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by
Cathy Dalrymple
photos by John Gaucher
illustration by Len Churchill |
KITCHEN ISLAND (part 2) |
All the Fixings
I discovered a dowelling jig from Dowel Max that I really like
earlier this year, so I try to incorporate dowel joints whenever
I can. And for this project, dowels are used to join the top
rails to the stiles. The assembled face frame assembly is also
dowelled to the cabinet. I used a 23-gauge pin nailer and glue
to join the door divider trim.
The doors have a simple rail-and-stile design with flat panels
that fit into 1/4"-wide grooves cut in the stiles and rails
using a table-mounted router. Lower the stile onto the bit 3"
from the leading end, then lift it off 3" from the trailing
end to leave wood for corner joinery. The rails are routed their
full length. Join the stiles and rails with two dowels at each
joint, but with no glue just yet. Measure for panels to fit
within the grooves, cut them to size, then reassemble the doors
permanently with glue and clamps.
To match the hinges on my kitchen cupboards, I used European-style
cup hinges on the island doors. Before installing, fasten a
block of wood to the inside of the cabinet as a base for each
hinge. You could avoid this step by using butt hinges mounted
on the face frame itself. (See “Hinge Helper” below
for your options.) Attach the doors to the cabinet by whichever
method you choose, after planing them to fit before staining.
The shelves rest on adjustable shelf pins and have a 1 1/2"-wide
solidwood trim on their front edges.
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| Trim
pieces around the base and the top’s breadboard
ends cap off some of the island parts. |
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Build your drawer boxes according to the openings in your actual
project with 1/2" dados cut to accept the drawer bottoms.
The drawer sides are glued and nailed together with 11/4"
brads. Since the stiles attached to the gables are 1 1/2"
wide, you’ll need to make a spacer board as a base for
the drawer glides. After attaching glides to gables and the
drawer sides, slide the drawer into place and check the fit
of the drawer front.
I used ready-made, 36"-long legs for my island, trimmed
to fit in the space beneath the overhang. As I measured and
cut, I left room for vinyl feet to protect the legs as they
slide. The legs are dowelled together with skirts that are set
back 1/4" from each leg face. The skirts also have an arched
cutout to boost legroom and give the island softer visual lines.
Attach the front and side skirts with dowels, then attach the
leg assembly to the cabinet with dowels and wooden corner brackets.
Attach a 3/4" x 3/4" cleat to the top edge of the
skirt using #8 1 1/4" screws. This cleat also helps to
secure the tabletop later. |
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1.
Consider the tabletop and island body
2. Cutting the jigs and hinges
3. Finishing up, required materials |
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