Installing an Ikea Kitchen Island, Part 2 of 3: The Wrap

We are into the second phase of installing the Ikea floating Island, and we will refer to this part as "the wrap"! I'm excited because we are inching closer and closer to the competed kitchen renovation. For today's post, the wrap is literally a shiplap wrap using our ripped underlayment along with a baseboard trim.

So that you can get an idea of our scale, our island quartzite top measures 28" by 87.25" and the actual Ikea cabinets below the top span 15" by 63".

Here's what you'll need for the project:

Outside we have: table saw // chop saw // saw horses

Inside we have: air compressor // finish nail gun

Materials: 2, 8' by 6" pine planks for the baseboard // 2, 4' by 8' underlayment sheets cut into 7 inch strips // plywood for Ikea cabinet backing // liquid nails // finish nails // caulk // wood putty // Kilz oil based primer // cabinet paint (Sherwin Williams color matched our Ikea cabinets)

Steps:

1. Our island cabinets are a run of 15" deep base cabinets from Ikea. The backing of the Ikea cabinets are flimsy for the backside of an island so you'll start this project by facing the back of the island run with a heavier duty plywood. The plywood should run from the floor to the top of the cabinet.

2. We always start facing from the ground up, so cut and wrap the baseboard pieces. We go for a mitered edge and dry fit before we nail.

3. Create the edge or starting point for the shiplap. The Hubs found some of the leftover edges he ripped from 2x4s from the island leg project. Our only issue as that both edges were bull nosed, so he went to the table saw to cut a tiny edge off one side to make a 90 degree edge.

4. Set up the table saw and rip the shiplap. We are going with 7" strips. Add the shiplap, starting from the ground up. Apply a strip of liquid nails to the back of the shiplap and use dimes as your spacers.

5. Fill in the nail holes with wood putty and caulk. I always spot treat any dark wood knots with an oil based kilz to prevent the knots from bleeding through our light paint in the future.