My old kitchen bookshelf

This is a multi-part series about the kitchen in our former house and what I did to get it ready to sell. It’s pretty extensive so I broke it up into pieces. This part is about the kitchen bookshelf build.

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A few years ago I posted a two-part low-cost kitchen remodel (part 2). It occurred to me the other day that I never officially shared the final revamp done right before we moved. It was a year ago, but after the response to the dramatic kitchen post was so positive, someone may want to see this one as well.

Here’s a quick synopsis if you’re too lazy to click over:

Ralph Lauren Turret Stair paint from Home Depot (done ALL wrong BTW before I knew anything about paint). Great color and killed me when they quit carrying it. I was so proud of those cabinets for years. They held up really well until I tried to touch up some small spots for a film spot some friends shot about concrete countertops. I had to use a different brand tinted to match- it chemically changed the paint and they were never the same. No biggie though- it’s just paint, I can fix that.

When the granite countertops were installed there was a space we had purposefully left an overhang to add a bookshelf at a later time. My intent had always been to build one and when we decided to move, I thought it was the perfect time to do it… because working hard to let someone else enjoy it somehow makes sense when you’re readying a house to move.

I knew I was going to be painting the cabinets again(can you see how beat up they were?) so forgive the ickiness.. the babies learned to walk here and killed the finish on these poor cabinets with banging and…life.

I peeled off the trim at the top and on the sides and decided it was easiest to build in place. Knowing the other side of the peninsula was going to have a faux stone on it, I ran the plywood for that side all the way to the floor and built the bottom support to include the cabinet kick plate room on the other side. I glued and nailed the bottom shelf to the bottom support and kept going.

I built the under box to match the toe kick already present on the cabinets to present a more continuous line, visually it just made more sense to me. I knew Knowing the plan for the back side, it was most important that the front be flush and smooth.

What you can’t see is that there is a brace under the counter across the top to keep it all square. I added trim to the front sides of the plywood pieces as well.

I added a center shelf and re-trimmed out the bottom with new shoe moulding so everything lined up flush.

and that is how the kitchen bookshelf sat for a few weeks until I started painting all the cabinets at the same time.

After this I took on the island… I promise the click is worth it… (here’s a sneak peek to prove it).