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Reality Daydream

The Dream is Free, The Hustle Sold Separately

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Custom DIY Rolling Kitchen Island

February 2, 2016 by Bethany Sy

So here’s the thing about DIY… if it’s a little crafty project with minimal supplies on the line, I’m more likely to just jump in all willy-nilly and see what happens. But when we’re talking about a larger-scale building project that will involve many hours of time and closer to a handful of twenties rather than a handful of ones ($$)… well let’s just say I’m going to put more thought into making sure it’s exactly what I want. It has to be beautiful AND functional for our family!

We have an awkward wall in our kitchen that’s been blank ever since we relocated these cabinets to another wall. I don’t regret that move at all, but this wall has been just yearning to be useful. Here’s a pic of the wall

Blank wall in the kitchen... build a custom rolling island! We designed ours to house the microwave and trash can... AND it has a butcherblock counter top! {Reality Daydream}

My wheels have been turning over the past few months on  how to incorporate a rolling island. I knew I wanted it to have a butcherblock top, and have a place to house the microwave… but other than that, I wasn’t really sure where to go with designing this bae.

Naturally, I took to Pinterest to find some inspiration (be sure to follow me here!) I perused through many-an-awesome kitchen and found lots of inspiration for kitchen islands with so many different ideas and options. I ended up saving these 4 for different reasons, and I’ll explain what I liked about each below the pic:

Rolling Kitchen Island inspiration came from lots of sources.

  1. I love that this one has lots of storage and could potentially also have a cabinet dedicated to a garbage can. I also like that it has lots of drawers because my kitchen has lots of cabinets, but only a couple of drawers.
  2. This one is obviously a gorgeous color, and I like the openness of it and how it feels classy with a bit of a modern flare.
  3. I love the metal detail on this guy and how it feels industrial and isn’t too feminine. And THOSE WHEELS! Heart eyes! (although not practical for our floors)
  4. This one is by Ana White who is basically my girl crush… so I couldn’t NOT include it in the lineup. I like that it’s a bit chunky and feels ‘substantial’.

After deciding what I loved and didn’t love for my own kitchen, I drew up a little sketch of what would be ideal. I loved the idea of including a wine rack, but that didn’t end up making the cut when we considered the tiny human that crawls around our ‘crib’ wreaking havoc. Wine bottles plus crawling baby equals no bueno.

Sketch of how I want my custom kitchen island! (Tutorial included!)

I took my sketch to my custom furniture maker (LOL), and he stared blankly and me… and then asked me what we were having for supper.

And then he went to the drawing board for me! I love that he’s willing to do all the tedious and mathematical nonsense that goes into actually drafting building plans. although I know that I should really learn to do it myself too. Maybe that will be part of my #goals for 2017.

Building plans for rolling kitchen island with a place for garbage can and microwave!

You can click here to print out all the building plans… but I’ll just walk you through the basics here too.

We used 3/4” plywood, and cut everything to size. And then capped off the edges with strips of poplar to give a really clean line and cover the exposed layers of plywood.

The beginning stages of building a custom rolling kitchen island!

We measured and marked the locations for our screw holes with a T-square and pre-drilled everything with a counterbore bit in advance.

Measure and drill holes to make construction easy on this rolling kitchen island.

Next up? Drilling pocket holes! We loooooove our Kreg Foreman… sucka makes it so easy to drill many MANY pocket holes.

Rolling Kitchen Island

Glue and screw the fronts to the shelves and the bottom rail to the base. And clean up the edges with the table saw.

The rolling kitchen island is coming together!

Since we’re having our trash can cabinet accessible from both sides of the island, we needed two cabinet doors. We cut our stiles and rails from poplar, and then cut the stub tenons with a precision miter gauge. Then glued and clamped them all together!

The rolling kitchen island gets custom cabinet doors!

We decided to sand and prime everything before assembly just to make it easier on ourselves later. Paisley loooooves any opportunity she can get to operate the orbital sander, and we’re usually happy to oblige. Also: cuteness overload.

Paisley operating the orbital sander prior to priming the custom DIY rolling kitchen island.

Prime the rolling kitchen island before painting.

Then it was time to assemble!! I didn’t really take any pics of this process… because we were IN THE ZONE. But everything slapped together smoothly. And I sprayed on a glossy coat of paint (the same exact color I painted our Kitchen Aid Mixer!). It’s ‘Night Tide’ by Rustoleum (here).

Designing and building a custom rolling kitchen island with a place for the microwave and trash can!

I realize this isn’t really a thorough tutorial (the detailed building plans are on Build Something), but I just wanted you to get a feel for how it went together. At this point, all we had left was to put those wheels on, slide in some PERFECTLY SIZED baskets that I just happened upon at Walmart… and have a blast arranging all.the.things!

Custom DIY Rolling Kitchen Island ...with butcher block top, and a place for the microwave and trash!

You can see we built a butcher block top for it, but that reveal is going to have to wait until another day… still needs some sanding and oil before we can affix it into place and show it off! But I’ll just tell you it’s a really cool pattern (using two different types of wood) that you wouldn’t expect on a butcherblock. OH THE SUSPENSE!

This custom DIY rolling kitchen island was built with a butcher block top, and a place for the microwave and trash!

And just to help you get your bearings, here’s a shot with the rest of the kitchen so you can see how it all fits together!

See how the custom DIY rolling kitchen island fits perfectly?!

 I just cringe and our old cream/black appliances, and just KNOW how much more awesome our kitchen would look with some sleek stainless. But alas.

However!

Check out how much of a difference updating the hardware makes?! I’m loving the sleek modern feel of these pulls. We went with these from Hickory Hardware. It was soooo hard to choose! Who knew such a small tweak could make such an impact! LOVE THEM!

Reality Daydream Kitchen- check out that new hardware!

Kitchen by Reality Daydream

And we were able to use the same hardware for the new island, which brings everything together into a nice little cohesive package.

Check out this DIY Custom Rolling Kitchen Island build.

Just to the left of the island is our pantry. Since the we moved the washer and dryer out of her and into the Laundry Suite, we haven’t yet gotten around to adding the rest of the shelving. So this has just ended up being the girls’ little play kitchen area.

We put the play kitchen in the pantry where the old washer and dryer used to be.

It’s wonderful because they love to feel like they have their own area, and often Paisley is ‘cooking’ something delicious while Dell is helping me actually cook something delicious. We’re all working together in our kitchens! (plural)

Paisley and Dell in their Play Kitchen.

Except sometimes it looks like this, soooo…

A messy (but cute) kitchen!

This was my play kitchen when I was a little girl. My grandfather built it for me, and I have so many memories and all the sentimental feels about it. I can’t bring myself to update, paint, or make any modifications to it whatsoever. I think I’ll just leave this post with this terribly awkward photo of me with my play kitchen as a child.

Bethany as a little girl in her play kitchen.

I should also note that my not-yet-one-year-old wore that same blue and white shirt the other day. She is a giant toddler-baby. Maybe I’ll have her wear it for her weekly pics today for fun!

Well, this has been a lonnnnnng post about kitchen islands, cabinet hardware, messy play kitchens, and a little walk down memory lane. In other news, we’re snowed in today, so you can find me watching Super Why marathon and eating cheerios.

~Bethany

PS! Don’t forget! If you’re an email subscriber to my blog (or want to be!), please click here to reconfirm your subscription. We switched email subscription providers and it’s caused a hiccup. We just want to make sure you continue to receive emails if you want to! Thank ya!

Thanks for pinning!

Custom DIY Rolling Kitchen Island: Free Building Plans!

*this post contains affiliate links. After reaching out to Hickory Hardware we were provided with free product in exchange for visibility on our blog. We were not told what to say, and all opinions are 100% our own. Their hardware is amazing and we wouldn’t post about it if we didn’t loooove it!

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About Bethany Sy

Nick and Bethany Sy are the creative free-spirits behind DIY/Lifestyle blog, Reality Daydream. They recently purchased a historic mansion and have been documenting the ups and downs of renovation and making this home their own... all while sharing tips and tutorials along the way! When they found themselves in the trenches of infertility, they started a journey that would prove to be their most important DIY project ever, and have 3 beautiful girls to show for it. <3

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Comments

  1. 33

    Universal Stone says

    May 7, 2023 at 4:57 pm

    The concept of a rolling kitchen island is amazing! Thanks for sharing this post!

    Reply
  2. 34

    Amanda says

    July 12, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    Hi there! We are planning to build this cart for our new home and are so excited! I was wondering if you could provide the dimensions of your microwave? Between this and the Build Something plants I tried to piece together how big that compartment was, but I couldn’t puzzle it out. We’re deciding if we need to modify the plans or not!

    Reply
    • 35

      Bethany Sy says

      July 14, 2020 at 10:06 pm

      Hey Amanda! I’m so sorry we missed that measurement! The opening for the microwave is 12.5 x 22.5.
      Hope this helps!

      Reply
  3. 36

    C. says

    February 4, 2020 at 4:31 am

    I love this cart! But, felt I should tell you there is a VERY similar one here:

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Simple-Living-Rolling-Galvin-Microwave-Cart/907492166?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1812&adid=22222222227312606175&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=392504497103&wl4=pla-831812658448&wl5=9022129&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=102975322&wl11=online&wl12=907492166&veh=sem&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_5qT7YW35wIVQtbACh3GyQFXEAQYCSABEgJSzvD_BwE

    Did you sell your design? If not, seems like Walmart might owe you some royalties. 🙂

    Reply
    • 37

      Bethany Sy says

      February 4, 2020 at 12:14 pm

      Wowwwwww, that’s such a blatant knockoff of our design. Walmart should be ashamed. Not only is the design exactly the same, even the color and wooden top. What in the world? I appreciate you telling us, but sadly there’s not much little bloggers like us can do when big box stores steal our designs. UGH. 🙁

      Reply
  4. 38

    Joseph Stafford says

    February 8, 2019 at 4:12 am

    WoW! If you have space then must go for island design kitchens they are best. You have provided beautiful designs.

    Reply
  5. 39

    Ellie says

    November 20, 2018 at 2:25 am

    Do you think you could install an electric cooktop in this?

    I’m debating getting rid of my stove/oven combo and just having a cooktop and trying to come up with an affordable solution.

    Reply
  6. 40

    Emily says

    November 8, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    Hi! I could not see if this was answered previously but I’m having a friend build this for us and was wondering where you got this wicker baskets?!

    Em

    Reply
    • 41

      Bethany Sy says

      November 14, 2017 at 8:24 pm

      Sorry for taking so long to respond. The wicker baskets are from Walmart!

      Reply
  7. 42

    Jean Siegler says

    July 28, 2017 at 7:23 pm

    Beautiful! What color blue did you paint the island?

    Reply
    • 43

      Bethany Sy says

      July 31, 2017 at 11:14 am

      It’s RustOleum Spray Paint in the shade of Night Tide. Here’s an affiliate link! >> http://amzn.to/1m84nb0

      Reply
  8. 44

    Genia says

    July 19, 2017 at 5:25 am

    I love your design! We’re thinking of building – how much did it cost you?

    Reply
    • 45

      Bethany Sy says

      July 21, 2017 at 1:08 pm

      Oh my goodness, this was sooooo long ago I just don’t remember how much we spent on lumber. I’m so sorry!

      Reply
  9. 46

    Poulin Design Center says

    April 8, 2017 at 11:42 pm

    wow!  You really did a beautiful job! I love how bright & fresh everything looks.

    Reply
  10. 47

    Joyce Taylor says

    June 20, 2016 at 12:48 pm

    The discussion of the development of your plan was really helpful. You have given me some great ideas! Thanks!

    Reply
  11. 48

    Maria Adams says

    February 17, 2016 at 9:40 pm

    I saw a girl that did an awesome makeover of her closet doors like the ones you have on your pantry. they look amazing! it totally gave them a modern look! I love what you have done in your kitchen! so bold!

    http://www.wifeinprogressblog.com/2013/05/master-bedroom-closet-face-lift/

    Reply
    • 49

      Beth @ Reality Daydream says

      February 18, 2016 at 4:43 pm

      Ooooo that’s so pretty and custom! There’s another one on A Beautiful Mess that I loved too! Honestly, I really just want to take those doors off because we never close them and they’re just in the way. And have you ever tried to dust those slats? AHHHHH! Definitely need to figure SOMETHING out. Thanks for the idea!

      Reply
  12. 50

    queenopearls . says

    February 12, 2016 at 1:57 pm

    SWEET!!! Love what your “engineer” drew up from your composite design and created. It is wonderful!! I agree with Katie Reed… paint those appliances! 🙂 TOTAL CUSTOM LOOK!! :)))
    ~ Christina in FL

    Reply
    • 51

      Beth @ Reality Daydream says

      February 12, 2016 at 3:57 pm

      I’ve considered it quite a bit, but since we’re planning to pull the trigger on purchasing new appliances soon-ish (within the next year), I’m just gonna hold out. 😉

      Reply
  13. 52

    becky marshall says

    February 11, 2016 at 4:58 am

    Great cart! So glad you didn’t buy #1 — we did (a very similar one) and it’s awful! Love the yellow!

    Reply
  14. 53

    Robyn Swensen says

    February 9, 2016 at 8:09 pm

    OMG, love love love your play kitchen! I wouldn’t dare touch it with a paintbrush. The memories are too precious!

    Reply
    • 54

      Beth @ Reality Daydream says

      February 12, 2016 at 3:56 pm

      Yes! I’m glad you agree! I love that play kitchen just as it is. And the girls spend sooooo much time in there. 🙂

      Reply
  15. 55

    Jenn says

    February 3, 2016 at 10:59 pm

    LOVE it!!!!!

    Reply
  16. 56

    Sarah says

    February 3, 2016 at 5:52 pm

    Love this cart, great job! Can’t wait to see the top 😉

    Reply
  17. 57

    Tyra says

    February 2, 2016 at 11:19 pm

    Love it!

    Reply
  18. 58

    Katie Reed says

    February 2, 2016 at 8:18 pm

    Love it. It looks amazing. But can I say that I am so surprised you haven’t just painted your stove yet! They make stainless steel look paint, or even that beautiful blue would be a REALLY unique look. 🙂

    Reply
    • 59

      Beth @ Reality Daydream says

      February 12, 2016 at 3:56 pm

      Ugh I know. Believe me I’ve thought a lot about it. But we’re planning to get new appliances in the next year, so I’m just gonna hold out. 😉

      Reply

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We are Nick and Bethany! Welcome to our blog, Reality Daydream where we share our DIY adventures!
Click here for lots of art projects using only wood stain on furniture!!
Please feel free to share or pin my posts! You're welcome to use ONE of my images (no collages or pinnables) with a link back to the corresponding post. Please do not edit or crop that single image in any way. Improper use of my photos, ideas or words is a violation of copyright. Thank you!

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Attention: Almost any do-it-yourself project involves risk of some sort. Your tools, materials, and skills will vary, as will the conditions at your project site. Reality Daydream has made every effort to be complete and accurate in the instructions of the plans on this website. Reality Daydream will not assume any responsibility or liability for damages or losses sustained or incurred in the course of your project or in the use of the item you create. Always follow the manufacturer’s operating instructions in the use of tools, check and follow your local building codes, and observe all commonly accepted safety precautions.

 

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