1960’s Ranch Kitchen Renovation With Custom Island
Any time we feature an amazing kitchen transformation, I love to take note of just how much character you can DIY into a kitchen! We see kitchens that are mixing styles that I would never think of — and they look amazing and their owners love them because they are a perfect fit for their exact style. DIYing really is the best way to express your unique style!
One of my favorite places to see the DIY creativity is in kitchen islands. We all have different wants and needs for our kitchen islands, and sometimes builder-grade and manufactured islands are not even close to what we want, or how we want it to look. So, a-diying we go! Our guest today (and her husband) built this beautiful custom island as part of her 1960’s ranch kitchen renovation:
A kitchen island can be anything you can dream it to be! Justin and I recently built a kitchen island -slash- dining table for our kitchen:
If you want your island to be a bit more modular for regular use and entertaining, our guest Sweet November revamped a dresser into a colorful kitchen island:
And our guest Stacy from Serene Swede completely made over her builder-grade kitchen island:
And here’s Jenna to show you her custom kitchen island and the rest of her gorgeous kitchen renovation!
1960’s Ranch Kitchen Renovation with Custom Island
by Jenna of Rain on a Tin Roof
Hi, there! I’m Jenna from Rain on a Tin Roof.
Over at my blog, I rant about DIY projects, junk decor, thrifty finds, crafty creations and other decorating dilemmas. When I’m not trying to keep my kid from climbing out of her circus ring or making sure Grunt Labor’s shirts are taken to the dry cleaners, so I get out of ironing, I can be found with a paintbrush in hand. I suppose my specialty is my furniture painting. You can find a round-up of my best furniture makeovers here. My signature colors are navy and kelly green, which I fully admit to using too much of. Those colors can be found on my Ralph Lauren Inspired barstools, as well as multiple other things in my DIY project gallery. Today, I’m sharing one of my biggest DIY projects to date: my kitchen renovation. 
A couple years back, Grunt Labor (the husband) and I purchased a 1960s brick rancher. It wasn’t just a rancher. It was a foreclosure. Surprisingly though, most of the house was in good shape. Except for the fact that nothing had been updated since 1969 when it was built. The kitchen was the one room that turned out exactly how I wanted it to. Right now, there isn’t a thing I would change about it. Here is the before: 
Sexy, right? Negative. Just to be clear, that stainless steel refrigerator, stove, and microwave did not come with the house. No appliances did, besides the non-working dishwasher. We had to buy new appliances as soon as we moved in. To open up the kitchen, as well as the dining room and living area, we knocked down a couple walls. 
By knocking down the walls, it made room for an island, which is my most prized possession in the room. I’m so attached to it, I refuse to leave my house unless it goes. I’m even thinking they can just lay me out on it when I die. I kid. Maybe not. Grunt Labor and I built the island. It is five feet long, a little over two feet wide and right at about three feet in height. In this girl’s opinion, its the perfect size. Not too dominant, but still functional. For the legs, we used salvaged porch columns from a local architectural salvage store. We made a frame of 2x4s to go around the columns at the top and also used 2x4s to connect the columns at the base. We used screws to connect it all. The bottom shelf is made from salvaged barn wood that came from my great grandfather’s farm. See, there’s a reason I refuse to part with it. After the countertop was installed, (we just got the island measured for the same countertop the cabinets have, which is Silestone in Bianco River), we added decorative trim around the top to hide the screws. 
A coat of white paint and my barstools finished it off nicely. 
When we set out to do this renovation, we decided to keep the cabinets. They were just in too good of shape to get rid of. Plus, it was a huge cost savings and I am one frugal gal. However, the cabinets still needed a desperate update. They got that much needed update with paint and new hardware. To paint the cabinets, I used Rust-Oleum’s cabinet transformation kit in frost. It was such an easy process. It took some time, but it was easy. There was no sanding or priming. You simply wipe down your cabinets and cabinet doors with the included de-glosser in the kit, then paint the cabinets. After you paint them, you can apply a glaze to add more depth. I didn’t go with the glaze because I wanted my cabinets to be a fresh white. Finally, you just apply the topcoat. 
So far, the paint job has held up really well. There are a few scratches in places, but honestly, that’s more due to us than the paint. Things tend to get banged up a bit around here. The cabinets easily wipe clean with a damp cloth. The circa 1969 hardware was switched out with new hardware from Ikea, which was loads cheaper than anywhere else I looked. Another charming feature I love about my kitchen is my vintage locker basket shelving. 
Grunt Labor and I mounted the baskets to the wall with anchors, screws, and washers. You can see that full tutorial here. 
We did 80% of the renovation over the course of two months. The rest of it was completed within six months. 
If you include knocking down walls, then the renovation cost around $3000. But, if you just take the cabinets, countertops, island, appliances, and things that are just in the kitchen, it was about $2000. 
What do you think? A pretty decent upgrade? You can see more of the kitchen details here or tour our entire renovated rancher here.
If you liked what you saw, I would love to have you follow me on my blog or connect with me on Bloglovin, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.
Thanks to Remodelaholic for having me as their guest!
We LOVE your kitchen, Jenna! Can we come over sometime? We promise not to drool… too much.. on your beautiful counters 🙂
Hop over to Rain on a Tin Roof to see Jenna’s other creative projects and more of her gorgeous home.
Lorene has been behind the scenes here at Remodelaholic for more than a decade! She believes that planning projects and actually completing them are two different hobbies, but that doesn't stop her from planning at least a dozen projects at any given time. She spends her free time creating memories with her husband and 5 kids, traveling as far as she can afford, and partaking of books in any form available.
Thanks so much for having me as your guest today!!
You are welcome, Jenna!
I love your kitchen remodel, it is beautiful!!
What was the process used to fill the old hardware holes on the cabinet doors? We are about to embark on a kitchen remodel where the cabinets are very solid, but very outdated like those in your before photos. The handles are right in the middle of the cabinet doors, which will leave two screw holes on each door. Thanks for any advice!