A guide to building your own kitchen island

Written by Rebecca Kemp (Editor)
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A kitchen island could be the finishing touch your self-build needs. Not only does it offer an extra surface for food preparation, it can also provide storage if you’re a bit tight on space, somewhere stylish to eat and can be used to divide an open-plan room into distinct areas.

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If this sounds like an addition you want to add to your kitchen, here Grant Jeffs, i-build’s resident handy-man, gives an easy guide on how to build one for yourself.

Step one

Create a ‘mock-up’ of the size of the kitchen island to visualise what space the new island will take up. Either by marking out the floor with tape or perhaps using furniture of a similar size to give you some perspective – make sure there is ample room for a walkway, no less than 1200mm.

Step two

Once you have confirmed you are happy you have enough space, you’re ready to look for kitchen units, plinth, worktop and handles.

Step three

Most standard carcases will have adjustable legs or feet. This is hugely important due to making sure the units sit level – if they are not, it will impact the worktop later on in the construction of the kitchen island.

Step four

Typically, a kitchen island will be bigger than a normal 600mm-deep kitchen unit and will sometimes have an overhanging worktop for seating. However, dependent on your budget you can create any size island of your choice! It is important to consider the worktop you wish to use and the cost involved. There are many different types of materials on offer, including granite, hard wood, quartz and glass, just to name a few.

Step five

Place the base units into position allowing enough room below the unit to accommodate the plinth. If you are using more than one unit, fasten them together with screws.

Step six

Once you are happy the units are level and in the correct place within the kitchen, it is time to fit the worktop and plinth.

Step seven

Place the worktop on top of the base unit. Once you’re happy with the placement and have measured the overhang is even, you can secure the worktop to the unit. It will depend on the material of the worktop as to what fittings are required. For example, if it is wood, small 90° brackets can be fitted to the underside, if it is stone, a strong glue may be used.

Step eight

Most plinths will be fitted with ‘plinth clips’ which are brackets that attach to the legs of the base units. A simple click on and off system is most common and easy to fit.