D.I.Y. kitchen renovation with cabinets and island bench

[shaunbteam]

This comprehensive D.I.Y. kitchen renovation features new cabinetry built from scratch, a new kitchen island, a new pantry and LED lighting.

• The project
• Fridge cabinet
• Microwave cupboard
• New benchtops
• Appliance bench
• Kitchen island
• Pantry
• More inspiration for your kitchen

 

The project

When we bought the house our kitchen didn't have enough space for our double-door fridge. The fridge had to stand in the dining room, which I was not keen on.

We decided to extend the kitchen and merge the kitchen and dining room into one. I drew up all the plans and measurements and got a quote to have it all done. I thought I could do it way cheaper myself so I gave it a go.

Fridge cabinet

The first job was to build the cabinet to house the fridge, incorporating a wine rack on the side.

The carcasses are all glued and biscuit jointed. The wine rack was made using routered grooves in the side panels.

Microwave cupboard

I also wanted a cupboard to get the microwave off the countertop and save some bench and cupboard space.

Again I did the frame with biscuit joints and glue. The shelves in the middle were fixed using routered grooves and glue.

I lined the open cupboards with some plywood sheets and varnished them to try to break up the white a bit.

I still didn't like the fridge being outside the kitchen, so we decided that the green bench would need to be removed and the island taken out so it flows better.

New benchtops

Here is the old bench with the island. The cupboards and drawers under the island I moved around into the gap next to the wine rack. It all fit quite nicely so that worked out well.

 

We put in new Kaboodle Hevea benchtops from Bunnings. Here is me cutting out the hole for the sink.

 

The wood makes the stove stand out quite nicely. This was before treating it with Danish oil.

Appliance bench

The next part was adding another cupboard and benchtop where the small fridge used to be.

Once again this carcass is biscuit jointed and glued together (using 18mm MDF).

The tops are also Hevea, but I got 18mm boards, not 36mm like the other benchtop.

I wanted to try double up the edges of the top to make it seem like 36mm tops like the other ones. I cut strips out of the Hevea board and glued them to the underside; at the back I just doubled it up with 18mm MDF offcuts because nobody can see it there.

I did this as an experiment in preparation for the new island.

Once again, I think the wooden benchtops look really good with the appliances on them.

Kitchen island

We decided on an oversized island to replace the dining room table and bring the kitchen and dining room together in a comfortable and inviting way.

The island ended up being 2.4m x 1.2m. I bought some 1.2m x 600mm Hevea boards from Bunnings, got the biscuit joiner out and put four boards together.

The boards were only 18mm thick so I doubled them up on the edges. I also added some aluminum bracing underneath to prevent it from bending because there is a lot of play on boards this size.

Then it was onto the carcass. I put the plans on paper and worked out how much MDF I needed, managing to cut correctly to use the offcuts too.

I decided to router the backing board and uprights so the whole thing comes together like a puzzle. Doing it this way really made it strong and required minimal clamping when it came to gluing.

The whole carcass is glued in the grooves I cut with the router. I didn't need to use any biscuits or screws, except for the top board, which I added for structural strength and to screw the Hevea top to.

Bringing the top in. I put screws in from underneath to fasten it.

It's amazing what you can do in a kitchen if you learn to make carcasses. It opened up a whole world of opportunity and saved me heaps of cash.

A bit of dark paint to add some contrast

And a well-earned coffee.

Pantry

Next up was the pantry. Here it is before:

During.

More during.

 

 

 

When the pantry was finished I had some fun with battery-powered LED strips from Bunnings. I changed them to be powered and controlled by a Raspberry Pi computer for schedules, Wi-Fi and so on. 

 

I also ran LED strips around the kitchen table. It still needs some tweaking but it’s getting there.

More inspiration for your kitchen

Experienced Bunnings Workshop contributor Adam_W has put together this handy guide to planning a kitchen renovation. You can also check out our Top 10 most popular kitchen projects.

If you just need a quick kitchen refresh, check out our collection of 10 kitchens transformed with paint. You can begin transforming your own kitchen with our step-by-step video guides to painting kitchen cabinets and painting a tiled splashback.

Let us know if you need a hand with your kitchen project. We're here to help.