Either a piece of finished plywood or a solid stile and rail panel that will blend in better with the cabinet doors covers the back of the island. If the back will be a simple plywood finish and is too long to apply in one piece I will find the center of the cabinets and locate the seam there. The back of a cabinet will usually have some voids because the cabinets have a dado in the sides that the back panel is set into. These areas need to be filled so the seam will lay flat. I will rip a piece of wood the thickness needed and place it at the seam area and glue and pin nail it in place. If the back panel is made of thin plywood, like ¼ -inch, I will make sure there is similar backing every 16 inches so it will lay flat. Some cabinets will have voids along the bottom also and they need to be filled as well.

   After the back of the cabinets is prepared I will place the panel in place with one edge on the center line and make a pencil line along the backside where it overhangs the end of the cabinets. Then I cut it on this line and install it with glue and brad nails. The remaining panel is installed in the same manor. Molding supplied by the cabinet company will cover the seam and the corners.

   If there will be a seating area with an overhanging countertop over the back panel it will most likely need some corbels to help support the countertop. I will determine the locations of the corbels before I attach the paneling to the back of the cabinets and add some pieces to fill in the gap between the panel and the back of the cabinet. The corbels are clamped in place and I extend a line down the inside of the cabinet where the center of the corbel will be. I will run a couple screws through the back of the cabinet along this line through the filler piece, back panel and into the corbel.

   On more expensive cabinets there will be a stile and rail panel that will cover the entire back. It will usually come in one piece and be the correct length and will have finished edges. These cabinets will probably have finished end panels that cover the sides of the cabinets as well. Many times these panels will be made higher than the finished cabinet height. They will be constructed with a wider rail at the bottom than at the top so they need to be cut at the bottom to be fitted. This is because they need to be scribed to the shape of the floor anyway. With the panel, temporarily clamped in place, I set my scribe to the distance the panel overhangs the top of the cabinet and, with masking tape along the bottom of the panel, I scribe a line. I will cut to within 1/8 inch of the line with a jig saw, making sure the plate of the saw rides on the masking tape so it doesn’t scratch the finish, and then use the belt sander to get to the final line. These panels should be thick enough to be screwed in place from the inside. Any corbels that are needed will be installed in the same manor as the plywood panels.