Committed home renovators David and Andrew Harrison-Coley (better known as The Home Boys on Instagram) are part of Ideal Home’s new Open House contributors, sharing their thoughts on building a home and living through tough parts together. Check out the rest of his articles here.
If you read Part 1You will know that our kitchen came together using the perimeter Goodhome cabinets from B&QSome clever in-frame tricks and about £5,000 of patience. Today we tackle the part of the kitchen that people ask about even more than the perimeter: the island.
An ocher, beadboard-covered, slightly unlikely island that sits in the center of the room quietly does the heavy lifting of everyday life. We built it ourselves – frame, panels, color And everything – under £300, excluding the worktop and the integrated fridge and freezer hidden inside.
It is, hand on heart, one of the proudest things we have built in this house.
Why we built it instead of buying it
We looked at off-the-shelf islands. We saw made-to-measure islands. Neither did what we wanted.
We wanted something big enough to seat four on one side, with a fully integrated fridge and freezer hidden away on the other, and a finish that didn’t match the rest of the kitchen. The quotes we were getting back were enormous – and none of them quite hit the mark.
So, as we tend to, we decided to give it a crack ourselves.
(Image credit: The Home Boys)
Step 1: Post-the one that started it all
Every great design starts with a post-it note sketch. Or at least, ours did.
Before we ordered a single item, we sketched out the layout on a small post-it: a 2200mm long island, with 400mm drawer cabinets at each end, and a 600mm under-counter freezer and 600mm under-counter fridge in the middle. Total internal width: 2000 mm cabinetry, with some breathing space on either side when the end panels are in place.
It seemed ridiculous. That was actually how we did it. We’ve learned over three renovations that you don’t need fancy CAD software to plan something like this—you just need to know the size of your appliances, the size of your cabinets, and roughly how you want the whole thing to sit in the room.
(Image credit: The Home Boys)
Step 2: Positioning the units and building the wooden frame
We started by positioning the two B&Q drawer cabinets and the under-counter fridge and freezer in their final positions on the floor, carefully leveling them on their adjustable feet. Once we were happy with the alignment, we built a simple wooden frame around the outside – essentially a skeleton that would hold the decorative panels and tie the whole thing together as one piece. Furniture Instead of four separate devices.
The frame is made from standard PSE (planned square edge) softwood from a lumber merchant. Nothing fancy. We used a miter saw to cut everything to length, miter glue and a set square to get the corners square, and quick-grip clamps to hold the frame steady while the glue came off.
A few things that made a real difference here:
- First level the cabinets perfectly. Adjustable feet are your friend. If the cabinets aren’t level, whatever you build around them won’t look right.
- Make the frame slightly proud of the cabinets at the front, not tight against them. You need to provide enough depth for the cabinet doors/drawers to sit flush with the finished end panels.
- Miter glue is really bright. It fastens in seconds and gives you a strong, clean angle without showing screws.
(Image credit: The Home Boys)
Step 3: Beadboard Panels (and the Window-Frame Trick)
Once the wood frame was ready, we needed to fill the panels. We went for MDF beadboard, which we bought in large sheets and cut to size – it gives that lovely tongue-and-groove cottage look without the expense or faff of fitting individual planks.
Here’s the bit we’re very happy with. To hold the beadboard panels neatly inside the timber frame, we used something called glass bead molding – the thin, round wooden beads you’d normally use to hold a pane of glass in a window frame. We mitered it at the corners, seated the beadboard panel inside the frame, and then nailed the bead molding around the edges to lock the panel in place.
It does two things at once: it holds the panels firmly in place, and it adds a cute little shadow line around each panel that makes the whole thing look like a proper spell rather than DIY. A nail gun (we use Ryobi Cordless A) This makes the part faster and cleaner. Hammer and panel pins also work, just slower.
We then continued the entire beadboard treatment on the back side of the island – the side where the stool sits. This is the side most people see when they walk into the room, so it was worth the extra effort. A blank MDF back will instantly give it flat-pack-furniture-in-disguise.
(Image credit: The Home Boys)
Step 4: Paint it (and we match the color)
By the time construction was complete, the entire island looked like a skeleton of raw wood with white MDF panels – not exactly the showstopper we were picturing. The paint was where it came to life.
We chose Dulux Heritage Brush GoldWhich is a warm, ochre-leaning mustard we’ve been circling for months. Since it’s not technically a furniture paint, we painted it in Valspar Durable Furniture Paint – which gave us the color we wanted and the hard-wearing finish we needed for everyday knocking, bending and cleaning.
Three coats are applied with a small foam roller for flat areas and a soft brush for beaded grooves. We sanded with fine grit paper between coats to keep the finish smooth.
A tip if you’re painting beadboard: Load the brush lightly and work the paint into the grooves first, then roll onto a flat surface. If you go roller-first, you end up with drips pooling in the grooves and a textured mess that takes ages to fix.
(Image credit: The Home Boys)
Step 5: Temporary worktop (we like it)
While we waited for the right worktop deal to come along, we needed something to use in the meantime. So we cut a sheet of plywood to size, laid it on top of the cabinets, and painted it a soft-white with a hard-wearing multi-surface paint.
Honestly? We liked it. More than we expected. A painted ply worktop has a charm – it’s a little imperfect, a little rustic, and it costs almost nothing. We actually discussed keeping it for a while.
If you’re in the middle of a renovation and your dream worktop is months away, this is a brilliant placeholder that’s actually fun to have around rather than an embarrassment to hide away.
(Image credit: The Home Boys)
Step 6: Worktop Splurge (And Save 40%)
The worktop was something we always planned to spend on. We’ve been quietly chasing Minerox quartz for ages – specifically Calacatta Gold Superior, which has a soft, warm vein that compliments the ocher of the island and the terracotta of the floor.
We held our nerve, held the ply in place, and waited. When the 40% off offer finally arrived, we jumped on it. Worth every minute of the wait.
One small detail that we’re glad we stood our ground on: we opted for a bullnose edge, which gives the edge of the worktop a soft, rounded profile. The salesman tried to talk us out of it – apparently it’s “old fashioned and not really done anymore”. Which, of course, is exactly why we wanted it.
In a cottage, with terracotta tiles underfoot and beams above, a sharp modern square edge would look completely out of place. Bullnose looks timeless and slightly traditional, which is exactly the point.
(Image credit: The Home Boys)
What we would say to anyone thinking about doing the same
- Start with a sketch. Post-it note optional. Sketch your appliance width, your cabinet width, and your total length before you order anything. It is the fastest way to find the problem.
- Don’t be intimidated by framing. Timber framing around standard flat-pack cabinets is one of the most achievable DIY upgrades you can do. If you can use a meter saw and a set square, you can do this.
- Use glass bead molding for panels. It’s a small detail that goes a long way. The shadow line is what keeps your panels from looking like they’re glued together.
- Wrap the back of the island properly. You don’t want to skimp on the side that guests see.
- Live with a temporary worktop and wait for the right deal. A painted ply worktop is really nice. Don’t panic – buy something you’ll regret.
- Trust your instincts on termination. If a salesman tells you something is old-fashioned, that may be a good reason to pick it up.
Standing in the kitchen now – the ocher island, the grey-green perimeter, the terracotta floor running under the lot, the beam overhead and the quartz worktop catching the morning light – it’s hard to believe we made it the focal point a week away.
But we did. And if you’re wondering if you could pull off something similar in your own kitchen, our honest answer is: probably yes. It is slower than shopping. It’s messier than shopping. But there’s something about standing on an island of your own making, brewing a cup of coffee, that no amount of money can replicate.
That’s it for DIY kitchen diaries – for now, at least. In the next room.
