Did a kitchen reface. Changed over plywood doors with 50's hardware to raised panel Sapelle' doors with antique brass knobs and bin pulls.
Before:
After:
[OP]
Member
Did a kitchen reface. Changed over plywood doors with 50's hardware to raised panel Sapelle' doors with antique brass knobs and bin pulls.
Before:
After:
[OP]
Member
Very nice! What a difference.
Excellent workmanship!
[OP]
Member
The camera can't really show the shimmeriness of the wood. It is truly alive looking. The chatoyance of the wood is one of the really nice aspects of Sapelle'.
Member
Sure blame it on the camera.... its not the camera it the person behind it... right.....
Like all your work that I have ever seen, they look just outstanding. I am sure the customer lover them.
I am just about ready to try a raised panel.... maybe..... before lone....
[OP]
Member
Well Bill, I didn't blame it on the camera, you can see the shimmering of the wood in the 3rd "after" picture and on the small island drawer front. If it were a digital camera and you could move around you would see how the grain sparkles and flips around as you move your perspective. Also, look at the 1st "after" picture at the two doors above the microwave. The upper and lower rails of the doors look badly mis matched. But they aren't, it is just the way the wood looks as your orientate your perspective to the grain of the wood and where the light is coming from.
For those who may not know, Bill and I met on a camera forum a few years ago. I like to think I peaked his interest in woodworking as I displayed my projects on that forum.
Last edited by Leo Graywacz; 08-09-2009 at 4:17 PM.
Member
Beautiful job. Looks great.
Member
Mine currently like the before's and need to look like that great set of after's. What a difference..
Well done...
Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler
Member
i actually saw an article from a 50s home/garden magazine, kinda like a post WW2 HGTV type thing, where they recommended gluing plywood over a proper raised panel door and painting the whole thing to 'modernize' the look.
so don't do it john! cause in 30 years someone will have to go to the trouble of gluing plywood over those panels to make them look cheaper and 'updated'.
Contributor
Very nice looking update Leo.
Contributor
Very nice,Leo. Those raised panel doors are beautiful. I have a similiar project looming and was leaning toward Cherry but after seeing that Sapele, I may have to rethink my choice of wood. Hope you don't mind me asking questions, but in your neck of the woods, how does Sapele compare to Cherry pricewise? And what kind of a finish did you use?
[OP]
Member
Both Cherry and Sapelle' run around $4.50 bf for me the way I get it. Skip planed 15/16" w/a SLR edge. The only finish I have on it was a clearcoat (MLC MagnaMax). You have to specify flat sawn for the Sapelle' or they will send you ribbon striped (quarter sawn).
I always get my Cherry in cabinet grade which gets me a lot more red and very little sap wood. I also order most of my woods 6"-8" in width and 11-13' lengths. This can effect the pricing that you get.
Member
Wow...Great looking kitchen. Did you use a PSA for the cabinets behind all the doors? I have a very dated kitchen and have been thinking about updating it before I sell.
I have a kitchen with white melamine doors and very dark cabinets. I really like the look of the sapelle...but I am also partial to cherry but I am worried about putting new lighter doors on very dark cabinets.
Again, great job on the kitchen.
Greg
[OP]
Member
I cut the veneers myself on the tablesaw and glued them on with silicone. Slow, but it matched very well. The plywood sides I did for the island and side of the uppers near the windows needed to be bleached because the plywood with a clearcoat was about 2 shades darker than the solid. Took a bit of experimenting to get the right shade, but I hit it pretty close.
OK, here are a few pics of the bleach samples that I did.
All the formulas are listed as a ratio of part A : part B : water
Starting from the top
On the left is the plywood with 2 coats of lacquer on the right is a full strength bleach 1:1:0
2nd down is right: > 1 coat of lacquer left 1:1:16
3rd down is right: > 1 coat of lacquer left 1:1:8
4th down is right: > 1 coat of lacquer left 1:1:6
the 3rd one is what I went with. It lost some of the redness of the wood and I toned it, still a bit yellower than the doors but matches the corner pcs that will be resting on top of the plywood.
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