Ikea hack: gorgeous Ivar kitchen island

After quite a long hiatus, I’m back with an update: I bought an apartment!

That’s right: this long-time digital nomad is putting down roots.

Which means my life in the last six months has mostly been a collection of projects. Painting. Cleaning (big ew, this place was gross). Building. Creating.

One of the biggest projects (and the thing I’m most proud of) is my new kitchen island.

Turns out, actual kitchen islands cost like $5,000. Big yikes. So I decided to build my own.

Not from scratch, but from a collection of Ikea items and a little help from Etsy.

The result is better than I imagined. Here’s how I got there…

What you need:

1. 4 Ivar cabinets in the same style (could be cabinets with doors or the open ones – just choose the same style because the sizes on the styles are slightly different and you need them to line up!)
2. 1 kitchen countertop (I used this one)
3. Extra screws and bolts (I used what I already had and didn’t document sizes well, sorry! You’ll need to do a bit of math on the measurements of the different areas to figure out sizing).
4. Electric drill/screwdriver
5. 3 bench legs (I got these off Etsy)
6. Tung oil
7. Paintbrush (for the oiling)
8. Towel rack (optional, I used this one)
9. Felt pads for under bench legs

Step one: stain testing

So, first things first, I needed to figure out what I wanted my wood to look like. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to paint the island, so I tried three different staining methods first: coffee, tea, and steel wool.

The tea barely made any color change to the wood.

The coffee just a tad more but really almost nothing.

And the steel wool with vinegar (pro tip: if you decide to go that route, do NOT close the lid on the jar you’re mixing the vinegar and wool in. Chemical reactions can make your jar explode) turned the wood a pleasant aged gray that wasn’t right for my space.

Which is how I landed on my actual plan: I would oil the wood with tung oil. I ordered some and tried it and it gave the wood a very warm sheen. After testing it on one piece, I was sold.

Step two: oil the wood

Make sure to give yourself plenty of time for this step. You’ll want to oil your wood and let it dry and then possibly do a second coat and let that dry. This means days, not hours.

I laid all my wood out on cardboard for this process and only oiled the areas that would be visible (e.g. not the cabinet sides that would be pressed up against each other).

Step three: assemble the cabinets

Use the Ikea instructions to assemble your cabinets. If you only tung-oiled visible spots, make sure to factor that in as you assemble.

Assemble everything except the interior shelves and doors. You should end up with four boxes, essentially.

Step four: bench legs

Once you have assembled everything except the shelves and doors, place your boxes side by side and upside down. Then measure and place your bench legs (or whatever other legs you are using), drill the holes, and screw them in appropriately.

Make sure to factor in stability. I placed my bench legs so that they not only hold up the outer edges of the island but there’s also one in the center holding up the connection point between my cabinets.

I also added felt pads on the bottom of the bench legs at this stage so that I could easily slide the island without scratching my floors once I flipped it over.

Step five: attach the units

Flip your island over (probably with the help of a friend) and use screws and bolts to connect the four Ivar units together.

I used two heavy duty screws to join each set of two boxes side-by-side and then two heavy duty bolts to connect the boxes back to back (using the Ikea-provided bolt holes that are meant for you to secure the Ivar unit to a wall).

Step six: add your countertop

Get a friend to help you lift and place the countertop and use your measuring tape to center it properly (you can also cut your countertop, but I used the full sized one above and just adjusted to make sure the overhang was about even).

Once the countertop is in position, use your drill/screwdriver to drill holes and attach screws through the Ivar cabinet tops and into the bottom of the countertop from below. The top should stay completely unmarred (so make sure to choose screws that won’t go all the way through).

I used two heavy duty screws per Ivar unit (so 8 in total).

Step seven: add your towel bar (optional)

The final project was leveling a towel bar and screwing it into one side of the island (you could certainly do both, but I opted for one side to be dog feeding station and the other side a hanging area).

The final product

Finally, I put in the shelves and added doors onto two of the cabinets (you could do all four, but I like having one open on each side of the island – for functionality on the kitchen-facing side and decor on the living-room-facing side).

On one side, I put functional things that also look pretty – my wine rack, some cookbooks, a blanket, a candle. The closed doors lead to storage for things like light bulbs and dog poop bags.

On the other side of the island, the closed doors hide my recycling bins and a shelf of extra towels and appliance manuals. The open area contains pots, appliances, and mixing bowls I use almost daily and need ready access to.

I also added a beautiful round wooden tray to the end of the island where I store spices, herbs, and oils in attractive jars – easy to access as I cook.

Et voila! My new kitchen island for…

My cost (in euros)

Bench legs: about 150

Ivar cabinets: 89 each (356)

Worktop: 139

Tung oil: 30

Towel rack: 7

Total: about 682 euros (not including shipping costs)

Keep in mind: I already had paintbrushes, rags, an electric screwdriver, and screws/bolts from various other house projects. So if you don’t have those things, you’d also have to factor them into the cost (which will still come out way lower than a custom kitchen island).