Project in progress: Kitchen Island

[Todd Burch]

Hi All. I'm just starting on this project. It's a kitchen island for my Dad's house he is building. I'm actually doing all the cabinetry in house, but this is the current push.

In his house, most of the cabinets will be painted. This island, however, will be cherry, finished with boiled linseed oil and satin lacquer. Yesterday, I got the 32 1/4" wide end panels machined and glued up. They are looking pretty good so far. I'll post pictures of them later today.

The island, measured per the granite countertop, is approximately 8' 4" long and 5' 2" deep. 36" high.

SketchUp010.jpg SketchUp009.jpg

We went round and round on the style of legs for the granite overhang. We decided on tapered-4-sides legs. They will be 5" square at the top and 2 1/2" square at the base. I'll glue up 7/4 cherry, mitered at the corners, so when they are tapered, there will be no disruption in the grain.

Thanks for looking. Todd

[Lori Kleinberg]

Wow, that is a huge piece, nice design. Are you going to fill it in with drawers or shelves?
If I may suggest, if you do shelves, make sure they are the pull-out kind. I have a really deep cabinet for my center island in our vacation home, and it is a pain to get to anything in the back. One of these days I am going to convert it to pull-outs.

[Jim Becker]

Looks like a great project, Todd!!!! (And it's good to see you back on the forum)

BTW, I move this thread here into the Woodworking Projects forum where it will be best served over time as you post your progress and finished work.

Jim

[Todd Burch]

Thanks Lori and Jim.

@Lori - on the left there will be 3 drawers. In the middle, since it's the sink box, the top opening will be covered with a false drawer front that will tip out and have those small metal trays for holding scrubbing stuff. The lower part of the sink box is all open. This is "the" kitchen sink, not a secondary sink. On the right side of the face frame, there will be a full length panel that will front a pull out trash can. The 24" wide opening on the far right is for the dishwasher.

Here are the two end panels I glued up yesterday. 32 1/4" wide x 35 1/4" tall. I got a few pieces of cherry in my order (140 bf of 13/16 S3S) with some curl in them, so I decided to accentuate the lower rails of these panels and the bottom face frame rail with curly cherry.

The lower rail, 7" wide, has a filler strip of poplar just under 4" wide. There will be a 4" base board that covers it.

I just put new knives on the planer - these panels have not been sanded yet - they're pretty smooth - sanding will be an easy task on these. I recently bought the Freud Premier Adjustable Rail and Stile cutters. So far, I like them.

DSC_3581.jpg

Today I picked up 5 sticks (roughly 8' long) of 8/4 cherry for the legs - they didn't have any 7/4. 8/4 will work fine.

Next task - the face frame for the cabinets - (pocket screw construction) which probably won't happen until Monday. I think I can get the box together too on Monday (glue and screws) - the jigs are already made and well tested for dadoing and rabbeting the carcass parts.

Todd

[Troy Turner]

Todd- You're doing this and the closet and have room for it all going on at the same time? You da' man.

Island looks like it coming along really good! Since you said you're doing cabinets too, yeah, we're gonna need some pics of those too

Can't wait to see it all come together!

[Todd Burch]

Well, change in plans. Again.

I'm doing all this cabinetry for free, but yesterday I told my dad that any further changes will cost him $50 each change.

Now, the legs will be painted. 8/4 Cherry will get returned, and 8/4 soft maple, painted black, used in their place. Here's the essence of the current scheme for the whole kitchen (black lacquer and oiled / lacquered cherry):

SketchUp005.jpg

Today I got the face frame parts for the island cut out, along with the lower corner cabinet and the cabinet to the right of it next to the fridge opening. Also got a toe-kick made for the island box.

Tomorrow, the face frame will get "KREG'ed" together and I'll cut out the plywood box for the island.

I'm still waiting on my "customer" ( ) to pick an interior color for the cabinets.

Todd

(stone color shown for the granite countertops is not the actual color - not even close).

[Todd Burch]

I got the island cabinet together today (it's almost 6' wide) and it's ready for primer. I can't remember the last time I made so many mistakes on a project. Thankfully, they were all correctable.

DSC_3680.jpg

I'm making 3 boxes at the same time, (this one and 2 others for the kitchen), so I'll get the other 2 at a point they are also ready to prime, and then prime all 3.

[John Shuk]

I'm glad to see you back and posting Todd. I was always a fan of your projects and designs. I can't wait to see the end result.

[Todd Burch]

I'm glad to see you back and posting Todd. I was always a fan of your projects and designs. I can't wait to see the end result.

Thanks John! Good to be back. Good to be back in the mode of doing woodworking projects too.

[David Keast]

Splendid looking project, not many europeans have room for island units that big.

As the owner of a large kitchen island, could I suggest you round or otherwise soften the corners of the top a bit. The bruises from colliding with a wooden top when ina hurry are bad enough, granite would be worse I imagine.

[Todd Burch]

The granite tops will all have a full bullnose (1.5" diameter , AKA 3/4" radius), and no matter how round you make granite, if you knock into it - you get a bruise!

We calculated the final dimensions of the island top the other day. It will be 101" x 62 1/4". On the leg side, each "peninsula" sticks out 2" and is 10" wide. The overhang creates just under 28" of overhang.

[Todd Burch]

Well, the island is coming along - slowly. I delivered the island box last night, and got a free dinner for my efforts! Woo-Hoo! I got to the point of having too many cabinets put together at once, leaving very little shop space to turn around in, so I had to get them out of the shop. The sink box has yet to have its back cut to allow the supply lines and drain pipe to pass, and we realized last night the disposal outlet was in the wrong place, so dad will be doing all that work in the next couple days, while I start on the rest of the island and more lower cabinets for the kitchen.

The build/finish schedule for the island and rest of the kitchen cabinet boxes is:

• Face frame out of poplar
• Box out of 3/4" birch ply and 1/4" birch for the backs
• 1 coat of clawlock, everywhere, sanded w/220 fre-cut
• 2 coats of tan satin lacquer on the interior, de-nibbed with 280 fre-cut each coat
• Interior taped off
• 2 coats of satin black lacquer, de-nibbed with 280 fre-cut after each coat
• 1 coat of satin clear lacquer over all the black
• Backs applied

I didn't get a picture, but I will later, showing the nice reflection the satin black finish gives. It turned out really nice.

I've started making drawer boxes for some other cabinets (master vanities and laundry room cabinets) and once the boxes for the rest of the house are all done, I'll do the rest of the drawers in a big run. Same for doors and drawer fronts.

Island sitting in front of its final resting place. You can see its base and plumbing to the right, behind it. Box on left is the lower box for the double-oven. The upper double oven cabinet (not shown, but in that room) will make that box set 9' 10" tall. The left side of the double oven boxes will be covered with a 3/4" thick, floor-to-ceiling paneled frame. The right side of the box set will be covered in a piece of 1/4" ply already finished (black) and delivered. I'll use contact cement for that. The left side panel will be screwed from behind (inside the cabinets).
DSC_3858.jpg

The right end of the box has a dishwasher next to it.
DSC_3850.jpg

The left end of the box gets covered with a cherry panel. I won't be taping off or spraying inside the drawer box area in the cabinets for this project - I'll only be spraying the insides of the face frame for the drawer holes.
DSC_3852.jpg

Close up of interior. Normally, I would not have mixed colors on the interior, but I thought the interiors would be black too and sprayed the backs first. Oh well. Dad didn't care. On this box, I went ahead and made the final toe-kick integral to this box. For the rest of the kitchen cabinets, the toe-kick board (3/4" poplar) will be applied after the boxes are set.
DSC_3853.jpg

Thanks for looking. Todd

[Jamie Buxton]

What's your spray rig to shoot inside those cabinets?

[Todd Burch]

I'm using a Sata LM2000 RP (reduced pressure) gun, on about 4' of hoses, with a 2 quart remote pot (Devilbiss KB-555 KB II) with both air and fluid pressure gauges. I like the pot a lot, and the gun. I have longer hoses, but just haven't hooked them up yet, which means one hand holds the gun and the other holds the pot, and when needing to switch hands (and that is often inside a cabinet), it's a pain and slows you down.

I've found a way to avoid dry spray inside larger boxes. I used to shoot each panel, one at a time. That leads to dry spray on larger cases. On smaller cases, you can move fast enough to not worry about it so much.

Let's say you have a large, tall cabinet and the back is on. First, I shoot the underside of the top. Then, when shooting the 3 inside sides, I'll start, for example, on the front edge of the left inside panel, spray back towards the back panel, then shoot the back panel, moving to the right, then shoot the right panel, moving to the front edge. I've just completed a "U" shape as the first pass on three panels. Next, I lower the gun 1/2 a pattern length, and make a return trip moving from right to left, until I reach the bottom of the case, and then I shoot the bottom panel. Work's pretty good.

However, as I did on all these cases, the backs were off. (The nailers were on). The two colors makes it easy to see the delineation between the nailers and the backs.

What is your typical spray setup?

[Jamie Buxton]

... What is your typical spray setup?..

I use an HVLP, shooting waterbornes. On the good side, it is low toxicity and low explosion hazard. On the not-so-good side, it blows so much air that if I attempt to spray inside cabinets, the finish all blows back in my face. I spray cabinets before I put the back on. I make drawers old-style, where the bottom slides in from the back. I shoot the drawer box and the bottom separately, and assemble them afterwards. Those solutions work, but take extra steps, so I'm always hoping to hear of a better method.