If you have an old dresser sitting in a corner somewhere, you might want to think about repurposing it into something like this kitchen island. Most old dressers also come on wheels, which means you could easily move this thing around depending on how much space you actually need. To do so, all you really need are some hooks and a pre-fabricated towel holder. However, you could go a step further.
If you liked, you could purchase a premade butcher block and attach it to the top of the dresser. This would give you an even harder top to cut on, and you might not feel as bad using that dresser top as a cutting board.