Bob Jones 5443
11-11-2023, 11:25 PM
Reading Rick Potter’s recent thread about a kitchenette cabinet for his backyard cottage, I was struck with the coincidence.
I am just now embarking on making a breakfast bar for a just-finished 400 sq ft studio in our backyard. We’d ordered a 6 ft wide free-standing unit months ago with a soapstone countertop, but after waiting 12 weeks for delivery, the builder on the east coast went bankrupt. So, my wife assigned the build to me. Pressure’s on.
Here’s my plan. The space is 85” wide, and we can fit a 22” deep top. We bought a birch butcher block slab for the counter, 1-1/2” thick, 24 x 96”. I’ll make it built-in, wall to wall. We got a small bar sink and a dorm room-sized refrigerator, 20” x 22” x 32” high.
This is a first for me. I pulled Jim Tolpin’s Taunton Press How to Build Traditional Kitchen Cabinets from my dusty bookcase, and it has helped me visualize the project.
I’m thinking 3/4” birch plywood carcases with iron-on birch veneer edging, with two shaker doors in the center under the sink and four drawers on the right to balance the refrigerator on the left. I’ve recently settled on frameless carcases with full-overlay doors and drawer fronts. I’ll aim for about 5/32” to 3/16” clearance lines around the doors and drawers and use Blum cup hinges and Blumotion under mount drawer slides. The carcase itself will not be visible with the doors and drawers closed.
I’ll use solid birch M&T frames and birch ply panels for the doors and drawer fronts. Not sure yet what to make the drawer boxes with. I’ll probably go with 5/8” thickness and simple “1/4 1/4 1/4” joints modified to 5/16 5/16 5/16. I’m wary of warping so I’m even toying with the idea of 5/8” Baltic Birch for the drawers boxes. But we’ll see about that: knowing me I’ll probably opt for a decent secondary wood. I like to work with cherry, but with such light wood all around, I might even use clear pine.
Time to get crackin’. This week I hope to complete the cut list and bring home the lumber.
I am just now embarking on making a breakfast bar for a just-finished 400 sq ft studio in our backyard. We’d ordered a 6 ft wide free-standing unit months ago with a soapstone countertop, but after waiting 12 weeks for delivery, the builder on the east coast went bankrupt. So, my wife assigned the build to me. Pressure’s on.
Here’s my plan. The space is 85” wide, and we can fit a 22” deep top. We bought a birch butcher block slab for the counter, 1-1/2” thick, 24 x 96”. I’ll make it built-in, wall to wall. We got a small bar sink and a dorm room-sized refrigerator, 20” x 22” x 32” high.
This is a first for me. I pulled Jim Tolpin’s Taunton Press How to Build Traditional Kitchen Cabinets from my dusty bookcase, and it has helped me visualize the project.
I’m thinking 3/4” birch plywood carcases with iron-on birch veneer edging, with two shaker doors in the center under the sink and four drawers on the right to balance the refrigerator on the left. I’ve recently settled on frameless carcases with full-overlay doors and drawer fronts. I’ll aim for about 5/32” to 3/16” clearance lines around the doors and drawers and use Blum cup hinges and Blumotion under mount drawer slides. The carcase itself will not be visible with the doors and drawers closed.
I’ll use solid birch M&T frames and birch ply panels for the doors and drawer fronts. Not sure yet what to make the drawer boxes with. I’ll probably go with 5/8” thickness and simple “1/4 1/4 1/4” joints modified to 5/16 5/16 5/16. I’m wary of warping so I’m even toying with the idea of 5/8” Baltic Birch for the drawers boxes. But we’ll see about that: knowing me I’ll probably opt for a decent secondary wood. I like to work with cherry, but with such light wood all around, I might even use clear pine.
Time to get crackin’. This week I hope to complete the cut list and bring home the lumber.