The 100 year old Kitchen Cabinet

Beautiful cabinet! I’ll bet that looks fantastic in your kitchen.

There was a similar cabinet in my parent’s basement when I was growing up, and it hadn’t been terribly abused. Unfortunately, the basement got five feet of water from Hurricane Agnes in the early 1970s and the cabinet just crumbled. The only thing that we salvaged from the basement was a six-foot-long wood chest that had been in my grandparent’s kitchen when my father was growing up. The lids show the wear of children’s butts since dad and his brothers used it as their seats at the table. That chest is now in my dining room.

-- John, co-owner Sawdust 'n Stitches

That my friend is STUNNING! My wife also likes that type of thing. I’m no letting her see this.:)

wow, heck of a restoration! :)

-- Adventure? Heh! Excitement? Heh! A Woodworker craves not these things!

if she’s happy….all LJ’s are happy! :)

-- George..." I love the smell of a workshop in the morning!"

Wow, I bet it’s worth more than the $8.95 price in the catalog! Do you have any pictures from before the restoration?

-- Cody Crisp

Very nice restoration.

Welcome to LJs.

CtL

-- Chris L. "Don't Dream it, Be it."

I’m embarassed to admit, I didn’t take any “before” photos.

Boy, do I feel stupid!

d

-- The best things in life aren't THINGS.

From the advertisement ad it looks like it was quartersawn oak.

oh to have this in my kitchen!!!!!

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Ms Deb, I’ve got a oak kitchen Hoosier with flour sifter and frosted pattern glass doors. It needs to be refinished, but the good part is that it was never painted. Someday I need to either refinish it or sell it, it’s been sitting in the basement for 20 years. I have another one that is oak and was painted and not quite as nice that I refinished back down to the bare wood, stained, and finished about 15 years ago, that sits in the kitchen now. I guess the reason I never got around to refinishing the other one is I want to do it when I feel comfortable enough to do it without damageing the frosted glass. I have refinished alot of old furniture over the years, so it’s not that refinishing is the problem.

you have a kitchen Ms Debbie well I wish I had a kitchen my wife cooks out of an old cardboard box.Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Beautiful work Don, I like the old toaster on the top it fits nicely. Exactly how many tools is a restoration like that worth to the wife?

-- Paul--- Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. — Scott Adams

Woodchuck,
I know the illustration in the catalog looks like oak, but the actual unit is maple where it shows and poplar inside and underneath.
Refinishing furniture with glass parts shouldn’t be any different from other refinishing projects. Just remove the glass first. Look carefully in the back of the glass where it’s fastened. Variously you may find clips, moldings or whatever that can be gently removed. In the rare case where the glass was glued in with caulk, it needs to be cautiously sliced with a sharp carton knife. Work slowly and be careful. In the event that the glass breaks, a good glass shop will be able to match it with new stuff.
If you can, take a close up photo of the glass where its fastened in and post it here. I think many of us would be able to give some good advice about removing it.
Paul,
Marge buys me tools all the time. If she bought me another major tool I’d have to sell something to make room for it.
Remember, the Outback has to be garaged EVERY night! ;-)

d

-- The best things in life aren't THINGS.

The glass is held in with 1/4” oak molding, nailed. I know it’s probably going to be a slow process, but then again maybe not, I don’t know yet. But I do know that the glass would be fairly expensive to replace, there is a pattern that is etched into the glass, and if I can’t get one panel of glass to match perfectly, color also, then I’m pretty much committed to replaceing all 4 panels.

Woodchuck.. be still my heart!
I saw a cabinet at an antique store. The wanted $1200 for it.

Scotsman: I count my blessings every day.

This is a cabinet that I do have. It was my parents (when they had only boxes for a kitchen). It’s really “cheap” but it’s family history. It was cut in half at one point and has been in my basement for years. When I started gathering antique items for my kitchen I brought it up from the basement and cleaned it up as best as I could.

If only I had donbee’s skills to rejuvenate it.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)