Island Paradise - Antique Stove Upcycle

We wanted a kitchen island that would be eye catching and functional. There are many pretty islands on the market but they tend to all look alike and were not the size or shape that we needed and unless we were willing to pay custom prices then an alternative needed to be found. The goal was to find something that we could transform from its original purpose to a piece that we could be proud of. Sounds easy right? Knowing my frugal ways we set off to yard sales, flea markets, and the good ole’ Craigslist to find that one of a kind piece of furniture that could be made into our island.

Just so you know this is never a quick or easy plan because the right thing is not just laying around screaming make me into an island. But one day there it was in all its glory on the Craigslist an old Westinghouse stove. It may not have looked like much too some people but to us it was pleading, “take me home”.

I was so excited to get started that I primed a small piece before I remembered to take a picture.

Once again, more primer.

With a little negotiation we bought the stove for $65.00, which I think was a great deal. As with most things, buying it was the easy part.

There were many things to consider such as it needed to be counter height, which it was far from it standing at only 31 inches tall. We tried several different ideas ranging from cut logs to 2x4’s to raise the temporary top (an old cabinet door). None of them seemed to work so we waited for inspiration.

Counter top

Next we needed a top to replace the old cabinet door that wasn’t big enough so I was on a search for something that could be transformed into one. I was watching for an old table or desk that I could take the top off and refinish. Maybe even a glass top but it needed to be durable and not break. After a long search we had our resident woodworker find a piece of scrap wood and make it into a beautiful top.

Now it was time to paint it and make it into the showpiece that we knew it could be. We sanded it just enough to rough up the original paint and remove any rust all the while thinking of ideas to lift the top higher. I knew when I expressed an idea and the look on my daughters face was disgust I needed to keep thinking. The back of the stove had some original information on it so we decided to tape it off with ScotchBlue Painter's Tape and paint around it. Then it was time to wipe it down and start painting.

We have used RUST-OLEUM paint for several other projects and knew the results would be awesome. They have a wide variety of colors to choose from but we wanted something vibrate to really make it stand out in the room. Saftey Red for the body of the stove and Gloss Aluminum for the legs and accent pieces were the answer.

Suddenly an EPIPHANY came upon us about the solution to raising the top. The extra set of claw foot legs left over from the tub project would be perfect. Oh dear where are they, did we put them in the storage shed or did we donate them during that one cleaning spree that we had. Commence tear apart storage shed. First try showed no claw feet and we were feeling pretty bummed out. Then I decided that a complete search must occur to prove that the claw feet were actually gone. Low and behold after an intense search they were found. Hallelujah we were going to actually make this work.

We love our new island and the extra painting details really make it unique.