the kitchen's in

this week and last, we moved the curly maple kitchen we have been working on from the shop to its new home.  it was trickier than it looks.  typically, templates for the counter tops are made after the counters are installed, but because of the timing, and, in particular, the long lead time on the sink, we had to make the templates and the sample sink as we started the cabinets.  click the photos to enlarge them ..

before we left the shop though, we had to finish up the plate rack cabinet.  since we actually hadn't built one of these, we made a prototype section with a tablesaw cove to keep the plates in place, (run the board on an angle over the blade raising it a little at a time). BE CAREFUL !!

then, we got to the site, which is a 1920's era large colonial that our client has been working to restore for several years.  we used the slate templates to locate the cabinets and then brought in the slate, which was cut and milled at sheldon slate in granville, just across the line in new york state ... i posted photos of their facility when we first started this project a while back.  there are more early pictures of this project at that link.

the slate was delivered and installed by tom mullan, (seated here), and his crew, sheldon's installation subcontractor, who was the epitome of professionalism, and maintained complete calm as the ineveitable little problems we encountered were overcome.

 

they had a slick little four wheeled dolly that enabled them, and us, to move the +/- 450 pounds pieces into place.

 

ta dah on the corner piece ... it fit perfectly against the wall even though there were some 'old house, out of square corners that we had dealt with when we made the templates.

next came the sink cabinet below.  we had a one dollar pool in the shop where we all guessed the weight of the 42" x 21" x 13" deep slate sink.  trevor took the loot with his guess of 425 pounds ... it said "430 pounds" on the crate.

complicating this operation was the fact that the sink was wider than the opening for the doors.  we made the corner section removable so that we could slide the sink into place and locate it (using the mdf template) and installing the doors and returns after the counter was in place.  we only had to slide the counter back once to relocate the sink about an 1/8th of an inch so that the 1/4" counter overhangs were consistent.  i was some glad when that process was finished.  there was no margin for error.

 

we returned a couple days later with the long, glass doored upper cabinet that will built, and that part of the installation went very smoothly.

 

all in, all done, except for the last piece, a 42" marble table that fills the space between the two counters.  that goes in tomorrow, just in time for the fundraiser party the client is hosting saturday night for the local dorset nursing association .. it should be a great party!  more pics when we are totally totally finished.

trevor put the finishing touches on it today ...

there are a lot of interesting details in this house, like the island we made back in may, (another challenging project), the soft corners on the wall openings, the owner made concrete floor tiles, and the curving steel and marble stairway...

all done; the table's in ... 

a custom curly maple kitchen

ok, we're coming along on the custom kitchen i first wrote about when i visited the slate mill back in august. this job was a little bit of a surprise for me, even though we built the kitchen island in the adjacent room back in march and april. anyway, by the time it came our way, it was too late to proceed in the normal manner, which is to install the cabinets and then make the templates for the slate counters. because of a tight timeline involving a large fundraising party on the 29th of this month, we had to make the templates and hand them off and then finish the cabinets and install them. it's a little nerve wracking, making sure everything adds up, but i think we've got it now. click the photos to enlarge them ...
here's where we are as of yesterday. trevor hass prefinished the door panels and frames and he'll glue up the doors and end panels today. we should have everything pretty much finished and fitted up by the end of this week. that is, if the drawers by stratton creek arrive on schedule. we've been using stratton creek for a few years any time we have a bunch of big drawers and not as much time or budget as we need. they do a great economical and timely job for less than we can even think about doing them .. they also do through dovetails, which look as handcut as any premade drawer i've seen.

so, here's the process ... we built the rough boxes and made the templates from our cad drawings

and took them to the job site, checked everything, and handed off the templates to the slate guys ... there is, to make it even trickier, a large 42 x 21 all slate, two level sink that has to be fabricated in maine. to facilitate this, we actually made two mdf sink mockups from 1" material, same as the slate, and sent one off to maine. just for fun, there's and angled wall and an installation quirk to deal with. the sink will be too heavy to drop into the hole, and the door beneath is is too small to slide it into place from below. so, we have decided to fit up the doors and angled face frames, but not glue them to the cabinets until the sink is installed. it's a little anxiety producing to contemplate, given the minimal counter overhangs on the sink and the then necessary exact sink placement and a million other things, but having the two identical mockups eases the mind ... somewhat ... i don't even want to think how much the finished counter is going to weigh.

it should work ...

back to the shop with the cabinets

start the mostly glass single upper cabinet ... that will be about 8 feet long and about 48 inches wide when it's finished and will be assembled on site.

and then there's the undercounter oven ... we could not make any sense of the online descriptions, but fortunately, the appliance supplier was able to get it for us so we could have it here to figure it out. NOT straightforward ...

then we needed some crown moldings, which typically we make ourselves ...

we run the shape and then glue on backing pieces so we can attach the molding without visible fasteners ... it takes a minute, but is worth the effort.

it's just a bunch of 45 degree table saw set ups ... more pictures coming as we finish it up ...