latest kitchen finished

[Andrew J. Coholic]

Fairly new member, first time posting pics of my work. I own a 3 person custom woodworking shop. Took over from my father in the mid 90's. We do a good mix of residential cabinetry, mill-work and furniture - all custom work (nothing made on spec). We manufacture everything in house, ie no buying in doors, drawers, trim, etc.



Just finished a kitchen so I thought I'd share a few pics...
- post catalyzed lacquer (off white) on maple.
-Maple veneer cases with 3mm solid maple edging (full overlay cabinetry).
-Doors and fronts are 5 piece, maple frames with maple veneered MDF panels (3/8" raised to the rear side). 22 degree Shaker style, made with a custom set of shaper tooling from Royce Ayr. Blum hinges.
-Drawers and trays are dovetailed basswood, on Blum Movento under-mounts.
-The corners are both Magic corner II units, and some other pullouts that are made in house
-Solid maple kicks as well, they hold up better than veneer over the years.
-The pantry and a few lower units feature the Xseries adjustable tray hardware, which allows the owner to customize tray spacing.
-The Island has a 2 1/4" solid walnut top in a food safe oil and wax finish. The rest of the counters are Formica solid surfacing (#775).
-4 stools are my own design, finished also in a post cat red lacquer.
-crown and valence also made by us. Has under cabinet lighting (strip LED in aluminum channels).

This was a fun job, for some long time customers who are renovating an older cottage into a 4 season 2nd home. Beautiful setting, looking out over the lake.

[Andrew J. Coholic]

A few other things: upper units are deeper than standard (13 3/4"). The island legs and sub counter are also maple, but instead of doing multi pc legs they are made from 4 pieces of maple with the panel faux carved on the CNC router. Less chance of seasonal movement and less time to build.

I ended up doing the entire job solo (except the delivery and installation), as both my employees were tied up with doing other work while I was doing the kitchen.

The area was a bit long and narrow. We spent a while trying out a few different layouts and moving appliances around. I think we achieved a good balance of appearance and function.

[John TenEyck]

Nice, clean design and the workmanship and finish look top notch. I think your design fits the space very well, too. I don't like that dead corner behind the oven, but I don't know how it could have been done much differently. And I love those red chairs and walnut island top! Very nice.

John

[Andrew J. Coholic]

Nice, clean design and the workmanship and finish look top notch. I think your design fits the space very well, too. I don't like that dead corner behind the oven, but I don't know how it could have been done much differently. And I love those read chairs and walnut island top! Very nice.

John

John
i stressed for a few months when we were going back and forth over the best layout. The narrow pullout on the bottom has three full extension shelves with rails to hold oil bottles and spices. It would have been nice to move the door opening over a bit to widen up that counter return, but that was a no go. In person it's ok. And lots of counter space on the main run. I was more concerned with the door opening on the magic corner on that side. We had to grind the pull down a bit ( they are stainless, and it's not noticeable) to allow the door full opening coming up to the built in oven. There is always something that needs a tweaking or two.

This style is very popular around here now. Except I'm the only shop not only doing melamine boxes, and buying in everything else. It does allow us a bit more freedom in our design.

No no job completely makes me happy. There is always something after the fact I wish I could go back to redo or try a different approach. But that's my nature. Overall this went well. Customer was super happy, and that makes me happy too.

[Jim Becker]

Really beautiful work!!

[John Ziebron]

Andrew, very nice work, looks great. Can you tell me what kind of wood that is on the island top. The color and grain is beautiful.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Nice kitchen, Andrew. I always like a desk in the kitchen. It's more useful than many people realize. The workmanship and design are high quality. One thing I've often wondered in other kitchens I've seen : why don't the upper cabinets go to the ceiling ?

[Andrew J. Coholic]

Andrew, very nice work, looks great. Can you tell me what kind of wood that is on the island top. The color and grain is beautiful.

The top is walnut, just oiled and waxed as to be food safe so they can prepare food on it. I like the Boos oil and wax mix (comes in a tube, basically mineral oil and bees wax in a ready to use tube) to give to my customers for maintaining tops like this.

[Andrew J. Coholic]

Nice kitchen, Andrew. I always like a desk in the kitchen. It's more useful than many people realize. The workmanship and design are high quality. One thing I've often wondered in other kitchens I've seen : why don't the upper cabinets go to the ceiling ?

Basically it is the normal design here to have cabinets that go up to around the 7' mark. I have always made our cabinets to 7' 2" to the top (plus the crown if there is one) which allows a 30" upper, a 2" valence trim and still 18" between counter and valence, which is code here.

If people want taller cabinets that terminate to the ceiling, I usually suggest a bulkhead, or a taller crown with a panel, or something other than just increasing the upper height. I find that a cabinet that goes too high, is not only not really functionable, but it looks out of proportion with the base units. Plus it is very hard to install in most of the older homes with out of whack ceilings.

This Mahogany kitchen we did earlier in the year did go up to the ceiling, but the design was for taller cabinets overall (the couple are both quite tall) and they wanted it so we did it Generally I offer a few suggestions but ultimately do what I am asked to.