metal island

It turns out the steel place had my stainless sheet cut yesterday, so I went and picked it up today along with the J-channel stuff. The J-channel was a bitch to cut- at first I tried doing it with my table saw, which I knew was a stupid idea because I don't have the right kind of blade, and it mangled an end. I then resorted to plan B which was to use my 7 1/4" circular saw (which I do have the correct blade for). Even with that, it still needed some touch up with a Dremel rotary tool. The corner angle cuts aren't perfect, but the imperfections aren't very noticeable. I presume there's a power tool more appropriate for cutting this stuff, but whatever it is, I don't have one.

Once I had the J-channel pieces cut, I clamped them in place and rather unscientifically whacked the sides until there was just enough room for the 3/4" trim pieces to overlap tightly- I used a small scrap of 3/4" trim, but as you'll see soon, there will be mahogany side pieces. Once clamped in position, I drilled 1/16" holes and nailed them in place using small flat-headed nails:

Once I had the J-channel pieces on the sides and bottom, I had to remove the protective backing from the stainless sheet, and that was some work- that stuff is REALLY on there. It's just plastic, and I used soapy water, which helped a little, but it took some time and muscle. Once that was in I just dropped it in from the top, and miraculously, my measurements were correct.  There's a sort of dent- it's wide, but very subtle (you can sort of detect in the pic in the way that the reflection curves at the top left), and will likely be totally hidden by countertop that's going to overhang by 15".