Welcome back to the past commissions series.

You can see the first three parts here:

#1 Batman Plaque
#2 Oak French Armoire
#3 Painted Alcove Cabinets

Today's post is #4 Oak Kitchen Nook.

This was a commission for a very good customer of mine.

Before we had met they had a kitchen made by another company.

And to be fair it was a very well made kitchen.

Their was a space behind the door that had been left empty.

The customer asked me for ideas, The only criteria being a bin cabinet and a small bench.

The Design.

Here is a photo showing the surrounding ,existing, cabinets.

I prepared some designs and we discussed the possibilities.

In order for the design to work I needed to copy and compliment the original cabinets in every detail.

I took extensive measurements.

We decided on, the bin cabinet which would house a plastic bin, a set of two drawers, a bank of smaller drawers and the bench. The worktop was to be in oak and have a 'L' shape to it.

The knobs in the photo were temporary until the granite ones had been made.

The design was agreed and I began preparations.

Making The Kitchen Nook.

I choose my timber very carefully and matched the grain as closely as possible.

The rest of the worktops were in green granite, so I had so room for manoeuvre, I went with my favourite quarter sawn oak for the top.

I machined all the oak and began cutting everything to size.

I made the cabinets first from birch ply and then applied the front frames.

The door was mortise and tenoned. This also had a moulding applied to it which had to be matched to the original.

I had a router cutter that was almost but not quite right , but after using another two cutters I was able to perfect it.

The drawers were hand dovetailed in solid oak and mounted on soft close runners.

The smaller drawers were finger jointed and particularly fiddly.

The bench was also finger jointed from 2" oak. I had the opposite problem with this as the large finger joints were very difficult to get a good joint. The timber was swelling at fractionally different rates and causing problems.

The bin had to be ordered and it was surprisingly awkward to get the right size. I mounted it to the back of the door in a way that would allow easy removal.

I then coated it all with three coats of Fiddes Clear Glaze.

Installation.

This was reasonably straight forward although there was some scribing to do.

The trickiest was the bank of drawers on the worktop as I had no room for error.

An there we have it. I was very pleased with how it turned out and people assume it has always been there.

If you have any questions about woodwork, furniture or being self employed as a craftsperson let me know.

I know my wood and I have spent years teaching myself furniture making , furniture history as well as living it as a self employed cabinet maker .

I am also in the process of writing a

'How to series: Setting up a Woodworking Business'

Which you can read here;
Part 1: Workshop
Part 2: Tools and machinery
Part 3: Finding a good timber yard
Part 4: Deciding what type of woodwork you are going to do.
Part 5: Advertising and getting Customers.
Still I am learning every day and the journey is the point.

Many thanks for reading,
Until next time,
@jist