Knife Drawer Retrofit

[Jim Becker]

For many years, our kitchen knives have been stored in a free-standing oak block-thingie that originally came with the cutters. Besides being a pain to clean, it also took up space on the counter/island and with the potential of school-aged children in the home in the next year, we were concerned with safety. So I decided to convert one of the larger drawers in the kitchen island to be a dedicated knife drawer and move the existing content to another drawer on the counter ell that was under-utilized. The supports are made from scrap 1/4" cherry left over from some resawing operation long ago...

At first, I was going to make the slots in the supports "custom" for each knife but with a bit of thought, I determined that would be a bad idea given we are slowing converting to Global knives (awesome!!) from the Chicago Cutlery set that I've had since the early 1970s. So I made the slots all identical and deep and then made minor support adjustments with easily removable blocks of wood for a few of the existing knives that didn't "behave" appropriately in the drawer. These blocks are only tacked with a tiny bit of CA and can be removed easily as the collection turns over.

One other thing remains for this drawer and that is the addition of a lock. I found what I need at Rockler, but don't want to order just one item right now, so I'll deal with that later when other things are needed from that vendor or I find one with a long enough core locally.

BTW, Dr. SWMBO recently bought a bread maker and the latest creation is show in the second shot...waking up to the smell of fresh bread on the weekend morning is a wonderful experience!!

[John Miliunas]

Jim, appears to be a simple, neat and effective solution! I agree that, anything to help reduce clutter on kitchen counters is a big plus! Nice job and thanks for the idea!:) :cool:

[Christopher Stahl]

Jim,
Even though I'm a Wusthof kind of guy, ;) I like your simple design that protects the knives and children that will be around. While I love to have the knife block nearby, I appreciate the design.

My friend was asking for something very similar, not too long ago. He has a nice collection of Henkels that he wants to keep safely in a drawer. We came up with alternating the knives, one forward and one back, blades facing down. Then adding labels to the sides of the dividers with the appropriate knife type. Finding the correct knife in the block sometimes takes a couple trys.

chris

[Jim Becker]

Chris, I thought about alternating as it could have taken less space in the drawer, but decided that easier access was more important...and it's a 16" wide drawer which is plenty enough room for about 12 knives.

BTW, try out the Globals when you have the opportunity...Williams Sonoma has them in the stores to try. Very light weight and they slice and dice incredibly. All metal design is also easy to keep clean. I've been seeing them used by more and more "TV chefs" lately, too, even without endorsements. Night and day over our older, but well maintained knives and we felt them more comfortable than other brands we tried. But it's a subjective thing... ;)

[Keith Christopher]

Jim,

Nice addition to the drawer. Having a history with dealing closely with knife makers, so shameful to see people just sling nice cutlery in a drawer then complain that they don't hold an edge. I like hanging mine on the wall with a magnetic bar. (pointy side down.) Though lately the Kyocera ceramic knives don't seem to stick too well. I like to see people take care of their knives. even old Chicago cuts from the 70's. (which BTW I bet serve you well still. :) )

[Darren Ford]

This is a nice project. I like the simple (elegant) solutions. The most amazing thing to me is that someone had an under-utilized drawer.

I couldn't help but notice the solid black floor, what type of floor covering is that?

[Joanne Adler]

Ahhh, I can smell that bread all the way down 413 in Newtown! Remind me to send you my brother's recipe for Weebee Bread. Awesome. And wholesome.

[Christopher Stahl]

Jim,
Yeah, it looks like you have plenty of room, so not an issue. :)

I have seen the Globals at Williams Sonoma down your way. Not only are they light and sharp, but they look pretty darn cool too. I have a collection of the Wusthofs with the white handles which I really love. It makes a world difference when you use great cutlery.

I was thinking about buying a Tormek to sharpen them :)

chris

[David Fried]

Jim,

As always, well thought out and well executed.

My knives are still in the wood block, consuming valuable counter space, with the empty spaces screaming "you lost a few!" I'm sure they're in the sandbox or the fort in the woods or something...

Would be nice to get them in drawer. :rolleyes:

I know your arrangement will work well as my step-father built something similar out of a scrap of 2x2 when I was growing up and it worked great. Arranging the knives the way you and he did prevented us from grabbing knifes by the blades when we were in a hurry. Can't imagine how much blood shed it saved!

Now all you need to do is child proof that drawer!!!

Dave Fried

[Glenn Clabo]

Jim,
Nice job...much nicer than the block. I wish we could give up our junk draw and do the same.

Our chef nephew is right now leaving the Fairmont Hotel Restaurant world to open a new place in Windsor, Ontario as Exec. He and I have had some real fun exchanging ideas and it's really a blast when he stops by. He's always asking me about Italian dish ideas...and I'm always asking him about everything else. He mentioned Globals a while back and I've tried them. Just old fashioned I guess but the metal in my hand just doesn't feel right. He thinks I'm crazy...but I also don't have to work 12 hours slicing and dicing so the weight isn't as important as feel for me. In fact DrLOML bought me my first hollow ground for my birthday...http://www.cutleryandmore.com/img/6089.jpg (http://www.cutleryandmore.com/large/6089.jpg) And it's sweet.

Also...in the frustrated chef train of thought...if you like books of art...check out -
The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller

[Mark Singer]

Jim,

Very nice! Practicle! We have the Global knives and like them a lot.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Great idea for a problem in most kitchens! I have filed that idea away for when we get around to remodeling ours! :)

[Arnie Grammon]

Thanks Jim......one more project to add to the list. I have often wondered what sort of nastiness is hanging around in those counter block knife units......eh.....well maybe I shouldn't think too much about it :o .

I've used Chicago Cutlery to bone out game meat for the last 30 years, and about cried when I found out CC had moved operations to China about 6 - 8 years ago. I really haven't thought too much about a knifemaker overhaul, but now you've got my mind going......hemmmm. Global, huh? Gotta check 'em out.

Arnie

[Jim Becker]

I couldn't help but notice the solid black floor, what type of floor covering is that?
The floor is full-thickness brick. The black is a 3' x 12' anti-fatigue mat that runs the length of the "galley" formed by the counter and island. It makes a huge difference when one is standing for prep-work and cooking. The brick is brutal on the feet, not only because it's hard, but because it's an uneven surface.


Ahhh, I can smell that bread all the way down 413 in Newtown! Remind me to send you my brother's recipe for Weebee Bread. Awesome. And wholesome.
All recipes cheerfully accepted!

[Dan Mages]

Very nice work on the drawer! I should look into a solution for my knives considering the minimal ammount of countertop space that I have.

I used to have a bread machine and I agree, it is quite nice to have a warm loaf of bread in the morning. But I have graduated from it and I am now using my stand mixer and kneading by hand. Kneading dough is a great cardiovascular exercise.

If you are looking for some great recipes, I reccomend you checking out King Arthur Flour's 200th Aniv. Cookbook and their All Purpose Cookbook. They are around 600 pages thick and have hundreds of recipes for you to try. They are also reasonably priced at around $20 each.

[Jim Becker]

Dan, I agree that rolling your own is the best way to make bread, but there is something nice about waking up to a fresh, hot loaf of something that appears "automatically"...<G> We have both of those books in our kitchen library, I believe...there are about 50 books as Dr. SWMBO is not inclined to pass on most of the best ones!

[Michael Stafford]

Jim, a very nice solution to organizing the knives and keeping them from banging against each other in the drawer. The drawer looks complete except for some band-aids. We always some keep band-aids in the knife drawer....

[John Weber]

Jim,

Nice job, but I doubt ours would ever stay so neat. Also CONGRATS on the adoption and best of luck with the process. Our kids are 2 & 5, and we have used these magentic catch cabinet locks for almost 5 years. They work very well despite losing a key or two:

http://images.rockler.com/Rockler/images/63164-lg.jpg

Should be available most everywhere. I'm not sure what you had in mind, but the system works great.

John