I’ve posted the lower cupboard before, but here we have the (almost) finished hutch attached. I’m going to let the urethane cure for a day or two before I install the glass.
That’s this dining room cupboard project finished. I learned quite a lot with this one.
Stunning! Well done!
How do you feel about it? Was it a fun project? Are you excited to have it finished, or sad to be done?
The big one is relief. For my tiny shop cabinets of this size is about the maximum I can handle, it’s very nice to have it out of the workshop and done. Rather happy with how these turned out, kinda want to build something out of a different species, I’m a little sick of walnut.
How did you design (or find the design) for it? Simpler box construction I’m fine doing on paper with simple measurements, but I don’t have a good process for anything more complex.
My latest iteration is just to measure and cut scale members in paper.
I use FreeCAD though it’s getting to the point I could just about use any typical spreadsheet app.
I use FreeCAD’s spreasheet function to calculate most of the dimensions, for example on this cabinet the length of the front rails is the overall_width + 2 * tenon_length - 2 * (post_thickness + top_overhang). From there I use the Part Design workflow to draw the components and the Assembly workbench to fit them together, which has honestly become mostly a sanity check. In the shop I tend to work from the spreadsheet itself.
Where are you installing the RGB led strips?
Under the epoxy ribbon.
This cabinet isn’t getting any lighting, but I’m planning built-in lighting on a future project, so stay tuned.
Wow! Just wow! Absolutely gorgeous.
I’d take my kitchen cabinets out and replace them with free standing units like this in a heartbeat.
This is gorgeous
I’ve actually considered doing this, and am now about saving up. Still trying to convince my spouse. Not sure I’ll succeed with that bit lol
#Post-project through the craftsman’s eye
One might notice that the rails and stiles of the hutch don’t match as well as the ones on the cabinet. There’s a simple reason for this: I had to replace the stiles; more than half of the first ones I made, cut from the same rough board as the rails, bowed to an unacceptable degree.
It’s difficult to see in this picture, but I had to widen the left two of the doors. I’ve rechecked my math against the plans and the actual cabinet and I don’t know where the extra half inch comes from, but I ended up having to widen two of the doors by a quarter inch each. I did so by adding a strip to the hinge-side stiles.
The walnut ply I used was Good One Side (G1S), so you get a paneled walnut obverse and some kind of pinkish orange something on the reverse…I think it’s Louan but that information is apparently classified. The side panels were going to show that back on the inside there, so I took some of my scrap and just added another ply. If the plywood was a true 1/4" it wouldn’t have worked, but being thinner than that it came out pretty okay.
And, looking at it now, I kinda wish I had made the top a bit wider so it would stick out the front a little more. Going for the simple elegant shaker look I did absolutely no cornice work but I do wish it had maybe another inch or so of wood up there. Wouldn’t be impossible to implement but I think I am moving on to other things.
great work! what did you use as a backer? can’t tell if it’s ply or panels. fantastic!
It’s plywood. The The sides, back, and the door (not drawer) fronts on the lower cabinet are quarter inch walnut veneer ply. There’s some poplar internal to the lower cabinet, the upper cabinet is 100% walnut.
beautiful!
So… … … Strange question: where did you get those handles? I’ve been looking for one just like these for ages!
Edit: the more I look at the picture, the more I find that I adore. Seriously banger job, mate!!
That’s the one part on this cabinet I didn’t source, my father picked those out, actually for a remodel of his kitchen but they ended up here. Knowing him they came from Amazon…Yep!
Lol!! This whole comment made me laugh! It felt like home lololol
The Amazon link is golden! Thank you so much!
Wow that’s gorgeous. Nice curve.
Tell a dirty secret: It’s asymmetrical.
I made a jig out of MDF, and was not able to rig up an arc cutting jig with a router that big, it’s got like a 10.5 foot radius or something, so I used a thin offcut of oak I had lying around as a spline to mark it, roughed it out with a jigsaw and then sanded it smooth. It came out a little more concave on the left side. But, I only noticed that when I turned the part over on the jig, it differs by less than a quarter inch so I just…sanded it a bit more on the thick end and sent it.
Handmade charm at no extra cost!
@captain_aggravated very nice 👌 well done!
@captain_aggravated Is there any part you are proud of or construction detail you thought was particularly clever?
Out of the whole project, I’m still quite happy with the grain matched drawer fronts and face frame.
There’s one thing I’d say I’m proud of here because of my own growth as a woodworker, and it’s the corner notches in the shelves of the hutch. They need a 3/4" square notch to fit around the corner posts. The lower cabinet has three internal frames with similar notches, I wasn’t really able to make this with any power tool I have, the best solution I found was to use a backsaw and carefully cut to my layout lines. Which…worked okay. Didn’t come out particularly square so there are gaps, but for internal frame members you have to climb into the cabinet to see it’s okay. On the upper cabinet, these joints are visible at a casual glance, so I upped my game: I rough cut the notches then took them to final size with a chisel. MUCH higher quality joint, that’s how I’m doing that from now on.
As to cleverness, I did two pieces of problem solving I haven’t seen anywhere else here:
- The cabinet shell is made in two layers. Viewed from top-down, the corner posts are true posts, 1 3/4" square. That gives room for two 3/4" boards with a 1/4" outer reveal.
The outer shell, all that pretty walnut, takes up the outer 3/4" layer, including the face frame and doors. The inner layer is for structural members, especially supports for fixed shelves and the frames that support the drawers. Those are all mortise-and-tenoned in. That’s how I attached the lower frame of the drawer support while still having a clean look on the outside. That was my own riff on an idea I saw in some plans I can no longer find.
- It did then result in an issue with attaching the doors, which I solved using Euro cup hinges with face frame mounts set in rather large mortises in the posts.
@captain_aggravated Thats awesome. It came out really well. The continuous grain on the drawer fronts is a great detail that I always aim for on my projects.
this was my first time pulling that stunt, and in glad it turned out.
