Its all 3/4 veneer core cabinets with maple veneer on exposed surfaces and the backs are 1/2” of the same specie and all surfaces including those not seen are covered with three coats of lacquer.

The face framing and doors are painted hard maple and the island is cherry.

face frames are all haunched joined as are the upper glass doors, the rest are of the doors are mortise and tenon with applied bead moulding and hung with solid pewter butt hinges. Drawers are hard maple, dovetailed on solft close tandems.

Green granite, taupe in colour on the painted cabinets and a solid slab of 1 1/2” x 12’ x 5’ marble will grace the island.

Everything had to be barged in and I will take more pics when everything is done.

the tall 10’ cabinets will get a stainless steel bar attached to the 3” rail just under the upper glass doors which will suspend a custom made stainless steel ladder much like you see in a libraery. Viking and Bosch built in appliances, sinks.

All of it had to be barged over 30 miles via water.

It was the most complicated jig saw puzzle I have ever built to date and thankfully, it fit with surgical precision

Cheers

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face frames are all cockbeaded by hand, drawers on full extension slides, small bead mold around doors and drawers and the one upper door has a cork panel.

The desk top will be granite and the whole unit has hidden wire chases, surround sound, big plasma TV above the unseen fireplace

The walls were existing with modifications to the panelling for the desk/credenza…............to fit.

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The door didnt fit quite right, as the wall was…....bent. It needs to have access to the control valves for the heat system

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I put a small opening in under the desk panel whih will have a fan to rid the cabinet of heat so that his CPU doesnt “fry”

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and another with glass doors, two of them being mirror images that go on either side of the oven/range top and has a custom 4’ wooden hood vent between them. All the uppers get detailed similar to above.

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And this last one I made some time ago and every time I see it sitting against the wall I feel kinda bad. My father is pushing 90 years young and is still in good health. I made it for him from a tree he and I, and some other siblings planted in 1965. A spindly little sapling of a cherry tree that grew and grew and held many fond childhood memeroies. When he sold his house he had the tree (about a 30” diameter by then) cut down and sawn into lumber, and then shipped it all to me…..............and thats why I feel kinda bad is because I still have this piece, yet unfinished and I know he would just love it. I still need to put some kinda panel in the door, glass os a mirror and still have to put the little steel hooks in the back to hold keys for the many outbuildings at the cottage. I’ld like to put an very small old fashioned lock in it too,

Cheers

This kitchen is perhaps the biggest to date. Hindsight is 20/20 and right now I am wishing that I had made all the kickplates and put them all on castors so that I could push the monster out of the way. The shop has been reduced to narrow paths and even the most simple of tasks takes forever due to walking 30 miles through the maze.

He got a “deal” on maple veneered solid core plywood (you’ld think that after 30 years in the business that you’ld be suspect of the “deal”) and its no deal at all. One surface has the veneer lifting in spots. not a big deal because you only see one surface but slicing the wood veneer, injecting glue, and re-clamping is a PITA and its an extra charge.

With the economy in a sh$# it’s good that some are still spending. the monster has one sub zero fridge, one sub zero feezer (both in a pantry), one sub zero fridge/freezer, three dishwashers, one micro, trash compactor,...........all come with wooden doors. 9’ ceilings make the pantry cabinets look massive. I know that what looks big in my shop most often looks massive once its in a home.

All the cabinets are face framed with embedded beading meaning they all have to be back mitered and custom fit…...PITA. Most doors are 9 piece hung on those “non adjustable pewter butt hinges” so each door has to be fitted which I just dont get because they sell the same hinge only its adjustable (slightly). 35 drawers, all dovetailed and solid hard maple on those blum motion slides.

Anyone like those 1500 dollar farm sinks made from cast iron with porcelin. You need ten men and a boy to deal with them and because they are cast, you cant follow the specs, they have to be handfit. ......I dread them. Not that I dread making the cabinet, or doors but the shear wieght of those monsters tires me out before I even lift it the first time and lord knows you cant drop it!. These Vice grip hands arent getting any younger.

The contractor is like a rabid squirrel, asks a thousand questions and never listens to a single answer, skinny little fella with a good sense of humour but I swear he is his own worst enemy. he’s due to comeover today so I write this so I can get some of the crap that is clogging my brain out. .......”what about this, did you remember that, why isnt the micro cabinet done (because you failed to remember the trim kit) why sint the sink cabinet done (because you failed to remember to bring the sink), why arent the uppers above the fridge and freezer done (because you failed to bring the specifications for the appliances)..........and on and on and on …...............and the hundreds of phone calls, I dont know if hes bored, or what. He just phoned and asked how much T and G for the open/glass door cabinets, he needs and albeit I do have the answer, I question as to why some one would ask, being in the business and having a set of plans…....do I have a different set?

I HAVE to take pictures because when this one is done I have another, even bigger and taller. The bloody budget for libraery ladders is beigger then most folks budget for the entire kitchen and they want to see the methodology ? of hows its built. Selling cabinetry for a kiitchen thats built better then most furntiure….......priceless. Maybe some day I can do my own?

By sweet Lord Thundering what have I got myself into (insert smiley here)

The finish will be a stain, then painted, then rubbed out, then glazed. I saw on the TV and read somewhere that Faux ? finishes are out…..................thats like saying Stickley, Shaker furniture is out of style. Some styles are simply timeless. I never liked that contempory look. You know, where the walls in the boys bedroom are painted a lovely lime green with yellow furniture…................gimme a break. That was ugly when first done and it will be ugly tomorrow too.

I also love the conversations with the designers where they answer a question rather turtly “I know what I am doing” where I think to myself that if you did know what you were doing then we wouldnt be having this conversation.

Cheers

BTW…...............I have met the odd designer, that if they dont know what they are doing at least they admit it and are a joy to work with.

I best get at it

Not one staying put for too long I wanted the shop to look like a barn so that it fit within the the look of the local rural community and in the event we sell, it could double as a horse/livestock barn.

I felt I needed a working footprint of 1,500 sq feet, measureing 30’ x 50’ with 12’ ceilings. In hindsight I should have made it 24’ 60’...............that would saved money on materials and trusses but whats a man to do once its there.

Had a hole dug for the footings and foundation walls and there the challenges began. Because the township wouldnt let the hieght of the “shop” exceed the hieght of the roof of the house, we had to call it an “agricultural building” which in turn made everything escalate in price because the building codes change. So the footing needed to be reinforced with steel rod (lots of it) and needed to measure 16” deep x 30” wide and the foundation needed to be 12” thick and lots of steel rod.

The shed roof of the side of the building needed footings measuring 4’ x 4’ x 16” thick to support 16” dia concrete pileons.

Then came the floor. Ridgid insulation 2” thick, followed by thick poly, followed by miles and miles of tubing hand tied to the steel grid for radient heat…..........I walked funny for weeks afterward.

The walls were framed in 2×6 and the ceiling trusses were assembled in three sections. While we assemmbled the three sections of the second floor trusses, others framed the four walls, a crane was brought in and lifted each wall, then lifted the first section of the upper floor, loaded the subfloor on that, some sheeted the floor and the crane dropped the next section, sheeted that and then the final section, then swung around and lifted the roof trusses up. The floor trusses are 3’ thick on 16” centers so that I didnt need any columns on the inside. You could park a cement truck up there.

gotta love the flag and view up the driveway

and the roof trusses on

and the shed roof on

and finally while battling snow, freezing rain and high winds we finished up the steel roofing

just in time for winters onslaught

pardon the mess on the inside but much has changed since this picture was taken (mind you the mess is forever lurking around the next hour

The outside is finally complete, done in a vertical pine shiplap with white aluminum fascia and soffit. the leaks are finally gone, the back up heat system is in…...........next year I hope to open up the second floor and frame in the walls of the shed roof area, add a door from main shop to shed area and use faux stone on the walls of the shed…..............maybe even enlarge my windows to the original size.

or fencing

or re surface the drive

or insulate the second floor

or get my wood boiler

or maybe do like I occasionally do, grab a small cooler, fill itup with brown trout, put a lawn chair in the mddle of the field and stare at it <vbg>