Kitchen builds are mostly storage additions and infrastructure improvements. None of them require structural changes.
01Kitchen island — basic build
A simple freestanding kitchen island is a cabinet box on legs with a countertop. Build the box from 3/4-inch plywood, dadoed at the corners or butt-jointed and reinforced with pocket screws. Face the exterior with beadboard, shiplap, or paint-grade MDF panels. Add legs from turned lumber or premade island legs, or set the box on a base frame and add a toe kick. Top with butcher block, a stone remnant, or painted plywood sealed with multiple coats of floor polyurethane.
02Open shelving — wall-mounted
Cut 3/4-inch plywood or solid wood to shelf width and depth. Sand and finish before mounting — it's easier on the bench than on the wall. Mount a 1x4 cleat to the wall, screwed into studs, level and plumb. Build a shelf box that slides over the cleat and is secured from the top with screws countersunk and filled. Or use a standard shelf bracket system with brackets mounted to studs.
03Built-in pantry cabinet
Frame a pantry cabinet between two walls or as a freestanding unit using 3/4-inch plywood. The carcass is a simple box — sides, top, bottom, and a back panel of 1/4-inch plywood or hardboard. Dado the sides for shelf pins. Add a face frame of 3/4 by 1-1/2 inch solid wood for the door opening. Hang doors on concealed European hinges adjustable in three directions.
04Under-sink storage build
A simple pull-out shelf or two-shelf unit inside a base cabinet makes under-sink storage functional instead of a pile. Build it from 3/4-inch plywood sized to fit inside the cabinet, accounting for the supply lines and drain. Add full-extension drawer slides to a pull-out shelf to bring the back of the cabinet to the front.
Marcus Webb is a general contractor and home maintenance writer based in Columbus, Ohio. He writes about the repairs and installs that come up every year in every house — the practical, repeating work that keeps a home livable.