DIY Island... Never thought I'd say that!

*This post is sponsored by Cabinet Joint.

So I have to be honest...never in a million years did I think that I would be writing a blog post about an island in my kitchen... that I built. But, here we are, and here I sit, writing this very blog post from the very island in my kitchen... that I built.

Now, there are a lot of talented DIYers out there who could probably throw a kitchen island and cabinets together quite easily. Not to un-toot my own horn, but I am just not one of those DIYers. I'm not saying that I won't learn those skills someday, but I am saying that I don't have those skills yet. So, when we were in need of a new kitchen island, I wanted to find an option that was somewhere between having a custom island made and built for me (HELLO, DOLLAR SIGNS) and building an island from scratch (HELLO, INTIMIDATING PROJECT). I was lucky enough to come across the company Cabinet Joint, and I was even luckier to be able to work with them. If you're not familiar, Cabinet Joint is a company that produces RTA (ready to assemble) cabinetry at a cost that invokes much less sticker shock than a quote from a cabinet builder might. Our personal needs involved a kitchen island alone, but Cabinet Joint is able to create large projects involving the cabinets for an entire room, or smaller projects like replacing just the doors in a space. It was a happy medium, and so it was decided. We were going to assemble our own island!

The entire process of working with Cabinet Joint was a LOT easier than I thought it would be, so I will walk you though it. To start off, I visited their website and perused their products, trying to figure out what I liked. Here's the thing. I was completely new to cabinetry lingo and knowledge in general, so I actually had no idea what I was doing, or even what I was looking for. Lucky for me, Cabinet Joint has experts in the field whose job it is to walk their customers through the process. I hopped on a call with them and before I knew it, I had taken a crash course in Cabinets 101, and I also had a lot of great ideas that I wouldn't have thought of on my own. Leave that to the experts! Once I had chosen my design and colors (they will send samples if you're in need), Cabinet Joint got to work and soon I had a rendering of my island. Even the rendering was beautiful, and it made me really excited to see the product.

After putting in my order, I had another call with my cabinet expert who walked me through the process of receiving and unpacking my product. And speaking of receiving the product, I have to be totally honest. It was a bit scary at first. Everything is packed in specific ways, and I had no idea where to start once my pieces were dropped off. However, between my cabinet expert that Cabinet Joint provides and the endless videos on their website, I was organized and ready to assemble in no time at all.

As for assembly, the main advice that I can give is to WATCH THE VIDEOS. I'll be honest. I'm not really a fan of watching assembly or how-to videos. I kind of like to cut to the chase and jump right in, but nine times out of ten, I end up going back to watching the videos when I realize I jumped in over my head. In this case, I knew that this was a project that I didn't want to mess up, so watching the videos in advance allowed me to avoid a lot of assumed frustration. Once you get the hang of it, the assembly process is really quite obvious, and it is kind of like a giant puzzle. Could I do it with my eyes closed? No. Was it the easiest DIY I've ever done? Also, no. But Cabinet Joint gave me all the tools I needed to prepare myself for success, and succeed we did. Right down to the specific screws to purchase, Cabinet Joint walked me through in the best way possible.

I can't say it enough- between the customer service and the quality of the product, I highly recommend Cabinet Joint, and I am certain that I will use them again in the future. You can find all the detailed videos of my own experience with the building of the island on my Instagram (in the Cabinet Joint highlight), and if you yourself are interested in purchasing from Cabinet Joint, I am happy to give you a discount code- just send me a message!