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Our Shiplap Kitchen Island Makeover & A Step-by-step Tutorial of the process and how you can achieve this Shiplap Island transformation on your own kitchen Island!
Shiplap Kitchen Island
Both Shiplap Kitchen Islands and Shiplap Kitchen peninsula designs are everywhere these days. Pinterest has plenty of Drool-worthy ones! If you’re looking for a easy, yet cheap kitchen islands home improvement project, then here’s a diy kitchen island idea for you!
It’s a quick step by step full tutorial (with pictures) so you can transform the back of kitchen island with shiplap on your cabinets. You can get the farmhouse look you’ve always wanted with a diy shiplap kitchen island, like we did to ours!
This Shiplap Island diy project will create a custom diy kitchen island and you won’t believe that you can do it all in a weekend.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention, we were able to do this kitchen island diy for about $40 which is a very affordable kitchen island makeover cost if you looking to stick to a budget but improve the look of your kitchen.
We have dark black cabinets in our new builder grade house. We didn’t have many design options so we went with the black, however they make the kitchen look somewhat dim and dark. In order to break up the space, plus I wanted to brighten up our kitchen without the hassle of painting any of them. That’s when I began looking into bright white beautiful shiplap kitchen island ideas. Shiplap kitchens are gorgeous if you love farmhouse style or modern farmhouse. I was in love with the idea of a white shiplap kitchen island against the black color of the cabinet.
We currently have several projects going on in our home right now, and most of them are in the kitchen, and quite a few of them involve SHIPLAP! We been busy with our shiplap backsplash and our kitchen accent wall. (Update: they’re completed and up on the blog!)
What’s The Best Shiplap To Use?
So Before we went and got the supplies to start on anything, we did some research. I saw a lot of others who chose the faux shiplap island look by using plywood versus the real stuff at Lowes. The problem was the plywood was a lot of prep work including sanding, painting and making sure the gaps are perfect with something squeezed in between those spaces. In the end it didn’t seem like it was very money or time savvy. It sounded more like an exhausting long process. The other issue was if we went with the plywood the dark cabinet we were putting the shiplap over would show through the gaps, that would mean we would have to paint the cabinet white prior to the Shiplap in case any shown through.
Okay now that I let you in on some options we were weighing with the research we found, enough with just talking about kitchen Islands, Let’s get to the steps and some diy-ing!
So what did we decide on? We went with these from Lowes. They were already painted and ready to go! They have the fitted edges so when you put each board together, they create those perfect gaps and fit together like a puzzle peice due the how you stack them. I’m so glad we went this route, I can’t tell you enough how super simple it was to add this little farmhouse feature to the back of our island (or I guess you could say the front, I’m not sure).
Here are some Befores:
and although we didn’t do anything to the front (facing the other way), Here is a pic:
After Photos
Tools & Supplies You Will Need For This Shiplap Kitchen Island Project
How To Shiplap Kitchen Island For A Custom Farmhouse Look
(Easy Step By Step Instructions)
Step 1.) First, begin by pulling out all the old trim using a flathead screwdriver (both bottom & sides where the shiplap will go). If you plan on using the same trim to re-attach at the end like we did, be careful not too damage any while removing.
Step 2.) Next Pull out or hammer in any nails that might be left exposed from trim removal.
Step 3.) Measure the length of your island to cut your boards accordingly.
Step 4.) Starting at the bottom with your first board and working your way up ,Line up your board against the island (check to make sure they are level and straight) and nail them into place.
Step 5.) When we got to the top, the width required less than a full size board. We measured the width of the remaining space & ripped the board using a table saw to the right size. Side note: If you do this be sure to rip the right end so it fits to the next piece properly.
Step 6.) Put the corner pieces on using your nail gun (we put our old corner trim pieces back on & salvaged our old bottom (front) trim piece and put it next to the side corner peices to give it a more custom look).
Step7.) We then put the old bottom trim peice back on the side of the island as it was before. (because we added the extra trim peice next to the corner peice we did have to trim it a little to fit back where it once was.
Step 8.) Lastly, we used a peice of White PVC trim to put above the shiplap to give it a nice finished look.
An extra little pro-tip that I found very helpful: After completing all the steps and you stand back to admire your hard work, you may notice the very small nail holes from shooting them in the shiplap. If this doesn’t bother you then don’t worry. It bothered me! Here’s my little secret that is now my favorite go-to tool for hiding shiplap holes. No lie, It works like magic 😉
We used this crayon-like product. It’s already white so just fill in the hole. I would recommend again and again-I only wish I knew about it sooner.
So before applying this amazing nail hole filler, use either a paper towel or an old rag and dampen with Mineral Spirits, wipe around the hole you plan on filling and the putty stick. Then go ahead and fill your hole. Then use the rag that had the mineral spirits on it and wipe over the hole to get a clean polished look.
Ahhh, what a focal point of the kitchen now. It looks so much better. Every time I enter my home through the garage door (we never use the front door) It’s the first thing I see and I just want to do a happy dance. Oh yea, I almost forgot to mention the bottom of the shiplap where It meets the floor. You can add a peice of trim if it suites your fancy. We left it without any trim because hopefully soon we will be replacing those ugly linoleum floors! I need some pet-friendly and baby safe flooring. If you have any suggestions or recommendations please let me know. The plan is to install them throughout the whole first floor but that’s all on hold because I can’t part with my carpet in the living room until my crawling & learning-to-walk babies get a little older. The harder flooring has me on my toes that they might get hurt. I’m rambling now but when we get the new flooring we will then go for the trim peice so there’s no gap between the flooring and the shiplap.
Don’t you agree that this easy diy kitchen island adds so much character to a plain builder grade kitchen! Will you be adding shiplap in kitchen? Do you have any favorite DIYS involving a Shiplap kitchen?
Don’t forget to Pin this project For later!!!