3 Days, an Island and a Sink

While on vacation, during the whole purchasing process, my mom asked me what the first thing was that we were going to do to the house once it was ours. My response had something to do with the kitchen sink. Remember, when we bought the place, it wasn't functioning.  That was four months ago. I finally tired of doing dishes in the bathroom.

Thanks to all of our veterans, I had three days instead of two this past weekend. Time to get the kitchen functioning. The stove was finished weeks ago, most of the cabinetry, if it can be so called, has been done for awhile. We have a temporary refrigerator, and the island/table top has been nearly complete for a few weeks. All that was left to have a fully functioning kitchen was the sink... the very same sink that I told my mom would be the first project...

I think that I mentioned previously that Caren found a brand new cast iron and porcelain apron front sink on Craigslist.  It had been sitting on our back porch for several weeks. It isn't there anymore. I built the frame for the sink base out of 2x4's and 2x6's from the barn that was torn down in Corning. The hardware matches that that I used on the counter top for the island--black square head quarter inch lags. The paneling is also from the Corning barn. We originally planned to make the countertop out of 2x6 barnwood, but ran a little short of material. We discussed tile. We discussed granite. We ultimately settled on one inch laminated pine that is available from just about any lumber yard. That decision saved much time and money. We are going to leave the bottom open and use chrome plumbing that will match the chrome on the stove and faucet. I'm glad that Caren liked that idea because I didn't want to have to build doors for the cabinet...

I cut, sanded, drilled, leveled, and screwed. Caren oiled and varnished. When I say screwed... I don't just mean screwed lags into the frame. I literally screwed a cut. Remember that the floor is not level. That means that the anything that sits on it needs to be leveled somehow. The sink was about half a bubble off level.  No problem, I'll shorten the right hand legs to level it. I shortened them too much...

But, I already new the solution to that problem because I'd solved it while working on the island...


Caren loves the island. Caren does not love all the work she put into the island. She sanded the whole base. She stained and painted. She distressed the edges. She painstakingly chose the hardware.

I fashioned the top out of barnwood. I sanded, filled, sanded and sanded some more. Caren has spent several hours putting coat after coat of varnish on it. But, I want you to notice the feet... Like the sink, the island sat half a bubble out of level.

Instead of shortening one set of legs, I decided to lift the opposite set with furniture levelers from Home Depot. The left hand legs ended up about half an inch off the deck. I could have lived with that if the right hand legs matched, but they were actually on the deck. Caren wouldn't have lived with it either way.

The solution was simple... Trim! Trim is used to hide awkward joints between floor and wall, between window and wall, even between wall and ceiling. Trim makes things look cool. Why not trim the legs of the island?  I did, using barnwood from the Colussa County barn. I think it came out pretty cool. Caren thinks it looks like the island is going to walk away. In an odd sort of way, the island resembles the AT AT Walkers from Star Wars.


We still need one more set of legs for the island. They are on order from Southwest Country... Forged iron in a matte black finish. They will not only support the currently cantilevered top, but they will remedy the AT AT Walker impression.

Anyways, back to the sink... I chose to shorten the right hand legs instead of lifting the left hand legs because I worried that the levelers would not be strong enough to support a 180 pound cast iron sink that would weigh close to 300 pounds when full of water and dishes. Wish I didn't blow the cut, but I did... so we trimmed the legs of the sink too.  This time I used lumber from the Corning barn because it would match the legs better. Refer to the picture up top to see how I did...

We still need to put a coat of dark oil on the trim to complete the project, but that's okay because we still need a faucet and backsplash. I also need to trim under the counter top so it doesn't look like it is floating out in space.

Caren ordered a faucet with a chrome finish... it came in stainless. We didn't acccept it. The new faucet should arrive this week. We are going to tile the backsplash with slate to match the stonework behind the stove. The cool thing is that we need a four inch backsplash. The slate comes in four inch squares... a no cut tile installation??? Hopefully, but I am borrowing a mini tile saw from a co-worker just in case.

The nearly finished kitchen. The refrigerator on the right is the actual monitor top... minus the top. It still needs to be rewired. The fridge is quite the project. Some day soon I'll post about the whole thing...