Cabinet doors and drawer faces are all made from Northern Saskatchewan pine purchased at Love, Saskatchewan. Counter top is ceramic tile. Upper cabinet doors are all glass with pine frames. We are really happy with this configuration. The 6" island with birch chopping block top, not pictured here is on rollers. It is awesome to be able to roll it out of the way for mopping up.
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I found quite a few illustrations online for building drawers. This was one task I felt a little intimidated by as I had never built a set of drawers. I used the first drawer as my prototype. The drawer worked out perfectly so I cut all of the pieces for the rest of the drawers to save time setting and re-setting the saw. Everything went well with the Kreg jig as a fastening default. After all of the drawers were sanded and varnished I attached self closing drawer sliders. Getting the sliders working smoothly was a piece of cake for all but one drawer. One of my dividers was a little out of square, but I managed to adjust the sliders to make things work. It might seem like a small thing to someone who has purchased a set of ready made cabinets, but every time I open and close one of these drawers I take special delight in how good they look and how smoothly they operate.
It has been some time since my last post so I will attempt some catch up. The kitchen is still a work in progress. Over the winter, I have learned a great deal about building cabinets and doors. The carcasses are all built with 5/8" birch plywood and fastened with a Kreg jig. This was a really simple process once I got set up. The tricky part was ripping the 4x8 sheets of plywood into manageable widths. I'll remember to get the sheets cut at the lumber store next time to make my life easier. Everything is to be finished in pine, with glass in the upper doors.
Maple flooring runs all the way to the basement now. I think I have a pretty good handle on how to lay out the treads and risers. The lower flight went faster.
This past weekend was overcast and drizzly, so I spent most of the time indoors working on getting the pile of maple flooring on the basement landing to disappear. I built "custom" stair nosing Saturday morning and then glued down the treads in the afternoon. This will be a bit of an experiment with the bottom treads as I ran out of construction glue and resorted to a different product called "no more nails". The top image shows where the project was at at the end of Saturday. The next image was taken Sunday afternoon. Next weekend I'll tackle the remaining flight to the basement.
I built a set of shutters this morning after looking through a variety of styles online. Most of the images were for decorative purposes but I needed to have something functional to secure the walkout basement windows. I came up with something that looks pretty good and offers security at the same time. I used some leftover v-groove pine along with some hinges I had ordered last summer from Lee Valley Tools. I decided to make a face frame to raise the doors away from the glass and to provide a solid mounting platform. I thought about gluing the tongue and groove joints but ended up simply screwing a batten at the top and bottom of each door. To mount the hinges I had to add a block so they could lay flat when closed. I used some birch plywood scraps instead of pine to avoid splitting. I am pleased with the look and functionality. The last steps will include applying the same oil/stain as the siding, and finding a lock system that compliments the design. I have been building carcasses for the kitchen cabinets out of 3/4" birch plywood. I discovered that using a Kreg jig to make pocket holes simplifies the process. The jig kit was around $50 and I see the value of this jig every time I fasten a box together. The joints are tight and strong. Almost all of the window boxes are finished now. I used four coats of water based diamond varathane. Sanding between coats seems to bring out more luster and results in a very smooth surface. I'll need to purchase more pine to complete finish molding around the walls. The stairs have four finish coats of water based Diamond Varathane Nano Defence with sanding between each coat. The surface is a little slippery, but what a great feeling to navigate these stairs. I appreciate the natural beauty and warmth every trip up or down. |
AuthorTed Green Archives
April 2018
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