First Look - New Dining Room Built-Ins

[jbasen]

I am a hobbyist that builds A&C style furniture.  All my projects to date have used through mortises and exposed tenons for the joinery.  This is my first project using face frames and my Domino DF700 with the Seneca adapter for all the joinery.  The granite top was just installed this morning and I just have to add the kick plates.  Once that is done I still have a few minor design decisions to make before I'll be finished:

1) Whether to add a wooden splash guard around the granite to hide the narrow gap between the granite and the wall or just use a little caulk
2) Whether to add hammered copper hinge plates at each door-hinge location for an additional visual embellishment

In addition to woodworking I also do copper smithing and stained glass work.  I built all the leaded glass panels in the doors.

I'd like to thank all the members of the FOG for their help when I've asked questions throughout this project. 

 

[woodguy7]

Looks great.
My opinion, Caulk is for cheats.  Doors don't need anything else, might be too much.  Put a small door stop/bead behind the doors to stop the light coming through the gaps.  It looks like the gaps around the doors might not be equal as the light comes through some but not others.  A stop would disguise this.  Possibly also put a flat bead behind the vertical join between the doors.  Only light coming through should be through the glass (which is stunning)

 

[mike_aa]

The leaded glass panels are stunning - nice work.  That being said, I don't think you would want to add copper hinge plates.  I think they would draw the eye away from the focal point of the glass.

I also agree that you should install stops and a vertical rail to the doors to control the light from bleeding through.

Not sure about the granite.  The look now is very clean now, although a small wood splash might be appropriate.  How big is the gap you are trying to cover?

Mike A.

 

[jbasen]

Thanks for the feedback.  The doors actually are evenly spaced.  What you are seeing is a lot of light reflection from

1 - the interior lights being turned up to their max
2 - light bouncing off the interior glass shelves
3 - to keep the interior of the cabinets bright I used a birch plywood with only sprayed lacquer so the interior walls are bright and reflective
4 - leaded glass is never coplanar so the light reflects off of it in all directions
5 - the window at the end of the room is adding some additional glare

That being said, your point of adding  a vertical rail to keep the light bleeding through is a good one.

The gap at the side edges of the granite and the walls vary from zero to a max of 3/16" simply because walls aren't straight.  My leaning towards using caulk is because the cabinets are already 52" tall (because of the amount of storage space we needed).  They are already pretty tall and I'm worried that adding additional height with a splash may make them a little too imposing in the room.  I'm also thinking that if I go with a small splash it won't be the right scale given the height of the cabinets.

The granite, the use of alder, and the stain was all chosen to match our kitchen that is adjacent to the dining room.

Thanks for keeping me from going down the path of making 48 hinge plates  [smile]

Thanks again.

 

[peter halle]

Looks great!  If you were to add a short splash - 2 to 3 inches perhaps, maybe you could inset a thin horizontal copper strip in it to mimic some of the elements in the doors so that it looks like a design idea versus something to cover up a gap.

Peter

 

[woodguy7]

Might be worth ripping a few rips of ply at different sizes, 40, 50, 60mm etc & placing them on to get an idea how it would look before committing to the finished product ?

 

[jbasen]

Looks great!  If you were to add a short splash - 2 to 3 inches perhaps, maybe you could inset a thin horizontal copper strip in it to mimic some of the elements in the doors so that it looks like a design idea versus something to cover up a gap.

Peter

That gives me an interesting idea.  I can get some 1/4" square copper bar stock.  I could apply a hammered finish and then patina the copper to match the other hardware on the cabinets.  I could then lay the copper around the entire edge where the granite meets the wall.  It would be a nice decorative element, cover the gap, and not add any height to the cabinet. 

Thanks Peter!

 

[peter halle]

[thumbs up]  [big grin]

 

[Ivanhoe]

Very Nice! Really like the leaded glass look - Assume a kind of Craftsman style to your house?  I was looking at your base to the
cabinet - Did you construct 4 separate cabinets and join together? Lastly, are the holes in your base for the EZ-level system?

Rod

 

[jbasen]

Very Nice! Really like the leaded glass look - Assume a kind of Craftsman style to your house?  I was looking at your base to the
cabinet - Did you construct 4 separate cabinets and join together? Lastly, are the holes in your base for the EZ-level system?

Rod

Thanks Rod.  Yes this fits in with the Craftsman style of the home and the other furniture I've built.

I did construct 4 identical cabinets and joined them together.  The only difference was that the face frames for the end cabinets had a wider piece of wood where the frame met the wall so I could custom cut down that piece of wood to assure a tight fit.

Yes the holes were for ez-levelers.  I actually cut the hole to access the leveling screws with my Domino  [big grin]
The ez-levelers weren't a cheap solution but they made leveling the cabinets a whole lot easier.  It was interesting to see just how much variance there was in my floor. 

 

[Ivanhoe]

Thanks for the update! I just used the ez-levelers myself for the first time and I too was amazed how far off my cement slab was (nearly 1/2" off from one wall to the front of a 20" cabinet) They are a bit pricey but they are a life saver. We are nearly ready to move into our new craftsman-ish home and my wife's list of woodworking projects/updates to the house are getting longer by the day!

 

[GPowers]

Your glass work is amazing. Really adds to the project.

We have use the ez-level system in several kitchen make overs. They are pricy but we always get comments from the granite guys on how dead level our cabinets are. Plus they get the wood off the floor so there is not problem with a minor flood.

 

[mike_aa]

jbasen,
Another thought on the granite gaps.  I had a situation where there was a similar gap of about 3/16" and smaller.  Instead of caulk I used some tile grout colored with some colorant to match the granite.  I was able to tool it straight to pretty much match the surface of the granite and it blended in very well.

Mike A.

 

[Billedis]

Just a beautiful piece/s of work.  Thank you for sharing.  Bill

 

[jbasen]

jbasen,
Another thought on the granite gaps.  I had a situation where there was a similar gap of about 3/16" and smaller.  Instead of caulk I used some tile grout colored with some colorant to match the granite.  I was able to tool it straight to pretty much match the surface of the granite and it blended in very well.

Mike A.

That is an interesting idea Mike.  Thanks for sharing

Jay

 

[iamnothim]

Drop Dead Gorgeous !!!