Joined
·
979 Posts
This is a butler's pantry I finished a couple weeks ago. It is the first set of cabinets I've ever done in a natural finish. I've built many tables, individual cabinets, small built-ins and such, but this one started from a pile of rough sawn lumber and definitely took the meaning of patience and focus to a new level for me. All in all it was fun and the customer is happy. I got to see the granite counter top sample today and she picked a very nice contrasting color.
Most of my steady income work is painted units and trim work, the standard poplar/birch/prime/paint. It gets a little boring after awhile so I dove into this project with a lot of enthusiasm. My biggest lesson in this project was that this is the limit of how labor intensive a job I can handle being a one man operation and still remain profitable.
There's a beautiful knot on this end panel that added some great figure this cabinet, I must have buffed that thing a million times just to make it pop, it was as smooth as glass but the customer wasn't impressed and couldn't understand why I used that board.:glare:
The crown is 2.5", I milled the large chunky piece of molding that it sits on to give it a larger appearance. First thing I realized when installing it was that the ceiling dropped a half inch on 36" to that outside corner. I had to hog it out a bit to get the miters tight. A half hour to get one miter tight!. Nope, this wasn't the standard paint-grade job.
![]()
This base cabinet will have a small bar sink above it. Originally the customer didn't care that the cabinet would be useless because of the plumbing fixtures taking up space below, but I couldn't see opening that door and just seeing ugly...so I installed this shallow faux front to it, and at least they'll have a few shelves for something.
The panel is just face screwed on so the plumbers can get to the hook up.
![]()
The small square drawers took more time than I expected. The drawer heads were cut out of one continuous piece of solid walnut so that the grain patterns lined up, there was no room for hardware so I made the bottom mounted glides out of walnut. The glides were polished up with bowling alley wax for a nice durable slick finish. They glide nicer than any ball bearing glide! There are no stops for them because these drawers are so small (more like a narrow box) you just pull them out and set them on the counter.
The wine bottle holder is more just for aesthetics and added a nice touch. The letter holder was made from 1/4" walnut ply that is set into 1/4" deep dados. The glass shelves were positioned so that they are hidden behind the mullions out of site.
![]()
This end panel door was pretty cool, the customer showed me a picture of one from a magazine so incorporated it into the design.
I had already assembled the main cabinet when I realized I had forgot about this thing, so I was working a little backwards to make it work.
The brown cork board was a nice find that was glued to the back of the door.
Standard euro hinges would not fit inside the skinny cabinet. They needed another half inch to clear, so I found these very nice streamline mocha-blackish laquered hinges that worked perfect.
The insides of the upper cases with the glass doors are cherry, I thought it made a nice contrast, yet is poorly represented in these photos. Everything else is walnut.
![]()
Most of my steady income work is painted units and trim work, the standard poplar/birch/prime/paint. It gets a little boring after awhile so I dove into this project with a lot of enthusiasm. My biggest lesson in this project was that this is the limit of how labor intensive a job I can handle being a one man operation and still remain profitable.
There's a beautiful knot on this end panel that added some great figure this cabinet, I must have buffed that thing a million times just to make it pop, it was as smooth as glass but the customer wasn't impressed and couldn't understand why I used that board.:glare:
The crown is 2.5", I milled the large chunky piece of molding that it sits on to give it a larger appearance. First thing I realized when installing it was that the ceiling dropped a half inch on 36" to that outside corner. I had to hog it out a bit to get the miters tight. A half hour to get one miter tight!. Nope, this wasn't the standard paint-grade job.
This base cabinet will have a small bar sink above it. Originally the customer didn't care that the cabinet would be useless because of the plumbing fixtures taking up space below, but I couldn't see opening that door and just seeing ugly...so I installed this shallow faux front to it, and at least they'll have a few shelves for something.
The panel is just face screwed on so the plumbers can get to the hook up.
The small square drawers took more time than I expected. The drawer heads were cut out of one continuous piece of solid walnut so that the grain patterns lined up, there was no room for hardware so I made the bottom mounted glides out of walnut. The glides were polished up with bowling alley wax for a nice durable slick finish. They glide nicer than any ball bearing glide! There are no stops for them because these drawers are so small (more like a narrow box) you just pull them out and set them on the counter.
The wine bottle holder is more just for aesthetics and added a nice touch. The letter holder was made from 1/4" walnut ply that is set into 1/4" deep dados. The glass shelves were positioned so that they are hidden behind the mullions out of site.
This end panel door was pretty cool, the customer showed me a picture of one from a magazine so incorporated it into the design.
I had already assembled the main cabinet when I realized I had forgot about this thing, so I was working a little backwards to make it work.
The brown cork board was a nice find that was glued to the back of the door.
Standard euro hinges would not fit inside the skinny cabinet. They needed another half inch to clear, so I found these very nice streamline mocha-blackish laquered hinges that worked perfect.
The insides of the upper cases with the glass doors are cherry, I thought it made a nice contrast, yet is poorly represented in these photos. Everything else is walnut.
