Building a plinth for a kitchen island

[chrille112]

At IKEA, they did not recommend their black plastic legs for the bases of the kitchen island, as it would be too unsteady. Instead, they suggested building a solid plinth onto which their "nice" plinth could be placed.

Now it's time to build the plinth, and I'm considering the construction.
Should I simply construct two frames of 2"2 with noggings in between to set the height?
Another thought was to build a square "box" of particle board with studs in the corners, maybe that's even more practical?

Has anyone done something similar?

The kitchen island will be 260x100 cm, and I'm thinking of a plinth height of about 17 cm.

 

[Mäster]

I usually use Option 2, I assume you have some form of laminated base or so, nail it together to the desired measure, maybe with some support for any joints in the cabinet frames.
Place it, lift the "island" on top, anchor the island to the base construction, with suitable nails or screws from inside the cabinet frame.

The plastic feet don't have to be rickety at all, but you usually have a kickboard anyway, then it becomes a bit redundant.

 

[chrille112]

It is true that I will have a laminated plinth. Unfortunately, it will take a few weeks before it arrives, and I would like to get the frames up before then.

Ideally, I would like to use plastic feet, it would be the easiest. I will have a plinth on the island anyway, and the feet only cost 40 kr/4 pcs.

Have you ever made a kitchen island on plastic feet?

 

[Mäster]

Yes, but not for myself, so I don't know how it was then experienced, but if you fasten them (perhaps depending on the model) it should probably not be a problem, for that size of ö, I would probably have bought 2 sets of feet.

 

[Mats]

I'm the type who believes that everything should withstand a minor earthquake, so I would probably have made a frame of 45X170" and then covered it on the outside with something nicer

 

[chrille112]

It is a solid construction!

This was difficult. Help me decide!

 

[Mäster]

I probably would have done the same as mats_o, since I have the described framework lying around, but feet work...

 

[chrille112]

Unfortunately, I don't have such lumber lying around.. Maybe I should give a try with legs after all?

 

[Mäster]

All (almost) solutions are fine, it is nothing that will be visible..

 

[chrille112]

No, it's not the appearance I'm worried about, you want it to be sturdy and not be able to move the bench afterwards. I think I'll buy legs from IKEA and try to mount it. If it doesn't work, I'll have to take it apart and start over.

 

[Martin_Blomberg]

My experience with IKEA's black plastic legs is that unfortunately, they are quite poor. They can withstand pressure from directly above but not at all from the side. A kitchen island is a freestanding structure, and people will push it from the side.

The black plastic legs I bought snapped one by one...

I have mounted my kitchen island on IKEA's metal legs, but also anchored it to the floor right under the construction. Anchoring the kitchen island is especially important if you have electricity or water/sewage extended to it.

 

[Mäster]

Well, there you go, I've been wrong once this year as well, even though the year just started. My only excuse is that I've only installed Ballingslöv, but I assume Ikea's feet are equivalent.

 

[puu]

I framed up a plinth for my "peninsula," felt much better. Admittedly, I have fixed plinths for all the countertops in the kitchen. One advantage of a fixed plinth is that you can run electricity through it then.

 

[chrille112]

I have also been considering metal legs, they seem much more stable. The only problem is that their maximum height is 12 cm, which is a bit on the low side.

Then I'm back to using joists again. Maybe there's simply no shortcut? So the question is, what method is best when it comes to using joists? I don’t have any 170 mm joists at home, but maybe it's worth buying?

Another thing I like about legs is that if there is a leak or another problem with water and sewage, the water will flow onto the floor and you can detect and fix it in time. If you put up a large joist, it will block the water and you'll have a small pool underneath before you notice anything.
But maybe that's not something to consider?

 

[Martin_Blomberg]

I have also considered metal legs, they seem much more stable. The only problem is that their maximum height is 12 cm, and that's a bit on the low side.

Then I'm back to using beams again. Maybe there is simply no shortcut? The question then is which method is best when it comes to using beams? I don't have any 170 mm beams at home, but maybe it's worth buying them?

Another thing I like about legs is that if there is a leak or other problem with water and sewage, the water will run onto the floor and you can detect and fix it in time. If you set up a large beam, it will block the water and you'll have a small pool underneath before you notice anything.
But maybe that's not something to think about?

There are water alarms available to purchase that sound when there's a leak. Alternatively, if you think of some clever solution like a refrigerator/dishwasher base (a raised plastic mat that directs leakage water forward so that it becomes visible).