Ranney Kitchen 2
The beginning to any big project is a large pile of materials. Here you see the 18 sheets of Almond colored melamine that will be used to build all the cabinet boxes and shelves. On the top is all the moulding that will be going in the kitchen: 100 linear feet of window and door moulding, 50 linear feet of both baseboard and crowne moulding.
Here is the massive pile of Premium grade Alder that will be milled into the cabinet doors, drawer fronts, and face frames. It is all 5/4 material since the drawers and door fronts are going to be a finished thickness of 7/8″. I also ordered a bit more that I needed which will allow us to be a bit more choosy with what types of knots and other “defects” we include.
After making a cut list, the table saw is front and center. I usually work alone, even though J. Alexander Fine Woodworking operates in a shop with five other employees. Those guys are employees of my father’s other company, Shutter Crafts, which means I tend to schlep around 4′x8′ sheets of plywood by myself, which is more than a little difficult!
I mention this because one of the guys in the shop had just built a display rack for a truck shell he had for sale last week. Well it sold quickly and we were left with a 4′x 6′ rolling rack that, when slightly modified, works perfectly as an in-feed table, supporting the melamine sheets, allowing me to cut all of the pieces on the table saw without begging for help! If you look closely you can see it on the far side of the saw.
Now that I have it, I don’t know how worked without it!
Once all the sides, backs, bases, and tops were cut, I cut in the dados that help to align the pieces and increase the strength of the joint.
Because the sides of the pantry boxes were so big (28″ x 86″) it was impossible to cut in the dados at the top and bottom using the table saw. Using the router with a 3/4″ straight bit, a parallel fence, and a shop vac made cutting in the dado a relatively easy and mess free operation.
Here is a shot of a partially assembled pantry cabinet. A pair of parallel clamps ensure all joints are securely joined before before any brad nails are shot.
Piece by piece the huge pantry boxes come together.
In case you were wondering, I am not eight feet tall, I am standing on a stool to get above the box.
The top and bottom of the upper corner cabinet required the trickiest cut in the entire project. Once I cut the first piece, using the table saw, jigsaw, and rasp, I rough cut the second piece a little too big, clamped it to the first piece, and used a flush trimming router bit to bring it to its final dimensions, guaranteeing that the top and bottom are the exact same size.
I am attaching the top, that was just cut out in the previous photo, onto the upper corner cabinet.
This is the trio of cabinets that sit above the oven/range. The space in the middle will hold the microwave/hood that will sit directly above the stovetop, the corner cabinet will hold a plethora of small appliances, and the cabinet on the right will have two adjustable shelves to hold plates, bowls, cups, etc.
In this photo you can see the two huge pantry cabinets. The small box within the pantry box is a dedicated space for the clients cookie sheets and baking pans. You also can see the base corner cabinet that will hold a lazy susan.
And that’s as far as I’ve gotten…