Kitchen almost done

[Larry Fox]

Well, I am at the point where I am comfortable posting progress pictures of my kitchen project. It is about 90% complete with the remaining items being;

1) Kickspace trim
2) "Bridge" over the window
3) A glass door for the cabinet to either side of the window
4) A partition between the pantry doors
5) Crown molding (I have it, I just need to cut, finish, and install it)

I have been at it about 14 months now and based on my pace the past few weeks I estimate that the remaining items will take me about 2 more years. :) Seriously, I want to wrap them up within the next few weeks if I can get a break in the cold to spray finish. Also, there has been too much good football on lately to tear myself away. Go Colts!!!

Before I stand down the picture hounds I want to send out a sincere thank you to the wonderful crafts-people on this forum. There is absolutely no way that I would have been able to pull this off without the help, encouragement, knowledge, tips, (insert noun here) from the people here. There were times when I would post a question and receive helpful replies within minutes. With proverbial hat-in-hand - THANK YOU!!!

Critiques welcome. However, let me throw out the disclaimer that I am NOT a photographer - which will be obvious in some of the pictures.

Top-line information:

Wood: Cherry (narrow stuff from a score I made about 16 months ago, wide stuff from Hearne Hardwoods)

Finish: 2 coats of 2# dewaxed pale shellac from Homestead, 2 coats of WB Shellac from Target Coatings in Golden Red to add a hint of color, 3 coats of WB pre-cat Conversion Varnish from Target.

Hardware: Blum Clip-top Euro hinges, Accuride full-extension side-mount drawer slides. Knobs and pulls from Lowes (yeah, I was surprised too)

Boxes: 3/4" Pre-finished maple from Russell Plywood.

Face Frame and Box construction: Pocket Screws.

Enough of the boring stuff - pictures. :)

1) Before - very very bad - worse than it looks.

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2) Everything torn out with blocking in

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3) The Full Monty - just a wide shot

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4) The other wall

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5) A strange little cabinet that we refer to as "The Desk". The turnings here are from OsborneWoods. They are fantastic people to deal with and I worked with them to design these based on one of their stock patterns. I am very pleased with their work.

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I seem to recall a limit of 5 pics per item so I will continue in a reply.

[Larry Fox]

More pictures - thanks again for looking.

6) Sink Base

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7) Showing shelves next to window (the pic shows some artifacts in the picture that are simply not there when viewed in person - I am no photographer).

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8) Corner Cabinet

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9) Close up on end panel. Then end of a run on both the base and wall cabinets received this treatment.

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10) One showing some pull-out trays in the pantry cabinet. Apologies for the clutter in this pic - my wife was loading them as I collected my tools so the time between when the install was complete and they were full was measured in minutes. No opp for picture. :)

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L

[Hans Braul]

Larry, absolutely fabulous work. I love the warmth of the cherry. I think it's made the kitchen a completely different space.

We are currently considering building a house, or if we buy an existing house it may be one that requires renovation, like a new kitchen. How many hours did you put into this? What did you use for a kitchen while you did this?

Great job
Hans

[Glenn Clabo]

VERY nice work Larry...ya done good.

[Roy Wall]

Larry -

Add my echo on a terrific job! The cherry looks beautiful. The end details of the sink base are excellent....and the pantry is a great design with the 3/4 drawers underneath.
This should keep you out of the doghouse for some time....:p

Nice Work!!

[John Michaels]

The before and after is incredible. Lot's of great work.

[frank shic]

larry, that is an extremely professional looking job! i especially love the extended raised panels on the back of your cabinets - i'll bet that took a while, didn't it? what kind of drawers did you use? pocket screws? dovetails?

[Robert Goodwin]

Those are incredible. Very nice job!!!!!

[Frank Snyder]

You're almost there, Larry. You did a fantastic job! Especially on the finish coat. How you managed to get by without a functioning kitchen for 14 months is beyond me...my wife would've packed up and moved in with her mom if I took that long ;). It looks like it was worth every minute of it.

Congratulations!

[Steve Clardy]

Very nice Larry!!

[Chris Pasko]

Very nice work! Cabinets look great!

[Larry Fox]

Thanks for all the kind words. Some answers;

1) Hans: It it really tough to estimate the number of hours that went into them as this is my first set and there was a lot of learning to do along the way. I also have a fairly small shop so I had to break things up in stages which involved a lot of setup / teardown that a larger shop would not require. I pretty much worked on them about 12 hours total during the week and about 12 hours on the weekends (on average) the entire time. So, 14 months with an average of 4 weeks in a month so (4*24)*14 = 1344. So, I estimate about 1400. Again, there was a lot of learning, setup and finishing in there and that also includes all the inside work like tearout and drywall (which I am slow at). Point being, I think it took me a lot longer than it needed to.

2) Roy: You obviously don't know my wife - I have pretty much moved into the dog house. :)

3) Frank Shic: The end panels did take quite a while. Much more time than I thought they would. The drawers are maple with dovetails. They are machine cut though so they went fairly quickly.

4) Frank Snyder: I was actually only without a functioning kitchen for about a month. I built and assembled everything ahead of time and did the tearout only when I could go no further without it. However, I did the tearout around Thanksgiving - this did NOT please my wife. Not my finest hour in terms of planning.

[Roy Wall]

However, I did the tearout around Thanksgiving - this did NOT please my wife. Not my finest hour in terms of planning.

You are right....with that information I'd say you're in the Dog House for a long........cold..........winter!!!

Awesome Job regardless!

[Corey Hallagan]

Beautiful work Larry! I especially like that cabinet - desk piece. Nice work!

Corey

[Jim Becker]

Great job, Larry...a most excellent result!

[frank shic]

larry, that's great advice to anyone else who wants to build a set of kitchen cabinets: build the cabinets BEFORE the demolition! finishing does seem to take FOREVER which is why i'll only use either melamine or prefinished plywood in the future for cabinetry.

[James Manning]

Larry,

Great job on the cabinets, I love the cherry as well. The last house we had, I redone the entire house on the inside, every room got a make over and the kitchen was the hardest one to get done for the same reasons you listed. Unlike you I got mad one day and took a saw's-all and removed the entire kitchen (stove and all) while my wife was shopping with a friend. You should have seen the look on her face when she got home, let me tell ya it was on like donkey-kong in the Manning house-hold! After doing dishes in the bath-tub for six months and a few choice words now & again I finally finished the kitchen. Love has a way of working things out:) . So I can relate to your kitchen remodel, after a few months with friends and family googling over how great they turned out..........your wife will think you are superman again....!:)

Enjoy your beautiful kitchen.......you earned it!:D

[Lincoln Myers]

Nice work Larry, turned out GREAT! I have a similar sized kitchen in our house and have considered doing a remodel.

What are the dimensions of your kitchen, wall to wall?

P.S. Is there an eating area (table/chairs etc.) just behind (or in front of) the tall counter chairs? If so and you happen to have a pic from the kitchen showing that perspective, I'd be intereted in seeing it.

Thanks,

Linc

[Larry Fox]

Nice work Larry, turned out GREAT! I have a similar sized kitchen in our house and have considered doing a remodel.

What are the dimensions of your kitchen, wall to wall?

Lincon, as strange as it may seem, I don't really know. However, I will try and take a measurement tonight and post it back.


P.S. Is there an eating area (table/chairs etc.) just behind (or in front of) the tall counter chairs? If so and you happen to have a pic from the kitchen showing that perspective, I'd be intereted in seeing it.


There is an eating area there but there are no table and chairs there anymore. It used to be our primary place to sit down and eat but my wife wanted to extend the countertop out an additional 8" to create a little "bar" type number with the stools that you see. Part of the deal was that I wanted the table removed as that beat-up old sliding door that you see is the primary way in and out of the house for now and it would have been way too crowded. As such, we eat in the dining room. Do you still want a picture?

[David Cramer]

Those cabinets turned out BOSS! Nice job and the finish looks stunning! It looks like the finish you'd find on :) "fine furniture":) , not kitchen cabinets. Super job and something to be proud of for years to come. Kudos!!

Dave

[Jon Shively]

Great job Larry. And this coming from a guy that tore out his wife's kitchen a couple of years ago. Upper cabinets still to be completed. Wish I had your foresight!! Beautiful. Pantry shelves what I am planning, any comments on the hardware, what to get, what to stay away from? Like others have said, beautiful furniture.

[Lincoln Myers]

Lincon, as strange as it may seem, I don't really know. However, I will try and take a measurement tonight and post it back.
Thanks Larry


...Do you still want a picture?
If it's not too much trouble; I think it'd still give me an idea of how such a "cabinet extension island" would feel in our space.

Thanks again,
Linc

[Larry Fox]

Jon, on the pantry shelves they are 22" Accuride full-extension, 200# rail-mount slides (I can dig up the exact model if you like). They are very easy to install and are smooth as silk. They actually seem to slide smoother the more weight my wife puts in them. I am happy with them but I will say that the "height" of them is close to 3" and the trays are only 3 1/4" tall so they just about completely cover my dovetails.

[Larry Fox]

Lincoln, measurements are 136" across (measured from wall with window on it to other wall) and 122" deep.


If it's not too much trouble; I think it'd still give me an idea of how such a "cabinet extension island" would feel in our space.

Thanks again,
Linc

Picture of the former eating area. Sorry about the hound, he refuses to move whenever there is a camera about. That sliding door is next on my hit-list.

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[Lincoln Myers]

I really appreciate you taking the time, and good looking hound too :)

[Greg Funk]

Beatiful job Larry!

It looks like quite a few of the panels are bookmatched. Did you resaw some of the wood for those? Also how did you finish the cherry?

thanks,

Greg

[Steve Bagi]

Great work Larry. The finish really makes that cherry sing. Nice layout too.

What's next on the Honey-Do list?

Steve