Farmhouse DIY Kitchen Benches

DIY Kitchen Benches that are easy to make, easy on your budget, and perfect farmhouse style!

Months before we moved into Old Salt Farm I started searching for kitchen stools. Our plans called for a big island that would fit our six kids, and I wanted stools that would be good for them, plus fit my farmhouse style and our budget. I ended up finding several stools I liked, but I just didn’t like them enough.

I started thinking about it some more, and realized that what I needed was a couple of kitchen benches instead of stools. Not only could I fit more kids on them, and based on previous experience, I knew they would be easier to clean than the individual stools we’d always had before. Plus, I could build them for a fraction of the cost, which in my book, is a win-win-win!

DIY KITCHEN BENCHES INSTEAD OF STOOLS

I absolutely love our kitchen benches. Like, I REALLY love them. They’ve proven to be everything I thought and hoped they would be. Super easy to clean, plenty of room for my kiddos to sit, darling farmhouse style, and cheaper than just about any other stool I found (and it adds up when you’re buying so many)!

This is a great DIY project, even for beginners. I’m going to show you how we made them, and give you a cut list plus plenty of pictures…after they were built. I wish I had more process pictures and specific bench plans to share, but we made these very quickly right before we moved, and it was just so crazy of a time. We were living in an apartment, all of our tools in storage, and someone very kind let us use an empty workshop at a factory to build everything for our home. But because we had to travel there, we rarely went together, and the pictures just didn’t happen. However…it’s a pretty easy plan, and I hope with the pictures and the cut list you’ll be able to see what we did.

We usually get our wood from The Home Depot, and then cut it at home. If you don’t have a circular saw at home, many of their stores will cut the wood for you, to the length you need, It’s worth asking about!

HOW TO BUILD KITCHEN BENCHES

CUT LIST–

Legs–

4×4 posts: 22 in. (4)

Top–

2x4x35 (4)

2×4 x13 3/4 (2)

Frame–

2x4x31 (2)

2x4x33 1/2 (1)

2x4x5 (4)

OTHER SUPPLIES

(Affiliate links are included below for your convenience. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.)

–Kreg pocket jig
–stain (this is what I used)
-lint free rags
–painters tape
-white paint (I used leftover wall paint)
–sander (this is an awesome one!)
-medium grit sandpaper
drill
paint sprayer

P.S. I get a lot of questions about the hooks on my island—here’s the link!

DIRECTIONS

-Start by building the “H” for each side: the two legs, and the short piece in the middle and at the top.

-Attach the two sides together with the long piece in the middle (that hooks into the bottom short pieces), and then the two pieces on each side at the top.

-Put the top together, then attach to the frame.

Use a Kreg jig (Kreg Pocket Hole Jig System) to drill pocket holes, and attach the pieces of wood to each other. If you don’t have one, get one. :) Seriously, if you want to build anything from frames to furniture, it’s the best and easiest way to do it. You can start out with one that’s only around $39 on Amazon, or check out your local hardware store to see what their prices are.

The top was attached using wood glue, and then nails for extra security. (thin nail head, but long enough to go through)

After the benches were built, I stained them (Provincial by Minwax), then taped off the top, and painted the legs and frame white. I didn’t use a primer, because I I knew the paint would cover well, and that I was going to sand some off and distress it afterward. You can use a paint sprayer to make it go a lot faster, use a brush, or even white spray paint. Once the paint was dry, I used a power sander to distress the legs and frame. The finally step was to stencil numbers on to the top of the benches—1, 2, 3 on one, and 4, 5, 6 on the other one. ( I used my Silhouette to cut out numbers, and then black spray paint.)

My kids each have a number that goes on just about everything, including their “spot” on the bench! I also sanded the numbers a little so they were more faded and distressed. If you want to add a coat of polyurethane on top you can, but I didn’t, and they’re still going strong five years later.

And you’re finished!

We absolutely LOVE them! It’s been five years since we built them, and they’re still going strong. They’re perfect for my kids, and I love them in my kitchen. So glad we built them!