Tag: Kitchen remodel

The New Kitchen Floor is Now Installed

/ Matt Talley / 1 Comment

It has been a while since I laid a floor tile – like 18 years.  Things haven’t changed though and while time consuming and very detailed – lots of steps – I still remember how it is done.  There was no way that I was going to pay someone to do a job that I can/could do, so I took on the task of installing a new kitchen floor in our house.  the last of the major projects that I took on during our home remodel.

The job is now done and looks great.  Most importantly though, my wife is happy.  She has a new kitchen floor and it is exactly what she has wanted for years: a black and white checker board kitchen floor that is laid on the diagonal.  I am glad she is happy, because I REALLY don’t want to redo it for the next 90 years or so.

After ripping off 7 layers of old flooring, filling holes, patching a couple sections, removing 40+ screws and 100+ staples, and scrubbing the sub-floor clean, we were ready to start.  Starting about 9:00 one Saturday morning, I cut and laid ¼ inch water resistant underlayment – stapling in the field every 4” and along the seams every 2” with narrow gauge crown staples.  Starting about 10:00 the next morning, I vacuumed the whole space 3 times to clear any and all debris and locked the puppies out of the kitchen.

Because there is not ONE SINGLE square or plumb wall in my entire 90 year old house, I snapped a grid in the middle of the floor, squared from the doorway leading from the living-room, so that it would look square as viewed from the main room of the house.  I applied glue on ½ of the floor and started in the middle of the room and worked toward the south wall/breakfast nook.  Stamps-With-Foot cleaned tile as she pulled it from the cardboard boxes (success is in the details) and handed me them as I laid the field and she cut most of the edge pieces as I marked them.  Her help was GREATLY appreciated.  We laid the other half of the floor, starting about 6:00pm Sunday evening and finished the last piece about 11:30pm.  Not too shabby for one weekend’s worth of labor.

I let the glue cure for five days before sealing and then applying 5 coats of satin floor wax.  Pre-painted (by me) ¼ round trim was applied around the edges of the walls and cabinets before I very carefully brought the appliances back in and reinstalled.  The VC tile I used should outlast my grandchildren and just needs to be scrubbed every other week, then stripped and re-waxed once a year if so.

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House Remodel Status September 2, 2016 – 7.5 months in

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Here is the house/garage re-build/build status for the 1st part of September.

  1. The F-Bomb Garage has been painted – at least the outside walls.  I need to paint the trim and doors next.
  2. Repaired some major issues with the trim and siding on garage – real unhappy with my garage builder!
  3. Front yard is still green, but need to clean and re-seed the back yard.
  4. There oar only 2 rooms in the house that are complete and need no work at this point.  Stamps-With-Foot could be happier with me right now…
  5. The mounting brackets for the granite in the basement are done and I will install them this weekend.
  6. Our washing machine went out…  fuck.  The bearings finally gave up the ghost.  need to haul it out and put another in.
  7. No garage power yet.  Huge load of confusion between the City of Seattle and my electrician.  Maybe worked out now, but we will see.
  8. The yard is completely fenced in and the rear gate is installed.  just a couple of tweaks and then power wash and polyurethane coat.
  9. The living room corner cabinets are in place, but not painted or installed.
  10. We have a small roof leak – motherfvcker!!!  it is around the kitchen vent and from where the moss removal team got too eager with the power washer.  I will go up there this weekend and seal it.
  11. Got a huge bill from our plumber for work that they didn’t do before abandoning the job.  wanted to scan my ass into the 3D printer and send them a copy.  Called a lawyer instead.  we have a plan forward.

House Remodel Update – Mid-March 2016

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All of the demolition work is now done and the rebuild has started. Electrical is moving along, the City inspector signed off on the new HVAC (there is a permit inspection for the basement still to come), and all of the rough work on the main floor is complete. The once scary attic is now clean and waiting for a reinforced floor and new spray foam insulation.  Some of the trim in the dining room and kitchen is done, specifically the cove/crown on the cabinets.  All the doors are now hung, and the Wainscoting in the new dining room is 90% up. I need to finish up around the double door and fill and prime/paint.

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Next steps:
Plumbing
Basement bathroom
Finish electrical
Camera system
New window install
Coffered Ceiling in Dining Room
Hutch built in the dining room vestibule
New security system (Hate ADT)
New drywall main floor
New main bathroom vanity
New Kitchen floor (both decision and install)
Finish trim out
balcony install
Attic floor install – pending engineering review
Attic and wine cave insulation – yes, we are that bourgeoisie
New basement door and back door – both will be dutch doors
Main floor hardwood floor refinish
Basement drywall finish and paint – pending city inspection
New carpet in Basement
Garage build

Leaving for France and our MONSTER To-Do list.

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Moving from one country to another, the actual process, is a huge pain in the ass.  So much to do and so many details…  The complexity of our move was increased because we will continue to own our place in Seattle and we had The Nana move into it.  Separating the stuff that would go and stay, fixing small issues like that leaking faucet, winterizing the garden, trimming trees, installing railings and additional locks, and organizing yard and house maintenance contacts was enough to make my head explode.

There were 4 specific and different to-do lists that were drawn up in June and added to as time went on.  I would like to tell you that it all got done, but the state of my backyard, the unsold table saws, the uninstalled basement railing and the incomplete bookshelf in our bedroom say different.

Things that were accomplished:

  1. Trimmed our vine maple (see pictures below of Stamps-With-Foot with the chainsaw)
  2. Winterized the pipes and garden
  3. Installed the front stair railing
  4. Installed a speak-easy in the front door, so Nana would not have to open the door to a stranger
  5. Leaves were raked
  6. The raspberry cage was retied
  7. Junk was removed from the backyard
  8. Bills were transferred
  9. The heating-oil tank was filled
  10. Rebuilt bathroom faucet and valve
  11. Cancelled our car insurance
  12. Trimmed the bushes
  13. New tires were purchased for the car we left for Nana to use
  14. Squeaky doors were oiled
  15. Wired a motion detector light in the back yard
  16. Installed an additional basement door lock and metal security screen
  17. My shop was cleaned and organized
  18. Had extra keys made
  19. Upgrades made in the alarm system
  20. We sold one truck and donated another
  21. My father-in-law planted a fig tree and served as grunt labor during Thanksgiving
  22. I drained and prepped the hot tub for 2 years of alone time
  23. Basement became slightly more organized
  24. I hauled two entire loads of brush and projects-that-will-never-be to the dump (and found a very nice Fender guitar and new oak office chair there, but that is a story/post for another day)
  25. Household paint was retouched
  26. Replaced burned out bulbs
  27. Blackberries were trimmed
  28. Removed rust and repainted the front door railings
  29. Did some final cabinet work
  30. Moved two houses worth of furniture and a storeroom into our basement, first floor and garage
  31. Unpacked my mom
  32. Had Cable TV and a home phone installed (we only used cell phones)
  33. Repaired outside wall where cable installer poked extra holes
  34. I busted some plaster in the living room that will wait until I get back in the summer
  35. Hung the TV over the fireplace
  36. etc…etc…etc…

The images below are proof of some of the work and evidence of what did not get done as well.

Kitchen Cabinet Work Update

/ Matt Talley

There was a flurry of activity to get our kitchen done before our move to France.  I got it 99% of the way – with serious help from Mr. Flood and my sweet wife.  It just needs a little paint on the overhead fridge pullouts, slight pull-out slide adjustment and the installation of the custom milled and matched cove molding.  That will all keep until we get back to Seattle though.  My mom will be able to cook in there just fine as-is.

I feel that the upper cookbook shelf ties the old and new sides together and adds that part of the overall kitchen that was missing.  The shelf also seems to lighten up the space a little as well.  The wine rack was put in specifically for my wife.  It started as a discussion in the breakfast nook one mid-morning, transitioned to a napkin sketch, and four hours later, the carcass was built, bottom brackets cut, and block top was in the clamps with the glue drying.  After the paint was on and top installed, my wife swooned.  It made me smile from ear to ear!

The paper towel holder was a bit of a conundrum.  With low upper cabinets, there was just no good spot either on the counter or under the cabinet.  I toyed around with a couple of ideas before I decided to mount the paper towels on the old ironing board (now spice cabinet) lower door.  I used some scrap popular and turned a section of oak down on the lathe for the rod.  It is inserted all the way through the shelf and both wedged and glued in place.  My grand kids will still be able to use that towel holder when they are my age.  yes, I over built something again…  On the brighter side, the paper town holder bracket, the small round shelf brackets, the cookbook shelf brackets, and the wine rack brackets all match, again marrying all the different kitchen elements together.

Almost as important to her as the wine rack was the trash and recycling can drawer.  After it was in and painted I caught her pulling it open and closing it over and over with a giggly smile.  The curves on the side match all the shelf brackets – I couldn’t help myself.

Kitchen Update – September 2013

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We are in the home stretch in getting the kitchen done! Holy crap, it has been a long road. I am so close that I can FEEL the end coming. My hope is that I do not get penalty points from the wife for finishing it just before we move away for a couple of years…

The recycling/trash pullout is 95% done – it just needs paint. The two above-fridge pullouts are in work and should be ready to go in by next Monday-ish – I just need the good weather to hold a little longer. There are 2 toe-kick drawers to paint and install. The new cookbook shelf and the little 6-bottle wine rack (Made block top) that I popped together are complete (wife loves!) and the shelf really marries the two halves of the kitchen together. We have spent 4 years moving a cheap paper towel holder around the kitchen and it is constantly in the way. I decided to build a new one and mount it to the lower spice cabinet door and spent an hour with the lathe, jigsaw, and router to make a holder that matched the rest of the kitchen. Stamps-With-Foot will prime and paint it tomorrow.

I will install the majority of cabinet pulls tomorrow night, but we need 12 more red glass handles for the remaining cabinets so that they match. There is still painter’s caulk and 1/4 round to go on in one spot and I have finally sourced 40 feet of matching cove molding for the tops of the new cabinets – by sourced, I mean I am making it on the table saw. So close….

Kitchen Cabinet Doors

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I am super trying to finish up the kitchen cabinet doors and get them painted and hung. I was putting the last coat of paint on them this weekend and the cat decided to help… I said dirty words – loudly. The cat didn’t care and looked away like I was insane for questioning her right to sit in fresh white paint. Had to let the door dry and sand cat hair off and repaint. I said more dirty words. The cat didn’t care and laid on her side in the grass, I am sure thinking: ‘Ima gonna do it again, jus ’cause. Dirty pink bald monkey…’

Fvcking cat.

Getting ready for our move to France – first round

/ Matt Talley / 1 Comment

We/I have some serious work to do before we move to France for two years and we have a list of stuff that needs to happen. Here is the initial “to-do” post:

The Lawn:
The Nana is going to be moving into our house and will be puttering around the yard, planting flowers and the like, but there is no way that she will be pruning trees, cutting the lawn, weed eating, edging, or pulling pine needles out of the gutters. There is a little time, so we have contracted a crew to start taking are of the lawn now so that any kinks will be worked out.

In the spirit of full disclosure, the timing of this yard work transition was set into full motion only when my lawnmower blew up. Really, really – kaboom! As in there was a silver dollar-sized hole in the side of the piston housing and oil spewed everywhere. Right up until that moment the lawn caed transition was just a good idea. After it died, I threw it in the back of the truck, so it wouldn’t leak anymore oil on my grass and called the lawn service. There were a couple of things after their 1st visit, that I would like done differently, but on the whole, so far so good.

Projects:
The Kitchen HAS TO BE COMPLETED. I have stopped working on my Basement of Doom, the Campaign Camping Furniture, wood turning and a couple of refinish projects until the kitchen is complete. I will work down from there and not take on ANY new projects. I have two chests of drawers and a Duncan Phyfe Table that I want to complete and sell so that I am not storing them.

Shop:
I hate my table saw. I am going to out the beast on Craig’s List along with my contractor’s saw (Just collects spiders and sawdust), 12″ band-saw, small joiner, small drill press and the miter-box saw. None of them will work in France (50Hz vs. 60Hz power issues), so I can’t take’em with me. They are all old and have had a good life with me. It is time that I pass them on to new homes where they will see less use and live out their golden years making soapbox derby cars and bird feeders. I am planning to use any money made to invest in both some quality carving chisels and I will save part for the down payment on all new, cabinet shop-quality, power tools when we return to the US.

I can’t not build stuff, so I am taking the Anarchist’s Tool Chest route and am taking a rebuilt an old ammo/tool box (see evolution in pictures below) into a more useful tool travel case and will then show up in France with planes (22 of them), carving knives, mallets, hand saws, chisels, etc… The plan is to make smaller more detailed items, mostly by hand, while I am there (I will be sourcing a lathe and doing some bowl work though…).

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Building Custom Cabinet Doors

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1. Buy dimensional 3/4″ poplar boards.
2. Plane to uniform thickness.
3. Rip 2″ and 3″ strips on the table saw.
4. Two dado cuts on table saw for 1/4″X 3/8″ panel groove.
5. Run each section on router because table saw is a POS and there is depth variation in all the grooves…
6. Threaten table saw with large iron maul – mean it.
7. Grumble a little.
8. Cut door stiles (sides) to length – Measure opening for stiles, subtract 4″ for stile width and add 3/4″ for double 3/8″ panel slot.
9. Write all measurements down on a non-descript sheet of paper.
10. Put measurements somewhere safe.
11. Take a 2 week to 4 month break because life gets busy.
12. Lose paper with measurements.
13. Tear house and shop apart looking.
14. Give up and re-measure.
15. Cut rails.
16. Lay all parts out and label, check sizing, trim two pieces, and pray a little.
17. Set up horizontal drill press to drill for dowel joints.
18. Screw up at least 4 initial holes.
19. Hit head in shop at least 3 times.
20. Build sweet dowel trimming jig for table saw – let head swell a little.
21. Cut 3/8″ off each dowel (8 per door).
22. Drill 16 holes per door.
23. Sand the cut-off end of dowel.
24. Dry fit first door.
25. Success!
26. Get out every bar clamp, hand clamp, and Quick-clamp that you own and set up clamping station.
27. Find original measurements for doors in the “safe place.”
28. Say dirty words very loudly. Repeat.
29. Add glue to dowels and joints and assemble door.
30. Apply judicious blows from wooden mallet to seat parts.
31. Get glue on hands and in hair.
32. Clamp up.
33. Wipe extra glue on door off with wet rag.
34. Repeat last 6 steps 8 more times.
35. Scrape clue, plane joints, and sand doors with 3 different paper grits.
36. Check and adjust door fit to openings and prime after more planning.
37. Re-prime and paint with two coats of white cabinet paint.
38. Mark, mortise, and install hinges on door.
39. Install red glass pulls.
40. Mark and mortise hinge/door onto cabinet.
41. Check fit and adjust 2 to 9 times.
42. Repeat steps 28 thru 41 eight more times
43. Drink three beers and swear to never build your own kitchen cabinets from scratch ever again!

Kitchen Cabinet Build and Remodel

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When looking at the house that we now live in the one room that had us on the fence was the kitchen.  it had original cabinets, but it was dark, dated, there were no outlets, and one wall was just a hodge-podge of appliances.  I have spent the better part of my very limited free time trying to fix those issues.  I have added a dishwasher, a knife rack, lots of paint, cranberry glass handles/pulls, outlets, pullouts, switches, a microwave, under cabinet lighting, build drawer organizers and am in the process of finishing hand made, period and house perfect cabinets for what was the ugly wall.  It has been a very long and laborious process.  I would never be this detailed in a house I was building for someone else – I would lose money.

Below is a gallery of the progress up until this point:

What I Want Thursday – 8/2/2012

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Below are the things that I find are present for me today:

1. More time with my children.

2. I want to stick to my new diet and workout schedule and not fall off the wagon and back into the cookie/café Mocha/lethargic/big-belly abyss.

3. For my wife to finish some long ago promised sewing tasks for me.

4. More book shelf space at home. We read more and more on our kindles and have sold many, if not most, of the paperbacks that have filled our lives for years and we are still completely out of space for our books. There are stacks on the floor in both of our home offices, to-read piles on each night-stand, fiction and history filing the living room book case, literature lined up on the basement hutch, cookbooks on the bottom shelf of the china hutch, and single volumes littered across the normally unoccupied spaces of our small home. We more shelves, not less books!

5. A finished kitchen

6. Painted lawn furniture

7. Filson Medium Travel bag. My son and I went to the Filson factory store and I fell into love/lust over this piece of luggage. I know that sounds weird, but I fly a LOT – I am a Platinum SkyTeam frequent flier member and a Gold OneWorld member. Quality, attractive, roomy, useful luggage is a necessity.

8. A cigarbox electric Ukulele for playing blues with a slide.

9. A proper car camping/glamping kitchen set up.

10. A few books: Passions:The Wines and Travels of Thomas Jefferson; The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook; Paris Between the Wars 1919-1939: Art, Life & Culture; Ernest Hemmingway bio and a two books of his letters (1&2), etc…

11. A Truck bed full of wooden wine/port crates/boxes for a couple of open projects at home.

12. To give Heifer International a menagerie of animals. That is my charity goal for the year. I want to save, gather, raise, find as much cash as possible to give to Heifer International by the end of 2012 for the purchase of bees, goats, cows, water buffalo, chickens, trees, training and hope. It will provide animals and knowledge that will change lives for the good. I will add a link or a tab on my front page to a fund status page/counter and update it as the gift grows.

Ignoring the yard and building stuff

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Horror of horrors, I did not touch my yard this weekend. My lush, Ireland-green grass (I am a wee bit narcissistic about my grass) was left to grow and stretch toward the sky in the weekend sunshine. I spent all available daylight hours outside and didn’t even attempt to take the mower out, turn the compost, or battle with my creeping nemesis – the dandelions. Stamps-With-Foot did a little weeding on Saturday, but the bulk of our weekend was committed to getting the kitchen cabinets done enough so that we could do a test fit and install.

Success! My wife was a priming and painting machine: taking care of the microwave cabinet, the lowers, and the drawers. The lower cabinets were positioned into place and their rock-maple tops fitted (waiting on the drawer fronts and pulls to be finished). I cut all the frames for the doors, assembled the fridge cabinet, installed it with my wife holding the thing up in the air (hehehe), tacked together the trash/recycling slider, and cut the shelves for the microwave cabinet. When completely done, our cabinet space will increase by more than a third, will include al the latest and coolest amenities (slides, organizers, spice racks, pullouts, etc…), and the new cabinets completely match the original 1928 built-ins, both in construction and style.

I need to finish the fridge top cabinet, install the drawers, add a corner cookbook shelf, tack up cove-crown around all, and one final coat of paint. SOMEDAY, this will all be finished and we will have the most awesomest kitchen a tiny, period appropriate, craftsman house can have!

I added a pic of Brodie lounging in the sunshine, just because.

We got some serious shiznit done this weekend

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As per usual, our weekend was jammed with crap to get done before the dreaded Monday morning came calling. Here is how it went:

Up at 7:30
Coffee makes me into a human being. Able to now form whole sentences without grunting
Remove panels from back fence for new hot tub delivery
Smash thumb, say F-word. Say again louder just because
Clear temp spot on patio for said hot tub.
Spend 10 minutes day dreaming about hot tub magic on a cold winter evening – snow falling into the hot water…
Three J-O-B related calls wake me from my hazy never, never land
Get bact to work making room for te most expensive lawn accessory I have ever owned
Put hot house tent on second planter box
I WILL HAVE LOTS OF RED TOMATOES THIS YEAR, DAMNIT!!
Say hateful words about last years green tomatoes
Paint primer on cabinet base
Get primer in beard
Don’t realize about errant primer
Take dog with me to C&P Coffee Shop
Get some weird looks
Wonder if I have a boogie…
Meet wife at home
Wife cleans primer off face
Wrap living room in plastic and cover floor – looks like a scene from Dexter
Wife paints around trim
Work on J-O-B stuff from home
Three huge Somoans deliver hot tub
Do not argue about price
More coffee with nephew at C&P
Pizza and game night at sister’s place
Mom talks smack about she “never” cheats at games
Lighting REALLY wanted to strike….
Dominate in board game after dinner!!
Take that, Mom!!!
Consume port
Sleep
Up at 8:oo – wife brought home Starbucks
Super love wife
Researched crazy Seattle building codes for hot tubs and decks
Talked to a couple of friends in Germany using Skype – we miss Germany
Made a plan for deck that will keep me from getting a fine – maybe
Work on kitchen cabinet base in shop
Clean shop a little
Daydream about the day when I have a work space larger than a prison cell
Fondle jointer plane and wood mallet
Move desk for mother
Help tape trim in living room and paint ceiling and help paint walls
Mention that wall color looks like mac&cheese
Receive sustained dirty look from wife
Do not comment about color further
More paint in beard
Notice this time
More working for THE MAN at home
Wife goes to club meeting
Fix drawers on wife’s dresser solely for the brownie points
Lock self out of house
Look at sky and shake head slowly…
Mark pad site for hot tub with paint and mark wiring trench path
Spray paint toe of left shoe
Say the F-word at least twice
Go to sisters house and bum dinner
Sister is a great cook, single, very pretty – just saying in case you know a gent 45 – 55 with taste and a real job… Has to be single and not a dick. Must love really obese dachshunds.
Wife home
Play the whole locked my self and the dog out of the house thing off like I meant to do it
She doesn’t buy it
More painting
Not a word said about Kraft wall color – not even a smirk. Want to sleep inside tonight
Shower
Send a flurry of work emails
Curse my work email server to a firery prolonged end
Retype all the email and send again.
Off to bed to snuggle with wife.

Thursday wish list – 6/30/11

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What I Want Thursday was meant to be a weekly post but due to the realities of my J-O-B and growing list of home improvement projects, it has now become a bi-monthly (hopefully…) utterance.   For this Thursday I would like:

  1. For traffic to slow the fvck down on 35th Ave! – A ticket was handed out last week for 62mph in a 35mph zone and 50+ seems to be the norm.
  2. For my kids to write me real snail-mail letters in addition to dialing the phone, typing a single line e-mail, or sending me a text.  I do not want my generation to be the last that prizes personal tangible communication.  I want my children to send Thank You cards, notes of congratulations, and sympathy.  Manners are small gifts we give to other people, often strangers, that mean so very much…
  3. For my kitchen remodel to be finished and done with. I would like a celebratory breakfast of bacon, eggs, fine pressed coffee, OJ, flakey croissants, and lavender honey at the table in the breakfast nook.  I would like a morning free of worry and noise to enjoy my breakfast in our new clean, bright, painted kitchen, while reading the day’s International Herald Tribune.
  4. Some BADASS/useful luggage for my frequent international travel. No more fvcking roller wheels!!  Real bags, that look good with jeans or a suit.   I like this one from Monocle, A similar one from a guy in Portland, and a new laptop messenger from Timbuck2 in all black.
  5. More book shelves. I need 8’ or so of shelf space in the office, 4’ in the kitchen for our cookbooks, and 3-5’ in our master bedroom to accommodate our home library.  Some cool bookend would be snazzy as well.  These or these or these would work nicely.
  6. For iTunes to realize I do not live in Germany anymore and to FINALLY switch my account over to a US one. Every time I buy a song or app, I get charged in Euros and I have to call in, explain the issue for the umpteenth time and they send me a refund for the difference in 10-14 days.

My kitchen knife-rack is cooler than yours!

/ Matt Talley / 3 Comments

We were given some really nice kitchen knives for our wedding – REALLY NICE.  I take pride in the fact that we never have dull kitchen cutlery and when my chef father-in-law comes for visits, he always remarks on the usability of our chef’s and prep knives.  Those were just Target specials that were leftovers and cast-offs from my parents and friends.  I was fine with them banging around in drawers and odd knife blocks.  Well, the new Globals, were above a shabby knife drawer and required a case that befitted there quality and beauty.

As part of the kitchen remodel, I am adding little touches that make cooking in our kitchen as easy and pleasurable as possible.  I decided to add a custom wall-mounted knife holder that would both protect the generous gift and make them immediately ready to use. 

Knives need a good hard wood to protect them (hardwood retain less mosture) and the harder the wood, the longer it will last through the years of little nicks and jabs as knives are withdrawn and put away.  I had some reclaimed maple flooring sections that came out of a local school gym that were just the right width and were bone-dry.  I went out to the table saw and cut 10 kerfs from ½” to 2 ½”.  I then glued and clamped two pieces together and let them sit for a day.  After the glue was fully cured, I cut off the original flooring grooves, drilled mounting holes, sanded it with 220 grit, and mounted it in the kitchen.  Dowels were installed over the screws in the mounting holes to make the installation seamless.  I taped off the wall and the contact strip where the knives would enter/exit and painted the rack and painted the rest a gloss white to match the eventual color of the cabinets.  One added benefit is that our Globals show very nicely in their new rack!  I am working on replacing the 9” crap chef’s knife with a Global sashimi blade and a 9″ bread knife.  Both the whe wife and father-in-law approve.