A Dresser Becomes a Kitchen Island for Under $25

If you know someone getting rid of an old dresser, you are in luck. You can turn something that is falling apart into a useful addition to your kitchen. We got an old dresser from my husband's grandfather. The supports for a couple of the drawers were missing, but other than that the rest of it was in fairly good condition.

I forgot to take a picture of the dresser before my husband cut it and I primed it. Hopefully this picture will help a little. The top portion is what it looked like before we started. There is a drawer off to the side because it no longer fits after I added support for the new top. 

The back of the dresser turned kitchen island.

After my husband cut the top off I used a primer that allows for us lazy folks to not have to do any sanding to remove the previous finish. The kind I use is Zinsser BIN. It is a little more expensive, but well worth the time saved. This was also the only expensive part of the project and I already had this primer around because I use it also to prime pine boards so that the knots do not bleed through the paint.

Once the dresser was primed, I added 1x3 support pine around the entire top of the dresser. This is in preparation to support the boards that will be the counter surface of the island.

I painted the island with old paint I had lying around and added hooks to hold towels or other kitchen utensils.

I also added wheels to the bottom that I purchased from Harbor Freight for a very good price.

I used 1x12 pine boards for the top. I sanded and stained the top with a Minwax blend of Early American and Ebony. I attached the top using L brackets and Liquid Nails.

The black paint on the island is chalkboard paint so that we can leave messages or children that visit can use it.