Remember when I remodeled the small kitchen? Below is a photo of the finished kitchen. BUT, what you don’t see is that just left of the photo is a complete mess of a window area. Lol, that happens. This post will show you how I cleaned up that mess and added a white kitchen sideboard with a custom wood countertop below the window for even more kitchen storage.
Below is the window area where I want to add a white IKEA sideboard cabinet. It currently has a bunch of random stuff around it plus all our plants. I will move the air conditioner out of this area and vent it through the wood stove pipe in the summer. That’s much easier than keeping this awkward window set up.
Build and Paint White Kitchen Sideboard Cabinets:
The kitchen is an IKEA kitchen. I loved how easy it was to put that together, really not kidding! We’ll be using an IKEA Besta cabinet and doors for the sideboard. Later I’ll show you to add a custom wood countertop.
I could simply build the Besta cabinet and put in place, but it is white. I have white walls and white baseboards and trim. Instead of having a lot of contrasting whites, let’s add some subtle class and make all the whites match.
Below is a photo of my “workshop” where I built the Besta cabinets and am painting the cabinets sides, the doors, and the legs. The IKEA sideboard consists of three cabinets connected together per the IKEA instructions with IKEA Haviken door fronts and IKEA Stubbarp white legs.
I’ve found you need a really good primer when painting IKEA furniture. The Zinsser BIN primer works best, and I’ve used both the shellac base and the water base with great results. Apply at least two coats of this primer after a quick sand to give the surface a little grit. I like to roll it on with a small 4 inch foam roller and use a foam brush for corners.
Once the primer was dry, I applied two coats of white Scuff Defense in Ultra Bright White from Behr to match the trim paint.
I want to give this sideboard a little more modern feel with the IKEA Hackas drawer pulls below. These are also used in the bathroom remodel and the bedroom wardrobe for design consistency in the house.
I cleaned up the window area and moved the new white kitchen sideboard in place. Here it is! Looking good so far, but I want to add a custom wood countertop to match the kitchen island and give the sideboard some warmth.
Custom Wood Countertop for Kitchen Sideboard:
I found a low-cost and good looking 1.5 inch thick butcher block type pine panel at Lowes called a project panel board. It was less expensive than standard butcherblock and will work great for a sideboard countertop. Below is a picture of the full project panel that is 30 inches x 6ft. I cut the panel to fit the top of the sideboard with a one inch overhang each side.
Here is a closeup of the project panel label in case you want to find your own.
After sanding the board very smooth and applying pre-stain wood conditioner, I applied the first coat of stain. The first coat is Special Walnut seen below.
Then I gave it a second coat of Carrington stain for some more warmth.
Finally, to protect the countertop, I applied two coats of matte finish polyurethane seen in the photo below. This gallon has lasted me through so many projects!
Attach Countertop to Sideboard Cabinets:
Now that the countertop is dry, let’s get it installed on the sideboard cabinets. I used quick grip clamps to hold it in place while I installed small wood screws from below into the bottom of the countertop.
Here I am installing a wood screw to secure the countertop in place.
I used 2 inch long screws shown below that would embed 1 inch into the countertop from below.
Finished White Kitchen Sideboard:
Below is the finished white kitchen sideboard! Isn’t this sooo much cleaner than before? Its a great place to hide sodas, chips, and a rarely used crockpot among other things.
The plants look much better on top of this sideboard. Maybe one day I’ll add a floating window plant holder or something from the ceiling to hang the plants from. We’ll see.
Lastly. here is how the sideboard sits just off the kitchen. What do you think? Like how it turned out?
