The New Kitchen — Part 5

This post covers the completion of the basic cabinetry for the east side of the kitchen, to wit, the cabinet that supports the 5-foot stainless steel countertop, and the compartment for the refrigerator.

The base went in first, cut down in height to match the base supporting the oven cabinet.  A straightforward operation.

The basic construction of the cabinet followed my past practice—3/4" cabinet grade plywood with a half-inch plywood back, mortise and tenon connection for the corners.  This time the plywood was warped, so I could not assemble the unit all at once.  Instead, I joined a few pieces at a time using a lot of clamping pressure, cleats and screws.  Somewhat frustrating, but in the end, it will do.

When finished, I fastened that in place (to the base, wall, and adjacent cabinet).  I then built the small cabinet that goes over the refrigerator and screwed that in place.

A partition that separates the refrigerator from the stainless counter goes between the two cabinets (one low and one high).  I made the simple partition from 3/4" plywood to match the side of the tall oven cabinet, similarly faced with white plastic laminate on the side facing the countertop (some symmetry, as it were).

While Aeryn, my big female alpha cat, watches on.

After that, maple trim went on the front edges of everything (with biscuits, glue, and countersunk finish nails), sanded and polyurethaned.  Then the stainless steel countertop was put in place with some construction adhesive.  I plan to make the inaugural pizza on it tomorrow—stretch that dough! ;-)

As always, single and stacked drawers still need to be built and installed in all the cubbies.   Not happening any time soon.  The high cubbies will get sliding shelves—drawers that have side access; they will look like drawer fronts when closed.  Eventually there will be photos.

Next up — tile will go on the wall above the stainless steel countertop, something with a nice finished look to give me a little psychological boost.  Hooray!