Wide Rustic X Kitchen Island

Build each end: legs, top and bottom rails — noting the deliberate insets; outside and bottom are NOT flush — with pocket holes and glue. Drill 3/4" pocket holes facing up on the insides of the top rails now (the source's tip) for attaching the top later.

Fit the X into each frame: full diagonal first, then the half pieces meeting it. Glue and screws.

Connect the leg sets with the bottom aprons — set 3/4" up from the actual leg bottoms — and the 2x2 top aprons, leaving the drawer gap between the front pair. The source added a third 2x2 at the back 'to square things up now'; do the same, and check diagonals while you still can.

Install the three 1x12 verticals that form the drawer bays and shelf bay. The center partition must be exactly centered top-to-bottom and front-to-back — it's the reference every drawer measurement comes from, and the source's warning is blunt: off-center means cockeyed drawers forever.

Add the 1x10 backs behind the drawer bays.

Space the fourteen 1x3 slats evenly across the bottom shelf and nail them down. Install the two 1x12 shelves — pocket holes for fixed, shelf pins for adjustable; stockpots vote for adjustable.

Mount the 2x2 drawer cleats with TWO screws each — the plan promises adjustment, so leave yourself the adjustment. Rub the cleat tops with candle wax.

Measure between the 2x2s, subtract 1/4", and build each drawer box to that width (pocket holes on the fronts/backs' outsides — the faces hide them), 1x2 cleats on the box sides riding the waxed 2x2s. Fit, adjust, wax again, repeat until they glide. Set the boxes 3/4" inset for the faces.

Cut the 1x8 drawer faces to their openings with 1/8" gaps and attach with finish nails and glue (screws from inside after). Frame the top's underside edge with the 1x2 trim, then land the project panel and fasten through the pocket holes you pre-drilled in step 1.

Bolt on the casters — at least two locking, because a rolling island in a kitchen full of people needs a parking brake. Wax anything that still whispers, stain everything, and roll it into service.