The kitchen island (well, it is really more of a peninsula) is a key space in our kitchen. Whomever remodeled our kitchen in the 80s likely put this island in. It’s where my kiddos eat breakfast every day. Sometimes homework happens here too. It’s the most open piece of countertop for baking, prepping, gathering, eating, etc.
And it was ugly. So here’s the story on how we made it prettier and managed to repurpose an old architectural corbel to boot.
It isn’t big. It fits just in between the doorway into the kitchen and a large window. I always loved the look of a mismatched island so I painted this a few times. Once it was a bright green – I’m not sure why I painted it green and I wish I had a picture to show you just how ugly it was. Then I painted it black and added some hardware to the front.
As part of our kitchen renovation (click here for part 1) we wanted to maximize this little workhorse so we extended the countertop space as much as we could without running into the oven and rounded the corners out.
We found a really cool corbel to help hold the extra countertop and closed off the front with bead board. Oh, and we gave it yet another paint job. The bead board helped make it look more like a piece of furniture that belonged in our kitchen.
We also repurposed an old cabinet for extra storage. We removed the door and placed it above the tile on the wall. It’s not a big space, but it allows me to display a few more vintage kitchen items as well as some dishes.
I’ve always wanted to have a pendant light over the island, so we finally made that happen with a white barn light.
For us, this kitchen island makeover was just taking an existing space and just making it better. Sometimes that’s all it takes. To get rid of the island would mean new floors so we just worked with what we had. We are pretty happy with the added countertop and extra storage space.
UPDATE… eventually I added more colorful bar stools. These metal stools were a steal!
In the rest of the kitchen we are still working on window treatments and a few extra things I wanted to decorate with… our final punch list. Next up: we repurposed wood from an old farmhouse porch ceiling into an accent wall in our kitchen… get all the details here!
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That looks fantastic! I love the antique corbel.
Thanks Brenna!
I love your kitchen island make-over. The idea of that corbel just did wonders. Now it looks like a kitchen furniture. The color combination is great too.
Thank you David! We like that it looks more like kitchen furniture too!
I’m envious of your madeover island! It looks wonderful and adding the corbels really upped the look! Thanks for sharing at the Vintage Inspiration Party!
Thanks so much Angie!
Wow! You took a small space to perfection. I love what you did.
Happy Creating,
Karen Marie
Thanks Karen!
Hello again, Kristy 🙂
Okay… that corbel is the highlight of my evening, girl!!! Seriously love that nice inclusion of architectural art! The before image of the island wasn’t to shabby either… although… I can really appreciate a countertop upgrade! Lord only knows I’m in desperate need of that in my own kitchen with the weird substance they are made of. Being a faux finisher I’m not even sure I an finagle a countertop finish on mine. The edge of the counter is made to look like wood while the top is laminate. At least the color is a pale shade of gray, instead of some awful color that I hate… I won’t say what colors I cringe at but lets just say I’m glad it’s pale gray and not burghandy like the one I had in the bathroom.
That fan… AWESOME!!! Again, I invite you to link your fabulous blog posts up with us at Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop. Of all twelve hostesses, I’m the one that blogs about home decor with minimal recipe sharing. ( I’m a Celiac. I sort of feel like I gotta help out the gluten sensitive folks when I develop something that actually tastes like the food we long to eat but cannot. that’s just a heads up since most of us home decor peeps tend to stick with our little corner of design) I really do hope to see your beautiful face and lovely project posts over there.
Olivia
http://www.reinventedcollection.com
Oh my goodness, you have made my night! Thanks for your kind words and I can’t wait to read more on your blog!
love, love, love this kitchen and that corbel 🙂
Thank you Kim!! Wish I had more corbels like this!