Kitchen islands are a popular part of kitchen designs these days. And while it is not a hard and fast rule, these structures are typically attached to the floor so that they don’t fall over or shift when you are using them.
Sometimes, these kitchen islands have cabinets that cannot be attached to anything because, well, they are on the “island”. So, the structure itself is attached to the floor and the cabinets are attached to the structure.
If you were wondering how to pin it to the ground, well, here’s how. But before that, let’s take a look at a few other details.
Why?
A kitchen island gives you more room compared to, let’s say, a counter in the room. It also looks better and looks pretty cool. You can have a lone kitchen cart but using cabinets to anchor the island to the floor is:
- A better and permanent solution
- Keeps it in place as steady as a rock
Apart from that, pinning a kitchen island to the ground is the traditional way of doing things. Ordinarily, wall studs are used to keep them fixed so that they are secure and don’t slide away while you are doing some rigorous chopping work.
You can also use wooden cleats to get the same outcome. And, of course, there is always the option of just bolting it to the ground so that it goes nowhere.
Some kitchen islands are smaller in size and have cabinets under the table that are on wheels or freestanding. And to make sure how to keep the kitchen island steady, you need to know the precise process of attaching it to the ground. So let’s get down to business, shall we?
How?
Let’s say you decide to use wooden cleats to attach your kitchen island to the floor. These cleats are going to 2 x 4 inches and you will take care of them first vis-a-vis the floor before you get to the kitchen island itself. Here’s the process.
- Step 1: You need to know where you want to place the kitchen island. While you make that decision, keep in mind that you don’t want it to hog so much place that there is no space to walk around it in the kitchen.
You will most definitely regret that. The trick is to keep about 48-50 inches of space around the island. But if you plan to have a dining corner, you want to add 10 more inches to that.
After figuring this out, you must mark out the area by drawing an outline or placing a tape around the measured space.
- Step 2: Now it’s time to get started with cleats. You will need four of them, obviously. That’s one for each corner. But before you get to work, you need to measure how thick the base of the kitchen is going to be. This will help you assess how far inside it the cleats need to go.
The key here is to remember that the kitchen island should fit on top of the wooden cleats. Once you iron out these details, you must mark the spots where you will position the cleats. Once again, use tape or a marker.
- Step 3: Now you must install the wooden cleats. For this, you will need to drill holes in the cleats. Then you need to place them in the spots that you marked for them just now.
Then, you must note where the holes in the cleats go on the floor and drill those too. And finally, you need to secure the cleats into these holes on the floor.
- Step 4: And finally, you should get rid of the markings or the tap that you put in place for the kitchen island because it is time to attach it to the cleats. Since the wooden cleats are already in place, you won’t have to work too hard to figure out where the kitchen island will go.
So, at this point, all you need to do is place the island on top of the wooden cleats and make sure it fits right on. You will do this using screws to attach the island and the cleats.
If you plan to attach any other trim pieces to the island, now is the time. That’s it. You’re done.
The Bottom Line
A kitchen island is pretty utilitarian in the sense that it covers a large space in the kitchen. This makes the design of the room complete. Apart from that, you can also create storage space for containers of any kind. You can also use this space to make meals or to have those meals which make it very convenient.
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