96″ long kitchen island plans

Parts

Cut list

Kerf 1/8″ included. Every cut runs edge to edge.

Steps

• Tape measure
• Speed square
• Pencil
• Drill/driver
• Clamps
• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection
• Dust mask
• Circular saw and a straight edge (or have the store cut the sheets)
• Hammer
• Table saw or track saw for ripping
• Circular saw with a fine-tooth blade and a straight board as a guide
• Long level (4′)
• Shims
• Sander, 120 and 180 grit

Underlined words have a short explanation: hover or tap them. All of them are on the glossary page.

1. 1Before you start

   Read every step once, start to finish, before you buy or cut anything. Each step names the parts it uses by letter; the parts list gives their sizes.

   Set up somewhere flat with good light. A pair of sawhorses with a sheet of plywood on top makes a fine work table.

   Wear safety glasses whenever a tool is running, hearing protection for saws, and a dust mask for sanding and for cutting treated wood or sheet goods. Tie back long hair and loose sleeves. Keep children and pets out of the work area.

   • Tip At the store, pick straight boards: hold each one up to your eye and look down its length. Skip boards that bow, twist or have big knots near the ends.
   • Tip Measure twice, cut once. Most mistakes are a misread tape, not a bad cut.

2. 2Cut and label the parts

   Cut every part on the cut list. Cut the longest parts first: if one goes wrong, it can still become a shorter part.

   To mark a cut, hook your tape on the end of the board, make a small V with its point exactly at the measurement, and draw a square line through the point with a speed square. Put an X on the waste side.

   Cut on the waste side of the line, so the blade's kerf (about 1/8″) comes out of the scrap, not your part. Cut sheets with the good face down when using a circular saw: the blade splinters the top face.

   Write each part's letter in pencil on a face that won't show, and stack the parts by letter.

   Sand the faces before assembly while they're flat and easy to reach: 120 grit, then 180.

   ✓ Lay the parts out and count them against the parts list. Measure a few: if one is off by more than 1/16″, recut it now.

   STOP. Let the saw reach full speed before it touches the wood, keep both hands clear of the blade's path, and never reach under a board you're cutting. Support long boards on both sides of the cut so the blade doesn't pinch.

3. 3Plan the spot

   The island is 96″ long and 37 11/16″ deep, top included. Mark that rectangle on the floor with painter's tape where it will stand.

   Open the dishwasher, oven and fridge doors next to it and walk around it with a full laundry basket. You want 36–42″ of walkway on the working side and the ends, and more behind the stools so people can pass.

   Lay a long level on the floor across the taped area both ways. Note the low corner: you will shim under the cabinet there.

   • Tip Leave the tape down for a day. If you keep stepping around it, make the island smaller now; it is much harder later.

   ✓ Doors and drawers of the existing kitchen open fully without touching the tape.

4. 4Edge-band

   Iron edge banding onto every front edge that shows, and all four edges of each door and drawer front. Trim and sand.

5. 5Drill the shelf-pin holes

   Two rows per side of each shelf bay, 2″ from the front and back, 1/4″ holes 3/8″ deep every 1 1/4″ (32 mm): bay 1: 7 3/16″ to 30 13/16″; bay 2: 7 3/16″ to 30 13/16″; bay 3: 7 3/16″ to 30 13/16″.

   Use a shelf-pin jig so both sides match.

6. 6Build the case

   Glue and screw the bottom between the sides with its underside at 3 1/2″, and the top flush with the top ends. 1 5/8″ screws, 3 per joint.

   Fit the dividers between top and bottom at 30 3/4″, 61 9/16″ from the left side, outside faces.

   Screw the kick board under the bottom, 1/2″ back from the front.

   Square the case and nail on the back.

   ✓ Diagonals match within 1/16″.

7. 7Hang the doors

   Drill 35 mm hinge cups 1/2″ deep, 7/8″ from the hinge edge: 2 per door in bay 1, at 3″, 27 7/8″ from the door bottom; 2 per door in bay 2, at 3″, 27 7/8″ from the door bottom; 2 per door in bay 3, at 3″, 27 7/8″ from the door bottom. Screw the plates to the case 37 mm from the front edge, clip the doors on and adjust the gaps to 1/8″.

   STOP. Set a depth stop on the 35 mm bit before drilling a door.

8. 8Set the shelves

   Glue a strip under the front of each adjustable shelf, flush with the edge.

   Push in 4 pins per shelf and lay the shelves on.

9. 9Add the bracket rail

   Lay the cabinet on its front on a blanket. Hold the bracket rail (K) across the back, its top edge flush with the top of the cabinet.

   Glue it and drive 1 5/8″ screws through it every 8″: along the top they bite into the edge of the cabinet top (B), and at each end into the sides (A).

   • Tip Predrill each screw hole near the ends of the rail so the pine doesn't split.

   ✓ The rail is flush with the top of the cabinet along its whole length: a straightedge laid across both doesn't rock.

10. 10Screw the floor cleats down

    Inside the taped footprint, mark where the cabinet will stand: its back is 12″ in from the seating-side tape and it starts 1 1/2″ in from each end.

    Lay one cleat (L) on edge just inside the back line, and the other 21 1/16″ in front of it, so it will sit right behind the kick board. Both are 13/16″ in from the cabinet's end lines.

    Drill pilot holes at an angle through each cleat into the floor and drive 3″ screws every 12″, alternating sides: 16 in all.

    • Tip If the floor is out of level, shim under the low end of each cleat before screwing it down, so the cabinet sits level on them.

    ✓ The cleats don't move when you kick them, and the distance between their outside faces matches the inside of the cabinet bottom.

    STOP. Check first for radiant floor heating, and for pipes or wires under this spot. If you are not sure, stop and use the "Not fixed" option instead. On tile, drill through the tile with a tile bit first, slowly, without hammer mode.

11. 11Set the cabinet in place

    With a helper, lift the cabinet over the cleats and lower it so the cleats slip in under the bottom, behind the kick board.

    Lay a level across the top, front to back and end to end. Slide shims under the low side until both read level. Snap off the shim ends.

    From inside the cabinet, drive 2 1/2″ screws down through the bottom into the cleats every 12″: 16 in all.

    ✓ The top of the cabinet is level both ways, and the island does not rock when you push on a corner.

12. 12Fit the overhang brackets

    Space 5 brackets evenly along the rail, the first and last 1 1/2″ in from the ends, about 22 1/2″ apart.

    Each bracket is an L: the upright leg screws flat to the rail, and the flat arm sticks out under the overhang. The top of the arm must be exactly level with the top of the cabinet so the countertop rests on both. Hold a straightedge across the cabinet top and the arm while you drive the screws that come with the bracket.

    • Tip The brackets carry the 12″ overhang. They do their job only if the top sits down on them, so don't let an arm sit low.

    ✓ A straightedge laid across the cabinet top and each bracket arm touches both with no gap.

13. 13Cut and seal the top

    Butcher block is sold oversized. Clamp a straight board to it as a saw guide and cut it to 96″ long with a circular saw and a fine-tooth blade, then rip it to 37 11/16″ deep, cutting off the back edge.

    Sand the cut edges with 120 then 180 grit, and break the sharp corners with a few strokes of sandpaper.

    Oil every face, including the underside and the cut edges: flood on mineral oil, wait 20 minutes, wipe off what has not soaked in. Repeat once a day for three days.

    • Tip Have a helper hold the offcut as you finish each cut so it doesn't snap off and tear a splinter from the edge.
    • Tip Mineral oil keeps the top usable for cutting and food. If you would rather never oil it again, use a hard finish instead, but then don't cut on it.

    ✓ The underside is oiled as heavily as the top. A top finished on one side only takes on moisture unevenly and cups.

    STOP. Cut with the good face down when using a circular saw: the blade cuts upward and can splinter the top face.

14. 14Fasten the top

    With a helper, set the top on the cabinet, good face up: 1 1/2″ past each end, 1″ past the door faces, and the rest over the seating side.

    From inside the cabinet, drill 3/8″ holes up through the cabinet top every 10″ along the front and back, and 2 per bay in the middle: 30 in all.

    Drive a 1 5/8″ screw up through each hole into the butcher block. The oversized holes let the wood grow and shrink a little with the seasons.

    Drive a 1″ screw up through the hole in each bracket arm. Not a longer one: the arm is thin, so a long screw would come out through the top.

    ✓ The top doesn't lift when you pull up on the overhang, and no screw tip shows on top.

    STOP. Check the screw length: cabinet top plus screw tip must stay at least 1/2″ below the top surface. Never glue a butcher-block top down; it will crack.

15. 15Finish

    Ease every sharp edge and corner with 120-grit sandpaper so nobody gets a splinter.

    Sand all over with 180 grit, always along the grain (the direction the wood fibres run). Scratches across the grain show through stain.

    Wipe off the dust with a barely damp rag and let it dry.

    Paint, stain or a clear coat (water-based polyurethane is the easiest). Apply thin coats with the grain, let each dry fully, and sand lightly with 220 grit between coats.

    Let it dry for the time on the can before using it.

    • Tip Try your finish on a scrap of the same wood first: stain looks different on every board.