Thread: New kitchen bench top Aussie oak

Hello all, I've just got back from my honeymoon after recently getting married. We had received three Ikea vouchers as wedding presents to the value of $350 (seems to be the new "go to" wedding present). So off to Ikea we went. We didn't know what we were going to get but soon realised a new kitchen cupboard would be very handy. Let this be a warning to you all, ONE cupboard does not actually mean one, it means a whole new kitchen... I personally think Ikea products are cheap cardboard disguised as timber! Anyway we found a 3 draw 800w/600d/600t cupboard for $345. plus some other bits and pieces, we walked out of there with only $40 out of pocket so far. Mind you this is without bench top as I wasn't going to pay another $200 for some ply wood! Once home my new wife put the cupboard together (she is like a ninja with Ikea products) and I went out to start jointing up some Aussie Oak we've had for years. I came in from the shed for a cup of tea and then the planning started... because this cupboard is a bit larger than the old one we had to move the main cooking bench, which meant the tiny old oven we had really should go and be replaced while we're at it and if we are going to loose bench space because of a new larger oven then we should make up for it by installing a larger island bench, and so it went... It started off with us having 350 Ikea dollars to spend. Well we've got some great bargains along the way but still spent another $1500 on top of the initial $350... We have a 2.4m stainless island bench that I've clad with ply and we are going to cover it with 'rustic' slats from my in laws horse farm, a near new massive electric oven with five burner gas top and the good old Ikea cupboard with the top I built out of Aussie oak. We still need to address the corner with the dishwasher in it... That'll be next weeks job!