Galaxy Pistachio Green Square Post Cabinets

This finish lists three posts with a square section, all at displayed prices:

One title gives a section and no height, the next a height and no section, and the third is filed with the pilasters although it is shaped like a post. None of that is a problem once you ask, but it has to be asked before the island is drawn, because a three-inch leg and a chunkier pier make two different pieces of furniture. Thirty-six inches is the height of a standard counter off the floor, which is why the two 36-inch parts are the natural fit for an island at counter height.

An island in a contrasting colour is already being asked to read as a separate object. The perimeter is architecture — it lines the walls and runs to the ceiling — while the island sits free in the room with people on all sides of it. Paint it a different colour and you have told the eye it is a piece of furniture. Posts at the corners finish the sentence, because furniture has legs and cabinetry does not.

That is why the combination feels right, and it is also the test for whether you need posts at all. If the island is the same finish as the perimeter, posts are an ornament on a run of cabinets. If it is the only green thing in the room, they are part of what makes the colour look intended rather than bolted on. The green cabinets guide covers the island-only scheme and the perimeter finishes that sit well behind it.

The mistake we catch most often on two-tone quotes is not a wrong cabinet. It is a small part ordered in the wrong finish, because the trim list got built from the perimeter order and the island was added afterwards. With a green island, everything that touches the island comes from the green order:

Two consequences. The toe kick is ordered twice, once in each colour, and a stick of the wrong one cannot be repainted to match on site without it showing. And the touch-up kit is a per-finish item too: a kitchen with two finishes needs two kits, or the first chip on the island gets touched up in white. Finished backs and ends are explained in cabinet skin panels and gables, including which one to use where the seating side of the island faces the room.

An island has two kinds of corner. On the working side, the corners are the ends of cabinet runs — the cabinet box goes right to the corner and a post there is applied against it. On the seating side, the counter usually overhangs the cabinets by a foot or more, and the corners of the counter are out in the air. Those two positions produce different looks.

• Two posts, under the overhanging corners on the seating side. The counter reads as a table top with its front legs showing and the cabinets tucked behind. This is the most convincing furniture look for the money: two GPG SP36 for $851.50.
• Four posts, one at every corner. Stronger and more formal, and it only works if the two working-side posts can stand without blocking a drawer or a dishwasher door at the end of the run. Four GPG SP36 come to $1,703.00; four of the slimmer SP3X3 to $1,378.00.
• No posts, and base pilasters on the island ends instead. Flat, cheaper and taking no floor at all — two GPG PP-BASE for $455.00. This is the right call on a small island in a tight room; see the pilaster page.

A post under the overhang takes no aisle space, because it stands within the counter line. A post that projects beyond the counter edge does, and around an island the aisle is the dimension to protect: the island clearance guide has the working widths. Whether anything under a deep overhang needs structural support is a question for the stone fabricator, not for these parts — treat them as decorative unless we have confirmed otherwise in writing.

Every other painted surface on an island is up out of harm’s way or protected by the toe kick’s recess. A post comes all the way down to the floor at the corner, which is precisely where stool legs, vacuum heads, mop buckets and shoes arrive. Expect the bottom few inches of a post to take more knocks than any door on the island.

Three habits keep that manageable. Wipe spills at the base of the post rather than letting mop water sit against it, since end grain and joints are where moisture gets into any painted wood part. Put felt pads on the stools, which is the cheapest protection the island will ever get. And keep the touch-up kit where you can find it: a small chip dealt with in the first week disappears, while the same chip left for a year collects grime and needs more than a dab. General cleaning advice is in how to clean and care for kitchen cabinets.

One colour note belongs here. On a white island a small chip tends to read as roughly the right colour from across the room. On a mid-tone sage, anything showing through reads as a mark of a different tone against the field, which is why the green order’s touch-up kit is worth the $62.40.

Confirm the height of SP3X3 and the section of SP36 and SQP36. Decide two posts or four and mark them on the island plan against the overhang. List every island part in the green order — posts, ends, toe kick, touch-up — and every perimeter part in the other. Then put both orders on the same drawing so the counts agree. The free 3D design service will draw the island with its posts in plan and elevation; a designer replies within one business day and the full design and quote follow in 24 to 48 hours.

Every post and panel is listed on the decorative accessories page, and the finish itself is on the collection page. If you would rather talk the island through, call us.