure how that is going to go.
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