Project Plan - Kitchen Island/Entertainment Piece

[Brian Lindahl]

I had to tackle a small space to work with for a kitchen/living room, so I'm ripping out the dividing wall and creating my own island to seperate the two spaces. I really wanted to customize the piece of furniture/cabinetry to get the most functionality out of it. On the living room side, it stores a 32" TV, a receiver and an XBox (which plays DVDs), it also stores a computer for video editing and recording (my wife's work). It's wired for two circuits, one for the kitchen countertop (think blender / toaster oven) and one for the electronics for the living room side. There's also space for audio cables to run out underneath the island to hook up to surround sound on the living room side. Due to the large variance in equipment size, the drawers and shelving spacings are only semi-symmetric.

First of all, I'm pretty much a novice when it comes to wood-working, but I do have a little bit of architectural background and sufficient skills in engineering. Basically, I'm asking for judgements in the wood-working areas - how easy would this be to build? How much would I be looking at for a carpenter to build per my design? What measurements should I change to make it more wood-friendly or cabinet-friendly? What measurements should I change to use more standard-sized pieces of stock wood? How much would it cost to have a carpenter cut the pieces I need (I would assemble)?

I'm looking for furniture builders to give me pointers on things I should change, like modifying the shelf heights and boarder piece thicknesses. For the cost questions, I'm looking for ballpark figures - no need to be precise.

Here's a website link to the schematics:
http://www.cathyleproject.com/Island/Island.htm

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian....Welcome to the 'Creek. I like your design! There are others here....possibly Todd or Kelly, one of the "SMC Twins" and others who are experienced contractors who can better provide the information you need. Again....Welcome to the 'Creek!

[Jamie Buxton]

Brian ---
That's an entirely feasible project, and you seem to have a pretty good intuition about the fundamentals of cabinetry. However, gauging from your drawing and your questions, I think there's lots more you would do well to learn. I suggest you read a book about building built-in cabinets. A good one is Built-in Furniture by Jim Tolpin, published by Taunton Press, and there are others. A book will give you more knowledge in one big organized chunk than the little drips and drabs you'll find in on-line forums.

Jamie