HUNTER
We did this project for the home owner. This home was built in the late 1940's and constructed out of concrete block. We entered this project after all other remodeling work was completed. Our task was to do all the finishing trim work and install a new kitchen. In this case the contractor and home owner wanted us to construct the doors, jambs and trim for windows and doors from native red oak and the cabinets from hickory.
Since the interior door jamb openings were of concrete and the openings were wider than what is in standard use today, we fabricated the solid red oak door jambs in our shop. We had raised six panel colonial style doors fabricated in red oak by a local mill to standard size and thickness. Because the doors were made out of solid oak we chose to use stainless steel ball bearing hinges. For the interior door latches the home owner chose to use stainless steel lever handle style.
The red oak doors, jambs, base board, window and door trim were pre-finished in our shop using a satin, water based, odorless finish.
The kitchen we constructed on site. Using three quarter inch plywood for the sides and bottoms, quarter inch plywood for the backs and poplar for top supports, we built the boxes. We then set the boxes in place and added poplar rails to tie it all together. By constructing them this way they are very strong and will last a lifetime. We had the doors and drawer boxes fabricated to fit the openings. After the doors and drawers were installed we then trimmed out the cabinets in hickory, making the doors now flush with the facing. We treated the ends of the cabinets in hickory, three eights inch thick by three inches wide and then cut to fit. The tops of the upper cabinets were finished in hickory as well as the shelving. We used the same finish as the trim. The Formica counter tops were fabricated locally.