Microwave Cart/Island Inspiration

As we gear up to start making and designing our permanent microwave cart (which I want to look more like an island so from here on out it is a microwave island - are you with me?) I thought I would share some of my inspirations for the design.  You can see our temporary solution here, and even though we love it I am craving something that looks built in and customized for our kitchen.  However, I am SO GLAD we tried the temporary stand for a while because we have learned several important things:

1. We love the amount of space a bigger surface gives us as opposed to a cart that only fits the microwave.  I envision myself rolling out chickadils or pizza dough with ease and I am loving the idea of extra counter top space. 
2. The dimensions of the stand go great with the flow of the room.  The stand doesn’t look too cumbersome and we haven’t bumped into it yet – so the size is a go!
3. We want a microwave island with an open airy feel that our current one has.  We originally envisioned something closed off with tons of hidden storage but soon realized that it would make the space too heavy and weighed down and we want the space to have a nice light flow to it.

After browsing the internet for some time to hone in the style I envisioned for our new island I was inspired by these photos:

What I like about this island from Better Homes and Gardens is the rustic butcher block countertop, detailed ball feet, and open storage underneath.  Plus it is white...awesome!





This island (also from BHG) has the same white-island-with-butcher-block-countertop theme going on, but I love how the spices are stored in those great jars for easy access.  I am in love with spices - there I said it - and I eventually envision streamlined spice containers in an open storage concept like this somewhere in the kitchen. 

This island was DIYed by Dana from House Tweaking.  She is an amazing DIY designer with fabulous taste and she gives a step by step tutorial here of how she DIYed her existing island to create this lovely beauty.  Again I love the built in storage on the side of the island.

The last island I found inspiring (again from BHG - can you sense a theme?) is probably the closest design to what we will attempt to DIY.  It is open and airy, uses baskets (like our current microwave island) to add storage and has the white-island-with-butcher-block-countertops that I obviously love so much.  However, on the microwave island we are designing we are going to have two shelves (as opposed to only one in this picture) that will allow us to hang our pots and pans like on our current stand. 

Our original idea was that we would just buy the butcher block countertop from Ikea where they have great prices and dimensions that fit our vision for the stand.  However last time we ventured over to Ikea they told us that all butcher block countertops were out of stock due to a “wood shortage”…whatever that means.   Soo....we have decided to DIY the butcher block countertop.  Could this end in disaster? YES! Do I trust my hubby enough to try it? YES! We will be updating as soon as we begin our adventure.