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How to Make a Kitchen Bar From a Divider

Architectural features like room dividers wind up in homes for several reasons: Some act as supports that literally hold a structure together while others can be flights of fancy that come from the minds of interior designers hired to add design features that help drive home sales. It's a shame to keep a divider intact just because it's there — especially if your growing family needs room to spread out. Get everyone to the breakfast table using imagination and some carpentry tools.

  1. Channel Your Inner Designer

    • You have an opportunity to re-purpose a room divider into a kitchen bar and create something practical and unique. Before you pick up a sledgehammer and crowbar, measure and record the dimensions of the space. Collect design ideas from friends, experts and your imagination. Sketch out your vision on paper, making note of the post-project dimensions you aim to achieve when the project is complete.

    Re-engineer the Room Divider

    • Protect the floors on both sides of the room divider with drop cloths before you start your mini-demolition derby to remove superfluous pieces of the structure. A contractor-sized waste construction bag makes an ideal catch-all so you can collect and dispose of the drywall, lumber and other refuse you remove as you winnow down the divider. Wear eye protection and work gloves as you methodically remove all of the superfluous sections of the divider.

    Refine the Base

    • The base that remains behind after you’ve undertaken the necessary surgery is going to need a little carpentry work to refashion it into your breakfast bar’s base, so make repairs as necessary to clean up and frame the remaining structure. You may need to spackle drywall gouges and blemishes on both sides of the breakfast bar base before framing up the top of the base so it’s ready to hold the new counter top. Sand, paint and seal all of the surfaces on the base once repairs are made.

    Install a Counter top

    • Whether you make a counter top or buy a prefabricated one, use these measurements to determine counter size and length: allow 30 inches of horizontal counter space per person so there’s enough room to wield a fork without elbowing a fellow breakfast eater, and make the bar’s width around 24 inches if your intention is to seat folks on just one side of the breakfast bar. You can also make a double-sided breakfast bar if your counter size is large enough to seat diners on both sides. Decorative brackets that fasten the divider base to the counter make a nice touch if the hardware is going to show.

    Finishing Touches

    • You probably didn’t need lighting to shine down on your former room divider, but once the metamorphosis has been completed, hanging lamps installed over the new eating unit will be appreciated by your family – especially if it’s dark outside when the coffeepot clicks on each morning. Splurge on new place mats so the grab-and-go meals served on your new breakfast bar reflect as much of your personality as does the beautifully re-worked eating area.

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Kitchens
  1. How to Make a Kitchen Island From a Chest of Drawers
  2. How to Make a Room Divider Out of Styrofoam Sheets
  3. How to Make a Baby-Safe Room Divider
  4. How to Make a Bar From Side Tables
  5. How to Make a Folding Room Divider From Bi-Fold Doors
  6. How to Make a Bar From a Surfboard
  7. How to Make a Floor-to-Ceiling Room Divider
  8. How to Make a Raised Bar From a Kitchen Countertop
  9. How to Make a Room Divider From Old Doors
  10. How to Remodel a Kitchen & a Dining Room With a Breakfast Bar
  11. How to Make a Kitchen Bar
  12. How to Make a Room Divider From Recycled Materials

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