Part 4 of a Kitchen Unit for my Mum

First thing this weekend was to finish installing the face trim. Just the ¼” thick pieces along the bottom were left and I glued then nailed them in place. In this location a couple of nails with wood filler won’t be noticeable.

  Along the gable ends I added vertical trim as well, to mirror the front edge.

Next thing to do was build the bench that will sit on the right side adjacent to the kitchen door. I cut pine down into 2.5” boards to make the apron and angled bracing. For the leg I used a 1 ¼” piece, same as the face trim. Everything was glued and pocket screwed into place. The top is a piece of ¾” board cut so it overhangs the apron by 1” on both sides.

Then my brother came over for a look and thought the leg looked too ‘fragile’, that people would be afraid to sit on it. I could see his point and beefed up the leg with another 1 ¼” piece attached on an angle to the first leg. The other 2 sides will be secure to the wall and the gable end of the unit. 

Finally, I cut the shelves; 2 for each cubby and 1 for the angled corner section. The boards were 15 3/8” deep, so I left them at that size and cut them to the right widths.

Since I have a ‘client’ for this piece, I need them to pick a finish. I made this fun sample board of options for all the clear options; satin, semi-gloss, oil based, etc. It’s hard to see the differences in a photo…but I like having all the samples next to each other!

At this point I am done construction of the unit. Sanding, finishing and installing are left to do, but I can’t sand until the better weather comes. So for now this project will be on the back burner until spring decides to show up.

And now we know: having a client makes the process slightly different, I feel like I can’t change things on the fly and have to run stuff by them. I don’t think I like it as much, not having complete creative freedom.