Timber Framed Cabinets

[Deadwood]

Let me start by saying that I have always had the greatest respect for Timber Framed Homes but at the time of my homes construction I lacked the skills and money to build a Timber Framed Home. So last year when it came time to rebuild my cabinets in my home I did a little thinking and dreamed out a design that I call Timber Frame cabinets. This enables me to get a miniturized look of timber framing in my home. I just thought I would mention it here to get your opinion on how they came out, but more importantly to let others know of how I managed to incorpororate the timber frame look without actually having a timber frame home in case they wanted to do so as well. Pathetic perhaps, but I will let you guys be the judge of how my design came out.

Basically I scaled the timbers down to 2x2 posts and beams. I kept them on the outside of the cabinets so that the frame would show, reversed from how a true timber framed building works. I then attached the face frames to this frame, added the drawers and cabinet doors. You will note in the picture that I do not have any toe kicks. This is just a personal opinion, but I think they get dirty quick and are hard to clean. To allow myself to get right up to the countertop, (yes I am married and yes I still do the dishes ) ) I cantilevered the top of the counter out 4 inches. I was planning on adding granite to the top of the countertop, but figured until I could afford to do so, I would use glued up pine panels as a good looking countertop now, and future substrate later. Everyone has agreed however that the counterop looks good just as it is.

There are a few trade-offs of course. The fronts are harder to keep clean because of all the corners and stuff, and the depth of the cupboards are also reduced because of the frame and cantilevered countertops. These defeciencies are made up in good looks however by having very strong kitchen cabinets. With the frame holding everything square and plumb, the face frames attached to the insides, and the shelving further sadwiching the face frames, the cabinets are bullet-proof!

In my case, I choose to use pine panels for the infill of the raised panel doors, Black Cherry for the face frames and Black Cherry again for the stiles and rails of the doors, al for contrast. For contrast again, I choose to use Spruce for the "timber framed" posts and beams. Personally I like to use different species of wood in a project, but you could easily keep them all the same species or substitute the species I used according to your own personal tatses. (Basically I used wood I had on hand). You could also build overhead cabinets as well. In my house, overhead cabinets would make the room conjested I thought and would be difficult to arrange tackfully so I left them out.

In any case, here is the link to a picture of my kitchen cabinets, let me know what you think of this unique design!

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/Cabinets.html

[beenthere]

Deadwood
I like it.
Looks very good (suggest posting pics in the gallery  ).
With that kitchen, seems the chain saw should be kept just behind the door under the sink. 
That way it will be 'at home' but out of the way. 

[Deadwood]

Thanks for the kind words my friend.

As far as the pictures go. I tried to do that, but I am having problems getting them posted. It gives a list of picture files that it will take, but my photo program (Paint Shop Pro which has a ton of different conversion files, lacks the AVI and ones like that.

What am I doing wrong?

[Furby]

Have you seen this thread for posting pics?
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=12416.0

[Deadwood]

NoI did not see that. Sounds easy enough. Thanks.

[hayton1960]

I too had "teething problems" when I first tried to post pictures in the gallery.
I had success when I reduced the image size till the file was less than 20 KB, then it worked OK when uploading (wont work if a file is bigger than that)

I like your kitchen, I like it when folk dare to do something different or unusual. I had an idea to make a big sturdy table with small jowl posts for the legs. I'm working on a chair at the moment that is a hybrid of a welsh primitive stick and a greek klismos form. I'll post a picture when its done.

Cheers, Jonathan

[Deadwood]

Oh you should like me than Jonathan. I try new things all the time. Mostly it has to do with economics, I have resourses like rocks, timber and equipment, but not a whole lot of money. I've also tried making concrete contertops, sawdust cement and framed buildings unconventionally. Sometimes ideas do not come out like I envisioned, but then again sometimes they do. I think my cabinets came out pretty well and I was proud to share them with everyone. If I get some time I will try to get a few more pictures on their like the "dog Center" (a built in cabinet for feeding and watering tall and short dogs) and a built in dog proof trash can. (I have 3 dogs).

[Dan_Shade]

my perfect cabinets would be all wall hung, so i'd never have to bend over to get anything out!  that, and a counter at 36", maybe even 38"

i like the look, well done.

[hayton1960]

I've also tried making concrete contertops, sawdust cement and framed buildings unconventionally.

I once had a notion to build a workbench with a concrete top (to get the weight and solidity but still with a wood top surface to protect tools and timber). I might just get round to it, most likely when I relocate. I havent enough space just here.
You ever done any of that cordwood stackwalling? I believe they use sawdust cement for that?

[Deadwood]

No I have not done any cordwood stacking, but that is a unique design idea. We ended up using sawdust cement on a floor in an old timber framed barn. We were afraid the weight of concrete would really be a problem on 4 floors so we approached the local university and thay gave us the ratios for sawdust to cement and it worked out pretty well considering the corrosive nature of chicken manure.

As for my concrete countertops, I used that on a vanity inside my bedroom. I colored the concrete in a rather novel way, using latex paint. The color came through fine, but was a bit dulled because of the gray base of the concrete. If anyone does this they might want to go with a few darker shades to get the color they want...say using hunter green to get a forest green. I went all out anyway. Even used rebar on 4 inch squares, wire-tied it and formed it all up. The only problem I have with it is dust. The dust shows up pretty well on the finished concrete surface.

[Deadwood]

Well I had some time this morning so I added a picture of my "Dog Center" just in case someone wanted to build one as well into their own kitchen cabinets. Let me just say that it works well as we have three dogs and all at different sizes and heights. (Black Lab, Shanauzzer, Basett Hound) We keep the dog treats and chew toys in the area behind the dog bowls which allows the dogs to eat at convienient heights. As for the counter top, it is located right beside the stove so my wife can place dishes and pots in a close location. All in all, the "Dog Center" works exceedingly well.

Here is the link to that added picture.

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/Cabinets.html

[srjones]

Great looking cabinets!

BTW, can you give more information on the sawdust/cement floors you mentioned? 

We ended up using sawdust cement on a floor in an old timber framed barn. We were afraid the weight of concrete would really be a problem on 4 floors so we approached the local university and thay gave us the ratios for sawdust to cement

[Rockn H]

Those are good looking cabinets Deadwood.  I like that design, you should deffinately put those in your album so we will be sure that we can pull them up later.

Now, what is this about sawdust concrete?  That's a new one for me.  Tell us some more about it.

[Deadwood]

Well since two people asked, I will explain a bit more about the sawdust cement. Basically instead of using aggregate like sand and crushed rock, you use sawdust instead. Now I am not so sure bandsaw mill sawdust would work as good as the old circular mills because the sawdust particles are so small. You basically add a bit more cement to the mix and stir everything up well and then pour. In our case we wanted a concrete floor that would be placed over wooden framing. We were concerned about the weight of typical concrete on the wooden structure but still wanted a floor that could be scraped and cleaned, water proof and smooth, and thus switched to sawdust concrete. It worked out well and lasted over 30 years.

Now the sawdust cement that involves cordwood stacking is a bit different. It uses sawdust cement as a sort of motor that has some elasticisty to it. Because of the sawdust, it shrinks and swells with the amount of moisture in the air so that you cordwood walls are fairly flexable.

I looked into building a cordwood shed a few years ago, but kind of forgot about it. As a few of you know, I am a die hard snowmobiler and also work at a locomotive engine house...also known as a round house. I always wanted to build a semi-circular snowmobile shed, but as you know, regular construction round buildings do not go very well good together. Now cordwood construction would however. Thanks for kick starting that idea!

[Jim_Rogers]

Would you share the formula for mixing up some of the sawdust cement?

Jim Rogers

[Deadwood]

Sure, but I will have to consult the Sawdust Cement expert for the recipe...my father!

Now just keep in mind one thing. Sawdust Cement is designed to be light in weight, it is not very strong. I don't think it would be allowed in any sort of building code or structural capacity. I figured you people knew that, but I just wanted to make sure I was clear on that point.

[beenthere]

I'd be curious as to what you end up with when (if) the sawdust rots away.  Something like 'seafoam' crete? 
Maybe good, maybe not.  I doubt that being 'encapsulated' in the concrete will keep oxygen away, and if not, the wood will likely (I'd think) decay as time passes. Hmmmmm?

[ohsoloco]

Nice cabinets    I'd personally like to see a shot and description of the dog-proof trash can.  I bought a cheap trash can at Wally world that has a plastic lid that flips up when you push the button on the front...I mean it USED to flip up    Now that there's nothing to hold the lid closed, the dog can easily get into the trash, so I had to put the trash can on the basement steps behind a closed door....but now that heating season is here that door is open when I'm home. 

I've been thinking about building my own wooden, dog-proof trashcan holder for a while now.  It'll just be temporary for now, since I'm not exactly sure how my new kitchen will be set up. 

Back when that trash can worked, the dog used to see me hit that button and the lid would pop up.  She never hit the button good enough, but she used to bounce her nose all over the top of that lid to get it to open 

[Deadwood]

I have added some pictures of that dog proof trash bin. That's proably not what you expected as it is a pretty simple way to keep the dogs out of the trash and their dog food, but it works. I guess if there is any downside to it, it is that it takes up quite a bit of space that could be otherwise used for dishes/ pot storage. As I note in the pictures, there are two of these cabinets located on each side of the refridgerator. The one on the right is used for trash and dog food, while the one on the left is used for recycling materials.

As I said, this works well for our house, but may not work for you. In any case I am just glad to be showing you some of my ideas to get people to think outside the box so to speak. While you are thinking about new ideas though, think about using another wood type besides Oak. In my humble opinion, it is way, way, way over used.

[Deadwood]

Hey Beenthere,

I am not so sure the sawdust rots as you say. I do not know what happened to the concrete internally of course, but the concrete I speak of lasted very well. In fact it lasted over 30 years as a chicken house flooring. That was 30 years of using a garden tractor to scrap the floors, shovel and resawdust every 6 weeks or so. In the end we burned the old barn out from under the flooring I speak of, so other than remembering how the surface appeared at the time it was burned, I have no way of really judging how the concrete reacted internally.