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White Kitchen Overhaul with DIY Marble Island

Written by Cass

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Raise your hand if you’ve dreamed of a white kitchen. Okay, now raise your hand if your dream kitchen also has marble in it. Beautiful, right? White kitchens and marble are so in style right now and the combination is gorgeous! Our guest today is here to share her beautiful white kitchen with marble island:

marble kitchen island in white kitchen, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

Keep reading for all the details (and, of course, the before and afters) and check out some of our favorite white kitchens and islands:

white kitchen renovation with custom island, Rain On a Tin Roof on Remodelaholic.com

Rain on a Tin Roof on Remodelaholic

 

white kitchen remodel, Create on Remodelaholic

Create on Remodelaholic

 

white ranch kitchen makeover, Cape 27 on Remodelaholic

Cape 27 on Remodelaholic

 

white country kitchen, Stable Living on Remodelaholic.com

Stable Living on Remodelaholic

 

white board and batten kitchen island, Serene Swede on Remodelaholic

The Serene Swede on Remodelaholic

 

black and white kitchen remodel, Eating in the Shower on Remodelaholic

Eating in the Shower on Remodelaholic

 

And now, get all the beautiful white kitchen details and marble island know-how from the lovely Nina:

White Kitchen Overhaul and DIY Marble Island
by Nina of Everyday Enchanting

Hi everyone! I’m Nina from Everyday Enchanting, a blog about decorating, entertaining, and the renovation of our builder grade home. I’m so excited to be guest posting for Remodalaholic today! I have been a huge fan for years, the title sums it up for me – I’m very much addicted to remodeling, as I’m sure most of you are too! Since moving into our new house we have completed a few major projects, including our pantry. However, today I’m going to share with you the biggest project we’ve ever tackled: a DIY overhaul of our kitchen!

When we put our former house on the market, the paint had barely even dried in my (almost) dream kitchen. We had been at a point where we were waffling between selling and staying, and staying had won out just long enough for us to renovate the kitchen. We had it almost where we wanted it- we had white cabinets, a farmhouse sink, new appliances, sparkly granite, and a pretty wall of glass cabinets. Then we changed our minds about staying. The town that we wanted to move to had a booming spring market, and we were lured in. Long story short- we sold our old house more quickly than we expected (our first offer came the second day it was officially on the market). We were the losing bid in a few bidding wars, and we figured out that we were going to have to lower our sights to a less-updated home in the interest of finding a place to live quickly. Luckily it all worked out- we found a beautiful home with really great bones. All it really needed was a little TLC. Okay… maybe a lot of TLC, actually. We traded this kitchen: old kitchen, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic For this one:

new kitchen, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

I was definitely a little sad to leave it behind, but if you’re like me, you’ll see the potential in the new room. Since it was lacking in natural light the dark finishes were not doing it any favors. However, the cabinets were pretty solidly built. The granite wasn’t necessarily what I would have chosen, but hey– it’s granite! The appliances were a bit outdated, but serviceable. We lived in this kitchen for over a year as I researched the best way to go about majorly updating it on a very small budget. We knew we were going to have to keep the countertops and cabinets in order to stay on budget, so the real challenge became how to transform what we had into something that better fit our style.

kitchen renovation cabinets, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

sanding and painting kitchen cabinets, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholicspray painting kitchen cabinets, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

Last fall we finally decided that the project could begin. We began the very long process of transforming the kitchen. We added crown molding and built sturdy plywood shelves. We sanded, filled in the grain, primed, and painted all of the interiors, exteriors, doors, and drawers. We did this on the weekends, and the project lasted from October 1st to Valentine’s Day.

old backsplash, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

We replaced the travertine backsplash with subway tile and an arabesque backsplash accent.

subway tile and arabesque backsplash, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

We replaced the previous kitchen sink with the Ikea Domsjo:
old sink, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholicnew IKEA sink in white kitchen, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic  

We switched out our range vent for an inexpensive stainless steel option, and my husband Mack built this nifty range hood:
old range hood, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholicrange hood with hidden storage, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

It even has hidden storage!

hinged range hood with hidden storage, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

We switched out the less-than-pretty builder’s light for a pretty industrial inspired fixture with a custom finish:

industrial light fixture in white kitchen, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

We have never worked so hard on a project, but the results more than made up for it. However, the show stopper and centerpiece in this kitchen was actually the quickest and easiest part- the island.

freestanding marble kitchen island, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

Strangely enough, this part of the kitchen almost didn’t happen. We unexpectedly had to replace our heating system midway through the project during the coldest week of the year(insert major panic attack here), and one of the new vents had to be smack dab in the middle of the kitchen. We knew that a lonely vent in the middle of the kitchen would be less than ideal, so we began planning for an island to cover it up- but still allow the heat to escape. We wanted it to be realllly cheap, because we dished out a lot of money for the new heating system. Mack scored big on Craigslist- the marble top was only $200! We found our inspiration for the base in Ana White‘s book The Handbuilt Home. We modified her kitchen island plans to accommodate the marble top. We also ordered the beautiful Grand Harvest Island Legs from Osborne Wood Products.

kitchen island legs, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

For the most part, we stuck to Ana’s plans, using her materials list to maximize yields. We used our Kreg Jig to drill the pocket holes in all of the 2x6s and 2x4s. kreg jig to build kitchen island, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

Assembly was pretty easy. Building the island took a single afternoon.

building the kitchen island, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

Instead of the suggested slats, we went with a piece of pine butcher block from Lowes for the shelf, and notched out the corners for the legs.

pine butcher block kitchen island, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

It was done so quickly! Then we just stood back and looked at it 🙂

building the kitchen island base, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

The next day I got started on the finish. I covered the whole island in a coat of Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. Then I did a coat of Minwax Waterbased Wood Stain White Base tinted Slate. It was surprisingly dark for a gray stain!gray stained kitchen island, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

Then I started white washing with a spare can of Benjamin Moore Simply White in eggshell. I took a very dry brush and began to lightly add white paint all over the island. I made sure not to go too heavy on this step- after all, I knew I would be sanding everything off!

white-washed kitchen island, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

After we got a whole coat of whitewash onto the island, we sanded it mostly off. There was no exact science to this- we just knew that we didn’t want the original wood peeking through too much. After, we determined that it looked too white, and we thought it looked busy with so much blond wood showing. So we took a can of Rustoleum in Driftwood that we already had, and did a coat over the whole island. The effect was perfect- it blended everything together nicely and made the white appear more neutral.

stained kitchen island base, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

We attached the top with silicone caulking. I was so excited to see the whole thing come together! This was also the very last part of the kitchen that needed to be completed, so the feeling when the marble was set into place was of immense relief… and also exhaustion. 🙂

marble kitchen island in white kitchen, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

white diy kitchen, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

beautiful white kitchen renovation, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

white kitchen with subway tile backsplash, Everyday Enchanting on Remodelaholic

Time: The island took about 6 hours total. Not bad for such a statement piece!

Cost: Marble Top (found on Craigslist): $200

Maple Grand Harvest Legs: $248

Wood: $98

Stain & Supplies: $ 33

Total Island Cost: $579

Overall, our kitchen took a lot of time and hard work. But we saved thousands of dollars by doing it ourselves, and that opened up space in the budget for items like the appliances and the island. We are SO happy with it- even happier than we were in our old home. This time we will get to enjoy it a lot longer too! 🙂

——————————–

So lovely, Nina! Thanks so much for sharing with us!

Remodelaholics, head on over to Everyday Enchanting to see more of what Nina is doing with her home, like remodeling and reorganizing her pantry and building some great cafe shelves. 

Want the look of marble without the cost and upkeep? DIY a faux marble counter with just paint!

faux marble countertop tutorial, Batchelors Way on Remodelaholic.com

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Published: April 12, 2014Filed Under: Before and After, Guest Bloggers, Kitchen, Remodel Inspiration By Room, Tutorials Tagged: DIY kitchen storage, Guest Bloggers, Kitchen, Kitchen Islands, White, white cabinets

About Cass

Cassity started Remodelaholic with her husband, Justin, to share their love for knocking out walls together. Since then, Remodelaholic has become a great community and resource for all those wanting to know how to make their builder-grade home BEAUTIFUL on a budget!


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Comments

  1. Jake's a Girl says

    April 12, 2014 at 8:28 am

    Hand is raised!
    Whoa! Beautiful kitchens! That island is to die for! I’m a leg girl and I love love love the harvest legs. I love feet/legs on furniture.
    My next kitchen will be white. Marble is a classic and everlasting and I don’t think it ever goes out
    of style. I have granite which I absolutely love but not so much the dark color. Will go lighter if I ever change it out. Thanks for the peek into these lovely kitchens. Lots of ideas.

    JaG

    Reply
  2. Claudia says

    April 12, 2014 at 5:08 pm

    OH MY! I am sooooo in love with your marble…searching Craigslist right now for my own…pfft, none to be found. 🙁

    Reply
  3. Mary Anne Looby says

    April 13, 2014 at 5:55 pm

    Hi, I love a white kitchen, which is why I have one! As a matter of fact even my bathrooms are all white. It’s easy, you can do anything with it. Change the wall colors, your accent pieces and boom. New kitchen. I love marble, but when we decided to do new counter tops and sinks and faucets I went with soapstone. Not too many folks are familiar with it, but I love it. I got to pick out my stones, and they cut them right at my house. I have a huge Island with my sink and dishwasher and some drawers and cabinets. On the other side there is seating for four. On the back wall I have a straight run of nine feet of counter top so it is perfect for working or for entertaining. I love the look and feel of soapstone. It is a lot like marble in that it has beautiful veining, but of course it is dark. Before you oil it, the color is a dull grey, but once you put this magic oil on it, the oil is absorbed and the stone comes to life. Mine looks black with veins of green and blue and even some golds going through it. You only have to oil it once a month in the beginning and then on every 5 months or so. You can tell when it needs it, you see it getting light, Next kitchen I will def incorporate some marble for baking, although the soapstone is very cold.

    Reply
  4. Keitha The Bajan Texan says

    April 13, 2014 at 9:51 pm

    WOW! Beautiful….those legs on the island are beautiful. I also love the hidden storage. But man I am in love with the trellis tile as well. So many beautiful aspects, great job

    Reply
  5. [email protected] says

    April 14, 2014 at 12:47 pm

    WOW! That kitchen looks absolutely amazing! I love it!

    Reply
  6. Alicia says

    April 15, 2014 at 3:46 am

    I can’t believe it took you “only” 6 hours to do this, I would have thought much more was needed! Such an amazing transformation, I love the new white kitchen!

    Reply
    • Nina @ Everyday Enchanting says

      April 16, 2014 at 8:28 am

      Hi Alicia!

      Thank you so much! Just to clarify- the island by itself took 6 hours- the kitchen took MANY more than that!! 🙂

      Reply
  7. Laurel Wolfe says

    January 13, 2021 at 10:03 am

    Is the new range 30″wide?
    Also: did you install a ducted (to the outside) hood, or is that a recirculating style?

    Reply

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Hey there, I am Cassity! Nice to virtually meet you!

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