Our kitchen was made from Ikea cabinets, including the huge island! Did you know that you could make a custom island with stock cabinets like Ikea?
Most islands, even a custom kitchen island, are really just made up of a bunch of cabinets attached together. Making an island from base cabinets is not hard to do, but you do need to modify a few things in order to use them for an island. In this post, I will go over how to make a kitchen island out of base cabinets and a few things we did to customize our own custom Ikea kitchen island.
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Modern Kitchen With A Kitchen Island · Free Stock Photo
We had a unique situation in our kitchen because we were not replacing our kitchen floors and the floors did not extend under the old island. The old island was on an angle and we wanted the new island to be square. We needed to make sure that the base cabinets we were putting in covered the odd-shaped hole in the kitchen floor.
Standard base cabinets are 24″ deep, and so in our case, to fully cover the hole, we needed to put two sets of cabinets back to back for a total depth of 48″. This is a unique situation that might be specific to us, but in general, the size of the island that can fit in the space should be considered first.
The Green tape on the floor outlines our new island dimensions. The part on the right is the overhang and the part on the left was mad strategically large enough to cover the hole in the flooring.
Stock Full Overlay Cabinets From Fabuwood
When determining what size island you can fit, consider how many inches of space you will need all around the island for walking space. The standard is between 36 and 42″ (or more!) all the way around. I would err on the high side of that number if it’s possible, especially if you will have multiple people in the kitchen at once, or need room to open a dishwasher, etc.
Once you have determined your island’s “footprint” based on the space you want all the way around, think about the countertop overhang. In my case, I have an overhang of 14 inches which allows me to tuck bar stools out of the way under the overhang and to sit comfortably at the counter. An overhang of at least 12′ should be used if you want to sit at a counter and 15″ is more comfortable.
Standard Ikea base cabinets are 24″ deep and upper cabinets are usually 15″ deep, and this is similar to most off-the-shelf cabinets. So the options for the depth of the island are any combination of these + your overhang.
Custom Kitchen Island
A single base cabinet (24″), a base cabinet and a wall cabinet back to back (24″ + 15″ = 39″) or two 24″ cabinets (48″). If you are using two rows of cabinets as I did, you can actually add a little space between the cabinets to make up a little of the depth you want. Hint: this is also a great space to run wiring!
My own DIY kitchen island consists of 2 – 24″ cabinets back to back and an overhang of 14″ for a total width of 62″.
The length of the island is easy to customize. Most stock cabinets come in a lot of different sizes, and you can put them together however you like to make the size that you need.
Custom Cabinets Vs. Stock: 10 Differences In Kitchen Cabinets — Northwest(dot)kitchen
Keep in mind that you can add fillers to make up space between cabinets if you need to make up a little space to make your island symmetrical, and that is actually a great space to run wiring too. It’s a great idea to include some fillers.
We included some spacer between some of the cabinets in our island to make the different cabinet lengths match up and also the spaces provided a great spot to run electrical wires and to recess electrical boxes that didn’t interfere with the opening and closing of drawers
In my island, I added a filler to either end for a space to add an electrical outlet, I talk a little more about that in this post. I also cut down an Ikea cabinet below that to make use of that skinny filler space, and I did a tutorial on how to do that here!
Excellent Diy Kitchen Island Cabinet With 6 Drawers
I also added a filler to this side of the island so that we could have an outlet here, instead of in the end panel
Another thing to consider is the overall size of the counter top on the island and the materials you will use for the countertop. We used butcher block countertops but it was difficult to find one as big as what we needed for our large island. We ended up having it custom made and it was quite expensive.
Consider the size of the island top and find out about countertop options before you finalize your design. A very large countertop will be expensive and some stone coutnertops, if too large, will need a seam.
The Best Kitchen Cabinet Types For Your Style And Budget
Stone countertops and something like a quartz countertop would also be pricey if you need to incorporate more than one slab. Checking on the type of material you want to use for the top ahead of time and finding out size limitations is a good idea.
Now you know what size your island will be and have a general idea of what size cabinets you can use to build it. It’s time to consider what you want to do with that space so you can have a functional kitchen island, not just a beautiful island!
What appliances are going in the island, if any? What will you use the island for, is it primarily a counters pace? Will there be a sink? Will there be an under counter microwave? Do you need to have electrical outlets or wiring installed for code or to run appliances that might be in the island?
Kitchen Interior With Wooden Cabinets And Kitchen Island. Generative Ai 23163522 Stock Photo At Vecteezy
In my island I included a spot for the microwave and then did symetrical cabinets on either side. I also needed outlets in either end of the island for code so I worked that into the design as well.
Where I live there was a code requirement to have an outlet every so-many-feet of cabinets including the island. Before you get too far down the design path check with your local electrical code to see if you need to accommodate outlets, and how many.
In our last house, the custom cabinet designer that I hired did not consider that and we ended up having to put a very ugly outlet in the end of my beautiful new kitchen island which had open shelving. When I designed the island in our current house, I thought ahead about the outlets and incorporated them into the front of the island so they didn’t mess up the look of my side panels. I wrote a post about hiding outlets in the kitchen where I talk a little more about that.
Build A Kitchen Island
We cut down an IKEA Cabinet to make a skinny cabinet to fit a stool, and have room to run electrical above it
If you are including a sink, dishwasher, microwave, etc., be sure to start choosing your cabinets based on the size of the cabinets that are required to accommodate those appliances. For example do you want a 36″ wide sink cabinet base and a 24″ wide dishwasher beside it? Once you have those major pieces in place, you can fit in the rest of the base kitchen cabinets around it to make up the size you need.
This might just be my personal preference but I highly prefer drawers to doors in my island’s base and on lower cabinets in general. It is just a whole lot easier to pull out a drawer and grab what you need than dig around in the back of a lower cabinet on your hands and knees!
All About Kitchen Islands
In the back of my island, I have some additional storage for small appliances and I don’t access those that frequently, but I still incorporated interior drawers behind the cabinet doors for easy access.
Balance in design is important. That is why when something is very symmetrical it looks very designer-ly and when something is asymmetrical, it can be a difficult look to pull off.
When designing your DIY kitchen island project, try to consider balance in the final design. What I mean by that is to include the same size and configuration of doors or drawers on either end of the island if you can. If you have a 24″ dishwasher next to a 36″ base cabinet, put another 24″ cabinet on the other side of that sink. It will balance the dishwasher and make it look more symmetrical.
How To Build A Kitchen Island
On my island, I tried to make it as symmetrical as possible. I did this by using the same size cabinets when possible and when fillers were needed, spread
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