Breadboards

[Rick Potter]

I have seen a few posts on cutting boards, but I am curious to know if I am the only one left who wants to put built in breadboards in a new kitchen?

I realize it is probably out of style, but sooo convenient.

So....does anyone doing cabinets use them anymore??

Rick Potter

[Darrin Vanden Bosch]

Years ago when we built our house I did the cabinets and did not make breadboards. Well I still hear about it from the little woman.
So I'd say go with the breadboards, or you might be hearing about it for a long time.
Darrin

[Pat Germain]

The houses I grew up in all had breadboards. They are really cool. I was under the impression they typically aren't installed anymore purely for cost. The vast majority of kitchen cabinets these days are or the mass-produced MDF variety. Adding just one, solid hardwood breadboard would add a lot to the cost. Also, it takes some actual woodworking to make a breadboard. You can't just staple it together like the rest of mass-produced cabinets.

I'm wondering if breadboards might have also gone away due to sanitation concerns. I know in the 80's everybody thought plastic cutting boards were the way to go. As we've discussed here many times, wooden cutting boards have been found to be as sanitary as plastic; possibly even more so due to the antibacterial properties of the wood.

So, maybe it's time for the breadboard to make a comeback. Who cares what the trends are. If I was making kitchen cabinets, I would install a breadboard.

[frank shic]

it's hard to keep a breadboard from sagging especially when it's being used and what do you do about crumbs?

[Paul Girouard]

Sure once in awhile folks want a built -in breadboard.

You just have o work out where and how, you can make it work.

I generally use a solid wood continuous pull with the hook / finger pull side down.

I prefer to build euro style cabinets , but I do face frame cabs s well if folks are set on them.

This cabinet has a wide bread board pull out , it's a folding table really.

It takes some figuring to get the BB to NOT be tippy , and also you need a way to prevent it from being pulled out to far so it falls out onto the floor, BUT you also need to make it , sort of easy , to be removed for cleaning. Which only happens once in awhile in real life.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/Nov19.jpg


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/Nov193.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/Nov192.jpg

This one made of plywood and is finished with a Aqua Spar water borne varnish , again it's a folding table by a dryer , for folding clothes on.

IF it where a cutting brd. it would be oiled with Mineral oil and be made of wood.

I don't have any photos of how I do the runners , and it's to complicated to describe in this format. But the continuous pull is the key part to a smooth operating easy to use Built-in B/B.


Here's better view of the pulls used in normal operation.

[frank shic]

paul, great job on those cabinets! i particularly like the inset shaker doors. lately i've been thinking about how frameless/euro cabinetry shares many features of traditional shaker furniture which maximizes usable space and simplifies construction.

how did you cut out the scallop on the pullout fronts? band saw/router template? did you build the cabinet as one or two cabinets?

[Paul Girouard]

paul, great job on those cabinets! i particularly like the inset shaker doors. lately i've been thinking about how frameless/euro cabinetry shares many features of traditional shaker furniture which maximizes usable space and simplifies construction.

how did you cut out the scallop on the pullout fronts? band saw/router template? did you build the cabinet as one or two cabinets?



Thanks Frank.

They really are full overlay doors with a finish end panel on the left side and a scribe strip built out / made as a "L" and installed to give that flush inset "look" . Pretty clever eh :)

I jig sawed them out IIRC. I just laid it out , cut the first one cleaned it up with the oscillating sander then used it as a template to mark the others.

To get the shape "right" pleasing to the eye I don't do much template making as I seldom do the same exact size cabinet over and over again. If you tried to just use one size cut out on different sized drawer boxes you'd get "odd / bad looking/ no pleasing the eye" results.


It's two boxes , one above the other , the "break" is just above the pullout tray. The upper doors overlay the lower cabinets top cleat.

[Rob Sack]

I have been building kitchen cabinets for over twenty five years, and probably haven't done a conventional cutting board for the last twenty years. They definite were convenient, but required a top rail 3"+, which meant continuing this rail around the kitchen on all the base cabinets. They also were almost always only 3/4" thick. What I have done in the recent past is to build a glued up solid maple cutting board 11/2" thick, mounting it to full extention drawer slides or dedicated cutting board slides that have a detent in the pulled out position. This is then installed in a drawer opening as high as possible and as close to the sink as possible. Directly underneath the cutting board, I install a drawer that is shorter in height than adjacent top drawers, but has a standard top drawer face that covers the cutting board and drawer directly below it. With all the drawers closed, the kitchen drawer faces are consistent in height. When you pull open the "special drawer," you than can pull out the "hidden" cutting board, which slides over the drawer below. The advantages: no oversized top rail on the base cabinets, a thick solid maple cutting board, and consistently sized top drawer faces.

[frank shic]

paul, very clever indeed! applying a finished end panel beats trying to fuss with the inset door reveals. i did the same thing when i built my wife's office desk recently.

i can definitely see the utility in a pullout shelf for folding laundry but the appeal of a pullout breadboard still escapes me when you factor in how to prevent the crumbs from either falling on to the floor or into the cabinet when you close the breadboard.

rob, got any pictures? i think i know what you're talking about but you know what they say...

[Paul Girouard]

i can definitely see the utility in a pullout shelf for folding laundry but the appeal of a pullout breadboard still escapes me when you factor in how to prevent the crumbs from either falling on to the floor or into the cabinet when you close the breadboard.

rob, got any pictures? i think i know what you're talking about but you know what they say...



I didn't say it was good idea :D but the customer is always right . If they insist I build it. Another thing I dislike are those tip out sink fronts to store the nasty sponge or dried up Brillo pad. The hardware stinks , the idea of "added storage" for the afore mentioned nasty items is a waste and the drawer front / tip out front is ALWAYS mis-aligned!

That and pocket doors! Another bad idea people want to work perfect , but seldom do.

I've used a similar set up to what Rob posted about , some one sells a hardware that the cutting board rides on top of the knife drawer and tips / rocks up , and locks in place. To many moving parts to many screws to loosen , to much going on.

Life is a compromise , as are some funky parts / ideas of clients and trinkets / wiz bang gizmo's for kitchens :D


Check out rev-a shelf's selection of cutting board stuff ,

http://www.kitchensource.com/cutting-boards/rv-cuttingboards.htm?utm_id=1101


Combination Knife Holder/Cutting Board http://www.kitchensource.com/cutting-boards/images/rv-4kcb-s1.jpg (http://www.kitchensource.com/cutting-boards/rv-cuttingboards.htm?utm_id=1101#)
Click to view larger image (http://www.kitchensource.com/cutting-boards/rv-cuttingboards.htm?utm_id=1101#)


http://www.kitchensource.com/cutting-boards/images/rv-4kcb-s.jpg (http://www.kitchensource.com/cutting-boards/rv-cuttingboards.htm?utm_id=1101#)
Shown here: Knife Cutting Board Combo
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Knife rest
Cutting board (vegetable oil treated)
Full extension Accuride (http://www.kitchensource.com/cutting-boards/rv-cuttingboards.htm?utm_id=1101#) slides
Mounting hardware and screws
Available finish: Wood

RV-4KCB-18 - Designed for 24" cabinets
Adjustable depth brackets included
14½"W x 4½"H$194.45 Sale $148.13 + Free s/h Stock (http://www.kitchensource.com/cutting-boards/rv-cuttingboards.htm?utm_id=1101#) RV-4KCB-21
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Here's the best one IF you don't store your trash can under the sink ,


http://www.kitchensource.com/cutting-boards/images/rv-4dmcb-l.jpg

[frank shic]

at last, paul has presented probably the most elegant solution to the breadboard problem - an entirely detached breadboard that fits in the cabinet door lol!

you know what though? i find myself using the sink-tipout every day to stow away my wive's annoying purple nitrile gloves although i agree that the hardware was a major pain to install. i'll have to try using european hinges next time.

here's another extremely time consuming idea from the brains at blum:

[Paul Girouard]

At the last cabinet shop I worked at we started using Blum hinges and a small chain for tip outs. Bore the false front like a door and mount a receiver cleat on the stretcher. Worked better than the tip out hardware.

That last rig you showed would only work IF the sink where smallish , or the base cabinet over sized. Both options would be a hard sell IMO.

[Rick Potter]

Great input and some really good ideas guys. There is no doubt about my putting in the breadboards. SHE has spoken, and will probably get more than one, like one near the sink and one near the fridge.

I really liked the idea about the drawer with the hidden breadboard, I already have ideas about how to adapt it to our kitchen project.

About the tip out at the sink. In my previous kitchen (face frames and traditional exposed hinges), I did it somewhat like posted above with self closing hinges and a simple brass chain. I tried the tip out hinge sets they sell, but they always seemed balky, and I replaced it with the above.

Thanks,
Rick Potter

[Ken Dolph]

It is funny that you mention this. Until this year, I had only seen one built in cutting board. Then I have had manu calls to make custom replacements for the hardwood builtins out of Corian. I don't know that i would have them but the customers love them. One was 38"x24"x 3/4". What a beast.

Ken

[frank shic]

ken, how do you keep such a LARGE piece of corian from sagging? that's about the size of a cabinet end panel!!!

[Ken Dolph]

We added a 1/4"x3" strip all around the 1/2" Corian and down the center to build it up to the thickness of the original board 3/4". It would not have sagged if it were onl supported on the ends. It would have supported my weight easily. However the cabinet maker had also installed a center support top and bottom inside the opening.

Ken