Gutting the piano: repurposed kitchen island pt 3. *video*
if you’re new to the piano, start here! This is part 3… here is: part one, two, four, five, six, seven
While conducting my tri-state search for a piano-into-kitchen-island, I have been simultaneously having an ongoing philosophical dispute with Paul, over the very meaning of the English language:
Paul defines a kitchen island as a practical workspace with excellent storage.
VS.
My credo that storage and practicality should be secondary to general awesomeness.
And that actually, EVERYTHING IN LIFE should be secondary to general awesomeness. (Even if later it explodes in your face.)
If you want to know who is “right,” ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LOOK AT THIS PHOTO.
Of course, as with all sophisticated philosophical disputes, one’s self is forced to a place of deep thought and introspection… and while there, I have asked Self the eternal and existential question posed by philosophers since time immemorial:
Do I really want a kitchen island that lacks functionality?
I have examined the deepest darkest corners of my soul, and this is the answer that resonates from within: NOPE.
Self has plenty of ideas for how to complicate this… and they all involve the space inside the piano.
ALERT:
Any piano conservationists out there will want to stop right here… Avert your eyes from the carnage that is about to happen.
DO NOT WATCH THE VIDEO!
Allow our destruction to shed light on the plight of these pianos! Go forth and find one for yourself! Save it! Restore it! Send me photos!
For the rest of you, how about a fifth of Beethoven?
Video — putting drawers into piano.
index of all kitchen renovation posts
April 28, 2015 @ 3:13 pm
Did anyone else spy the awesome white pedestal next to the stove in the video? More giant awesome fanciness in the kitchen? VEB-show us more please!!
April 28, 2015 @ 7:36 pm
Oh where, are the disco balls? Shouldn’t they be spinning above the island during B’s 5th???
April 28, 2015 @ 7:58 pm
This was surely faster and easier than the taking apart of the old player piano I witnessed a year ago. I got a lot of the pieces from it, which are still in my cornucopia of awesomeness (My HOA calls it a garage, but whatever…) waiting for me to turn it into whatever the heck super-cool thing I was going to create with it.
The point is, as I’m sure you understand, I NEEDED to possess it and now I do.
April 28, 2015 @ 8:46 pm
So…we’ll see all those keys in your Christmas decor post?
April 28, 2015 @ 9:00 pm
Wow, that internal piece with the piano keys attached would look amazing if hung on a wall. How heavy is it? The fact that it would look good is far more important than whether or not a wall could sustain the weight, but regardless, it is a minute detail that should be considered.
April 28, 2015 @ 9:06 pm
It’s so funny, I’d never contemplated using a square grand piano as a kitchen island before I read your post (truthfully I never knew such things existed before reading your post), but today I found a listing on my local craigslist website for a square grand piano *empty on the inside* for $300. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted. Then, of course, I remembered that I live in an apartment and the landlord won’t let me replace the preexisting peninsula with an object of giant fanciness….details, details.
April 28, 2015 @ 11:47 pm
I hope you install the innards on the opposite wall. What an intriguing art installation it would be! Love those Elvis paws!
April 29, 2015 @ 3:14 am
Too funny, Victoria!
I love Elvis’ playing as Paul dismantles The Beast. Hey, and now you can make back some more of your Craig’s List money by selling the piano wires/screw-thingys?!!
Happy storage creating,
Barb 🙂
April 29, 2015 @ 10:04 am
I hope you don’t hang the innards of the piano anywhere in your house!! Over done- I’ve seen it many times in hipster styling. Most folks have no idea how much it costs to redo and restore a piano. That is why I am guessing VEB wanted a non working piano. One that no one wanted to deal with. I love the idea of the piano kitchen island. Unfortunately VEB there will be many followers. You will be famous though:)
April 29, 2015 @ 1:06 pm
This will look spectacular with a big ol’ slab of white Carrara marble atop.
Those innards would make wonderful pieces for sculpture and art.
April 29, 2015 @ 6:59 pm
That is SO AWESOME! I literally gasped when the video ended. I can’t wait to see the results
April 29, 2015 @ 11:36 pm
Victoria, Do not EVER stop writing this blog!!!!!
That is all.
April 30, 2015 @ 12:52 pm
I don’t know HOW I didn’t expect the “Fifth of Beethoven” version, but it made me laugh out loud when the intro kicked over to the disco version. 😀
I thought I would have a hard time watching the gutting, but I realized that I just love seeing a piece of furniture used daily. Old pianos that haven’t been maintained can be extremely difficult to rehab back into functioning instruments (if not impossible). Love it and can’t wait to watch the kitchen unfold here on the blog.
April 30, 2015 @ 3:06 pm
Thanks for the warning. I’m not exactly a conservationist, but since the first image and the idea of destroying what remained of an irreplaceable and somewhat rare piano pretty much broke my heart…I appreciate that you didn’t just toss the video at the top of the page under some “Look at this repurposing awesomeness!” sort of teaser. 🙂
Next, please post a fabulous tutorial on how to make a glorious kitchen island from new components that looks as though it were a repurposed piano, so perhaps the square piano won’t be forever lost to the world, and you be the square-piano equivalent of those two guys who killed the last Greater Auk that ever existed on earth.
April 30, 2015 @ 7:31 pm
I’m guessing the logical choice would be to put drawers in the now vacant piano body. Could the keys be the drawer pulls? I’m not sure I would find that fancy enough myself, but it would be neat to work them in somehow…
May 1, 2015 @ 2:00 pm
What?!! No dancing!? The kitty cameo was darling though ……..
Michelle
May 1, 2015 @ 5:49 pm
How did you and Paul ever find each other?
That is a match made in heaven!!!
May 2, 2015 @ 3:13 pm
How absolutely glorious! Those legs, that wood, all those piano bits and pieces! I love reading the posts and watching the videos, but the comments and advice below them are also so great. Seriously, do you know how much of my life I’ve been spending reading and watching all this deliciousness? Well, not enough yet. 🙂 Can’t wait to see how this ends up.
May 8, 2015 @ 3:04 pm
What a great and awesome idea!! Can’t wait to see more!
May 14, 2015 @ 5:38 am
it’s going to be fantastic!