Kitchen Hutch - Build Thread - Done

glenn bradley

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I find myslef with a little time tonight so I got a jump on lumber selection for a piece for my house. This one will take awhile as I am trying to do it along with 2 other pieces that are due to some folks by June. After I get the design settled I move to lumber selection; the material will be pecan. This guy has a lot of door and drawer real estate on the front view so I am starting with those.

kit-hut-SU-o-view.jpg

Pecan has such a wonderful range of color. A recent piece for someone was restricted to the mostly cherry-like spectrum;

kit-hut-(1).jpg

I wan't to use more of the maple-white to light-cherry red range with the figure exploited rather than ignored. This will have a fair amount of rail and stile structure (I want it to look like a "kitchen" piece but, not too boring) so there will be plenty of opportunity for smaller pieces with color changes running through them. I kind of lay the material out in lots and keep shuffling till I get a look that I like. Then I start marking things out and do the rough breakdown of parts.

kit-hut-(2).jpg . kit-hut-(3).jpg . kit-hut-(4).jpg
 
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Re: Kitchen Hutch - Build Thread

Looking forward to watching your new project progress. I am especially interested in how you lay out the components taking into account the woods figure.

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well glenn, this wont be like walnut.. pecan is hard like hickory.. what does it go for a bf over there we don't even have it up my way.

It is definitely not like walnut. It can be surprisingly heavy and there are occasional inconsistencies as with any material. I do like the way it machines; crisp clean cuts but, you have to keep your cutters sharp. A large piece just went to a new home and a lot of my cutters went out to get sharpened. Last batch I picked up was under $3 /bf but, if you factor in cutter wear, its not as inexpensive as it seems :rolleyes:.
 
You got to love a good build thread....
Looking forward to seeing this one come alive!

You summed it up perfectly Gary especially a Glenn Bradley build. ;)


Glenn i love that color in the lumber you got. Its nice and rich and warm colors. I gotta look when i go to the lumber yard see what we get here.

You should take a review look at Alan Bs thread on his kitchen build to see how his peacan came out. If my memory serves me correctly thats the wood he used and it was really nice. Cannot remember what he finished his with.

Looking at the design will the back panel be shiplap it sure looks that way in the opening. Until recent thread discussion on fine woodworking i did not know that shiplap back was the "old school way to close in a back"

Looking forward to another inspiration build thread, Merry Christmas to you. Great way to start the New Year.:thumb:
 
You should take a review look at Alan Bs thread on his kitchen build to see how his peacan came out. If my memory serves me correctly thats the wood he used and it was really nice.

Yep. That's what a lot of it looks like :). Pic from Alan's build. . . .

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Three bucks a foot?! That's gotta be the cheapest hardwood there is in SoCal. Even Alder or red oak was more than that when I lived there (8 years ago).

Yeah, and we have a lot of red oak in California :). You can fill a pickup truck with pecan for what a few choice boards of black walnut run out here; mahogany gets a little steep at times as well. When I make a run to the yard down in San Marcos, I always ask the going rates for materials I use. The prices can swing pretty wide and I have picked up a few bargains on material that was not part of the original shopping list. I got some beautiful hard rock maple right off the truck for a great price (less than the current stock of soft maple). Makes a wonderful secondary wood and a nice primary wood in its own right.
 
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I'll be watching also!

Most of the pecan for the first phase of my kitchen build was quarter sawn. I paid $3.65 bdft.

What you see in that pic Glen is my first attempt at re-sawing my own veneer.
 
What are you going to use for the panels on the drawer fronts?

Are you going to grain match the drawer fronts?

I see miters for the corners of the drawers fronts. Is that what your doing or are you actually going to build them like the doors?

Lately I've been building my drawer fronts as one unit and then crosscut them to finished height after final assembly and sizing. I should have some pics of that in my kitchen build and I just recently did it for the drawer fronts in my shop.
 
What are you going to use for the panels on the drawer fronts?

The drawer fronts are false and will appear to be eight inset drawers. They actually hide four large bins that are for pots, pans and counter top appliances.

kit-hut-SU-bin-detail.jpg

Are you going to grain match the drawer fronts?

I will cut the left and right fronts of each row from a single board to capture the flow of the figure. Bottom to top I will try to group boards that present a similar figure. This can be quite a grind on the old noodle when there is this much drawer and door surface area presented. If I can get a good appearance I will butterfly each set of the door panels. As you know from your project, the figure in pecan can change drastically through a board often appearing like cherry on one side and like maple on the other. This makes a butterfly cut contiguous but, not necessarily a mirror image :(. I hope to get something visually appealing.

I see miters for the corners of the drawers fronts. Is that what your doing or are you actually going to build them like the doors?

The miters are visual only. These false fronts are actually cut like a raised panel to give that appearance (without a frame).

Lately I've been building my drawer fronts as one unit and then crosscut them to finished height after final assembly and sizing. I should have some pics of that in my kitchen build and I just recently did it for the drawer fronts in my shop.

Very cool.

The esteemed Mr. Zimmel made an observation as to some aesthetics. Gary noticed a visual flow that bothered him. Once pointed out, I agreed. As you enter my front door you look right down the entry hall and through an opening into the kitchen. This piece will set in the kitchen and present the right side, full in your face as you enter the house. I had become so focused on that side view that I lost some continuity from a 3/4 view. Kudos and my thanks to Gary for his keen eye. Small changes sometimes set off a chain reaction. The end result does resolve the not-so-good design element that Gary pointed out. This change, of course, brought on a chain reaction and the new end result is here:

kit-hut-SU-o-view-gary-mod.jpg

It is so much easier to alter these things before you start cutting out parts :D.
 
Looking forward to following along with the build, and hoping to be able to answer the eternal question:

Is it pronounced pi-'kän, or 'pē-ˌkan? :D
 
Please shed more light on the design change. I see the design change but fail to see the design improvment. I am sure if both of you have come to the same conclusion then it must have been a positive change and I am sure I will see it too once it is explained in more detail.
 
Please shed more light on the design change. I see the design change but fail to see the design improvment. I am sure if both of you have come to the same conclusion then it must have been a positive change and I am sure I will see it too once it is explained in more detail.

Gary observed that the rail above the curved element on the right hand side of the piece was lower than the rail below the cabinet doors on the front of the piece. Viewed from the front or from the side these looked fine to me. From a 3/4 view as in the first SketchUp pic the break in continuity is noticed. This is not a deal breaker and could have gone as it was. Once Gary pointed it out I started playing with it and ended up losing the curved elements in favor of a larger open area on the right hand side. I also adjusted the frame and panel configuration on the sides of the upper.

Is it pronounced pi-'kän, or 'pē-ˌkan? :D

According to Sonny Landreth, its pronounced puh-kawn - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX4Vj_qDoGA
 
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