"New" Kitchen Island

If you saw my Fall at the Parsonage post, then you saw the new-to-us kitchen island that we have acquired.  We have a nice, newer kitchen that suits most of our needs.  I've often wished for more storage, as I have some cabinets that are so full that it's difficult to get out what I need without multiple things tumbling out at me.  A short time ago, I wondered if we could possibly fit a small island in our kitchen.  Andy thought that it might be work, if we could find the right piece of furniture.  We were both thinking something old, vintage/antique, with room for lots of storage.  We were in no rush to find anything - well, Andy was in no rush.  I was so excited about this possibility that I began my own quiet search for something that might work as a kitchen island.  

I readily admit that the first thing that I should have done was call my mom.  She has a savvy eye for antiques, especially to refinish and re-purpose.  She has a onslaught of antique, thrift, and country stores that she frequents when on the hunt for a particular need (or for no particular need :).  But I didn't call her.  I started looking on Craig's List.  


My husband and I are huge Craig's List fans.  Not everyone is, and for good reasons too, because there are risks involved when dealing on Craig's List.  Andy and I have successfully bought and sold items through Craig's List many times - always dealing in face-to-face and cash only situations.  


Like I said, I was in no rush to find anything, but every few days I would peruse the furniture listings.  One evening, a couple of weeks after beginning my search I stumbled up something that I loved and thought would be perfect!  I showed it to Andy who agreed.  No price was listed, as it was a best offer sort of thing.  We both assumed it would be way out of our meager price range, but figured it would be worth calling on and inquiring about.  Well, Andy called the guy who said this particular piece was worth $350, and he was hoping to get at least $200.  Hah!  I have no doubt that it was worth that much, but there was no way we were going to be able to spend that amount of money on a kitchen island - beautiful or not.  


Even still, I couldn't get it out of my head.  So, I finally emailed my mom to see if she could begin her search.  I took the opportunity to also send her the link to our Craig's List find that didn't work out.  The next day I had an email from my mom about several options she'd found, with prices, and pictures.  Nothing really stuck out to us.  Most of it would need a lot of work to be usable and none of it really had the amount of storage we were looking for.  


A week went by and I had mostly put the whole kitchen island thing out of my head when Andy called me from work and told me that the Craig's List guy had called him back.  Come to find out, he'd had no one else interested in his piece of furniture and was going to re-list it for $100 but wanted to offer it to us first, since we had inquired about it.  I said yes immediately, but then Andy and I sensibly talked it over, measured it out in the kitchen to make sure it would fit and then decided yes.  


We went and picked up the kitchen island (a very old dry sink) that night and moved it right into place.  It was actually even better than I thought, and we adjusted to the change in our kitchen right away.  I was so amazed at how something I thought was down the road and (at the very least) out of reach for the time-being was suddenly in my kitchen - ours.  


So, there you have it.  Our "new" kitchen island.  Here are the pics with a few captions!  

The legs had to be cut down a couple of inches so that the whole thing was countertop height. 

Down the road, it will probably need some tlc, as some of the paint is really falling off in a few places.  I may also be adding some kind of towel rack or hook for an old cutting board on end pictured here to cover up the badly chipping paint (and keep little fingers away).  Other than that, it is perfect and holds so much stuff!  I'm already starting to think creatively about how to decorate it at Christmas!  


~ Carrie ~