Breakfast Bar in Kitchen

Good Evening Everyone!!  After much support/pushing from my friends I have finally decided to start my blog.  I dream for this blog is that it will inspire you to start making minor or major changes in your home.  I feel that your home is a model of your life and doesn't everyone want something that is comfortable and enjoyable!  So without further ado....

The Breakfast Bar

When we first purchased our home I wanted our kitchen to be open and inviting.  I imagined a space with tons of room for people to “hang” out while I was slaving over the stove preparing some scrumptious meal.  Our kitchen was previously set up with a stove top and a separate oven.  I initially loved the stove top however; the oven was like the size of my arm. If I remember correctly the opening was only 18 inches…I remember thinking, how the heck am I ever going to cook a turkey in here.  Anyways, I digress.  My husband and I decided that we would just purchase a regular stove/oven combo and replace it where the original stove top was located.  Now I have to back up some.  The original stove up sat on top of a great big cabinet with a lot of storage.  When we removed the stove top my husband wanted to throw the cabinet out…I was like you are freaking kidding me.  If you know my I salvage everything and this was way too great to be tossed by the wayside.  I told him that we could use it somewhere else, just give me time. 

(This is what our kitchen looked like after we purchased our home.  You can see the cabinet with the stove top.)

Eventually I decided that it would make a great kitchen island; place a counter and some casters and that puppy would be rockin.  So a while back my father and I did that.  We bought some casters and a piece of “stainable” wood from Lowes.  My father and husband assembled it together and I eventually stained it.  For the past two years that cabinet has been up against my kitchen wall being used every day.  I am soooooooo thankful that we were able to salvage it.  It has made for great storage and most of all great counter top space.

So the breakfast bar…that’s the reason why I’m posting this right.  As you get to know me you will know that sometimes I like to ramble so I will apologize now for this and any future rambles that will occur without warning…sorry L

So the other day I was cleaning my kitchen….I know, I know….I was finally cleaning those crappy floors.  Anyways, I moved the cabinet to clean underneath and I had one of those aha moments.  I was saying to myself….”wouldn’t it be cool to have a breakfast bar here”  I debated back and forth in my brain…will we have enough room, wouldn’t it be great to have my Sar hang out with me while I’m making dinner, I’m not sure this will work out etc. etc.  These voices often play back and forth when I’m trying to come up with an idea.  So anyways, I started doing some research.  I knew that I wanted a piece of wood that was elevated that would accommodate the bar stools that I had in the basement.  I finally decided that I would take a piece of “stainable wood” size 4 ft by 1 ft and use these supports called captai from Ikea

So my Lowes hunt began.  I wanted something that was similar and that would be able to support the wood shelf etc.  I asked an employee if they sold anything like this.  He said that they don’t sell specialty things like that in this store.  I really didn’t think that this was a specialty item but who knows.  You might be asking yourself why I just didn’t go to the local Ikea store and pick these up.  WELL…….the closest Ikea store to me is about 300 miles away.  I figured that wouldn’t be the most cost effective purchase.  (However; I hoping that in the near future I will be able to set foot in an Ikea.  I think that that store looks amazing.  Maybe there is a reason why God hasn’t blessed me with one close.  I think my entire paycheck would be going to that place.)  Anyways….I had to come up with something else.  Oh and I did look at purchasing the item online however; they wanted $20 in shipping.  I am cheap and I just couldn’t justify spending that kinda of money!!!  So at first I looked at L brackets but they just weren’t cutting it and then I hit me like a ton of bricks….why not use metal piping.  I rushed my sqeaky cart over to the plumbing aisle like they were having a blue light special.  I figured that I needed some height and I need those things that would screw into the counter top.  So here is what I purchased….

4- 3/8 inch Galvanized Flanges less than $4 a piece (anything bigger than that is outrageously priced and I couldn’t see myself spending that kind of money)

2 – 3/8 by 6 inch black iron piping (black iron is way cheaper than Galvanized) – a little over $2 a piece

 1 – 48 inch by 12 inch piece of nice wood that would be stainable - $7.48

So I went home all giddie and excited that this might actually work.  The guy at Lowes didn’t seem to think that this would work but I was squeezing my fingers really tight that it would. 

So I screwed those flanges and the piping together and I laid both of them out on the countertop.  I messed around with the bar top to see exactly where it would be a good fit.  Once I did that I used a pen and made a circle where the flanges would drill into the counter tops.  I then used my handy dandy Drimel and pre-drilled the holes for the screws.  Oh, one word of caution, make sure that your screws are shorter than your countertop bar wood.  Okay, back to the directions.  Next, I screwed in the bottom flanges into the countertop.  I of course became a little lazy, I mean I wanted to try it out for a few days with the bar countertop on the piping before I screwed in that section just in case it didn’t work out.  My Sar ate a few breakfasts there and she thought it was going to work out great!!!  So this weekend I drilled the holes, just like I did for the countertop into the bar top.  I then had to screw the screws into the top flanges.  This became a little bit difficult because I didn’t have a great deal of room to work with.  My genius husband came up with a great idea.  We had a mini screw driver and that seemed to work great.  So he was able to screw the flanges on to the top part of the countertop. 

I also found these great bar stools that the previous owners left in the basement.  They worked out great for this project.   Sar and Rye-Rye loved the new bar area.  Sar tells me that this is going to “totally work because how she can do her homework while I cook”.  So in a since…kid tested, mother approved.  I have some more ideas with this cabinet.  I’m thinking about adding a wine rack where there used to be drawers…more to come.  I loved how this worked out and it really didn’t cost me too much money.  If you don’t have the room for a breakfast bar, you could add the piping and the wood above an existing countertop to give you some more room and free up some of your countertop space…maybe a microwave or your cooking supplies could go on top.  The ideas are always endless.  I still have to stain the bar top but I wanted to share with you guys first.  So what do you guys think.... 

Happy decorating and DIYing,

Kim

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