"Cabinetry"

Cabinetry is often described as the most important facet of a kitchen, but that axiom is particularly true in our case. For reasons already stated, the kitchen is much too small and will remain so. The counter we love so much takes up quite a bit of room, and in order to fit it into a much too small space, the original homeowner held the base cabinets in his counter to a depth of only twenty inches. After much analysis, I can do no more than bow to his wisdom.

I was once going to move the sink, split the counter, and install fake beams and custom-made lighting, but this design, though much more innovative than what I feel obliged to go with, creates as many problems as it solves, mostly because of its reducing the one substantial counter we have from a 31" depth to only 20".

Given these many restrictions, the only thing I can think to do with these confined quarters is to make of it a jewel box. It need not be overly ornate, but it must, to my mind, be highly crafted. My first thought was Greene and Greene, but as our plans have evolved, I have found myself yearning for less. In designing our cabinetry, the one thing I found myself consistently writing in the margins was "simple elegance."

I believe this kitchen should have as much "wow" as I am able to provide for it, but that this "wow factor" must come from cabinetry made so well that even the least sophisticated will know at once that no factory ever produced such work. But, even so, the cabinetry must quietly do its job. To achieve this I will avoid raised panels and elaborate crown molding and opt, instead, for Shaker-like panel doors which I will hang on unadorned butt hinges set into cockbead in such a way that the hinge knuckles almost disappear into the wood. To latch the doors I will use rare earth magnets which I will hide in the wood in such a manner that only another woodworker will ever be able to figure out what in heck keeps the doors closed.

I do not like, and will not make, cabinets with adjustable shelving. Studies have shown that well over ninety-five percent of those who are obliged to use such cabinetry arrange the shelves one time (usually to industry standards) and then never again. But they are obliged to look at a row of holes they will never use. It costs more to make cabinets with fixed shelving (time being money), but the result is a stronger, more aesthetically pleasing cabinet. Also, I have decided to change the concept of having to cover shelves with Contact Paper of some sort, as it is often an annoying process, which is why, no matter how badly it subsequently deteriorates, people rarely replace the shelf paper. Therefore, as a note of unexpected elegance, all of the interior shelves and all of the drawer bottoms will be covered with Formica.

Freed of the necessity of making my own lanterns, we have opted for lighting we will purchase and install ourselves. Despite the regulations now being promulgated for kitchens, we still find Fluorescent lighting to be a flickering abomination that does little more than give headaches to those obliged to work in it. We have decided upon incandescent lighting. I will also design, build, and install my own hood, which will include stained glass inserts for a source of ambient lighting. For as long as we have been married, the first thing we do each day is to turn on the hood light in the kitchen, and it remains on until we go to bed. Now we will make of this light source a bit of magic.

Finally, I will replace the existing pass through doors into the kitchen with new doors of my own design.

Joseph

NEXT WEEK: "Where Do We Go From Here?"

Joseph and Christine’s

Amazing Technicolor

Dream Yard

PART THREE OF THREE

This is a close-up of the area in front of the gazebo. Our soil is very hard clay that drains poorly, and the many structures I put in the yard increased the drainage problems. Rather than try to plant stuff in dirt not much different than concrete, we elected to put in a lot of decorative rock (eight-and-a-half tons of rock, as it turned out!) and then use various pots for our plants. But we did not want to just put in a bunch of the same clay pots. We varied it as much as we could.

I’m standing on the gazebo looking across the yard to the reading porch. That’s the storage shed on the left. The back panel of the storage shed has been deliberately painted to look like that on the end of the casita, which makes the end panel of the casita look even more like just a design detail. More on that in a minute.

This is taken from the gazebo looking down on the area behind the storage shed. In a few places we elected to put trees or shrubs directly into the ground.

The details on the railings don’t show up as well as I would like, but the little cap in the foreground consists of three pieces routed with a bull nose, roundover, and cove. The railings themselves consist of three pieces for the top railing, two pieces for the bottom railing, and all the spindles have coves routed on the four corners.

This is looking toward the rear of the casita. The details of the posts don’t show up as well as I’d like, but they are 4×4s which had coves routed on all four corners. Then I attached 1×2 to the face of the posts which had roundover edges routed on them. The final result looks like a pillar rather than a post. The painted panel on the end of the casita is a wall that can be removed in the event that the spa should ever have to be replaced. My first thought was to install a huge gated door, but I couldn’t see the point of looking at hinges on a door that would be opened only once or twice in my lifetime, if that. Instead, I put in headers across the end of the casita, just as I would have done, had I installed a regular garage door. Then the beam just above the painted area had a lip cut into it so the painted portion of the wall could slip under the lip, thereby ensuring that rain does NOT run into the wall, which would be the way of it, had I not put in a drip edge. The whole thing has been carefully calked and painted and looks no different than the end panel on the storage shed (which IS just a painted detail). If I should have to remove it, it would take about half a day to do so, and another half day to put it back in, but this way I’m not looking at those hinges.

Standing on the gazebo and looking down at the seating area. I made small tables for the outside ends of both the green and blue benches and put a larger corner table in between them, so people would have a place to set down a plate and a drink.

Christine calls these the harmony bells and very much wanted them for our yard. It’s strange how things work out sometimes. I won’t comment on the paranoia of those who arranged things so she had no work the summer we finished the yard, except to thank them. That job… But, as I say, what could have been a bad situation ended up working out beautifully for us! After a while the work all runs together, so it’s hard for me to remember all the things Christine did, just that I know I would not have finished that year without her. Also, thanks to her not having a job that summer we had plenty of time to pick out the pots and plants together, which was a very fun thing to do. And now we have the yard to enjoy next year and every year thereafter. So, if that sounds a little smug, well, you just should have seen the people who ran that department! But they got their pound of flesh, and we got our yard. Bless them.

Joseph

Joseph and Christine’s

Amazing Technicolor

Dream Yard

PART TWO OF THREE

This is a good view of the casita. The portion to the left without windows is the storage area, which is accessed through the back door of the casita, which is shown in an earlier photo. To the right, in the area behind the windows is the spa. I designed the casita myself, but I had quite a bit of help from Don Davis, my contractor friend in Las Vegas. He poured the slab, directed the framing of three walls and the rafters (we worked on this together, but I worked at his direction), did all the electrical work, and showed me how to roof it. Later on I had other professionals do the stucco work. I made the doors and windows myself and did all the other work, including the interiors. This is the structure I had the most help on, and it was also the one that took the longest to complete. It took me one solid year to get this damned thing done. Since then, though, it’s been all peaches and cream!

This is at the rear of our house. I painted the whiskey barrels the three primary colors and the three secondary colors. Those by the raised planter are turquoise.

The barbeque area.

Altogether, there are four redwood benches, all of which have routed designs on them. Those farthest away have cloud lift designs.

This bench is attached to the front of the planter. This bench, like the other three, is cantilevered over the bricks, so if I ever have to replace the bricks, I won’t have to tear up my benches to do so.

Joseph

Next: PART THREE (The Conclusion)