Chalkboard Island in progress

Here's a little bit about how I actually accomplished my chalkboard island.

We started out with 2 base cabinets that we screwed together and put little furniture feet on. Secured again on top with the countertop, and viola! Here is the island we lived with for about a year. :)

Finally, in April (2011), I got around to putting 1/4" plywood onto the sides and back. I used 18ga 5/8" brad nails (in a pneumatic nail gun) to secure everything. Truthfully, it wasn't all perfect, so I used drywall mud to smooth out the edges and joints. That is my trick for everything. Drywall mud and caulk. Once it's painted, no one ever knows. Until I tell them. :)

I primed it with deep tint primer (Zinsser brand).  I don't think I had a reason for that. I think I was just using  primer we had around!

And then painted it with Rustoleum's Chalkboard Paint in Peapod green. I followed the instructions regarding the dry time, and "priming" it with chalk dust.

Then we lived with the island like this for 8 or so months.

My husband thinks I'm crazy for putting a new finish on something with a perfectly good (and factory applied!) finish, but those brown doors just weren't cutting it for me. I wanted the island to truly look like an "island" - a piece of furniture/cabinetry on its own, different than the rest of the base cabinetry.

So I decided to paint the brown doors and drawers white, similar to the upper cabinets, to make sure I wasn't bringing too many different colors/styles into the kitchen.

I took off the handles, removed the door (so I could paint the front and back) and gave it all a light sanding with 100 grit paper. I wasn't too worried about sanding, because I also used a liquid deglosser (by Zinsser) and a bonding primer (Zinsser's oil-based FastPrime) that would stick to the factory finish whether I sanded or not. But since it's a kitchen and the cabinets are used all the time, I took the time to sand a bit and use the deglosser. I wouldn't want to do all this work only to have to re-do it later!

I gave everything a thin coat of the oil-based primer, and I ended up doing 3 thin coats of the white paint. (I emptied some of the stuff in the drawers, but not everything, and used blue painters tape to protect the inside edge. I painted everything that showed that was brown, so it wouldn't look like I painted it. I want it to look like it was built this way!)

I put the hardware back on - and finally, a totally finished island!