Francis’s Kitchen

At long last, here is the kitchen that I made for Francis. Even now, it’s not quite finished. Actually, it’s not even close to finished. Tasks remaining: knobs, shelves, dials, a back, paint/stain. The absence of these things has not seemed to bother Francis, though. As you can see, she has fully stocked the kitchen and is practicing the domestic arts.

I have really enjoyed building this thing, the design and dimensions of which I ripped off of the Land of Nod.

Skip this paragraph if you don’t care how it was made. It’s 3/4 inch pine, specifically those boards that are made up of several boards glued side-by-side. These are really uniform pieces of wood, which is nice if you don’t have a jointer or a surface planer in your shop. I made all of the curved cuts with a hand-held jigsaw, except for one of the sides, which I roughed in with the jigsaw and then finished with a router and cut-off bit (using the side I already cut as a template). All three of the cross members rest in dado channels cut in the vertical sides, but I didn’t have the courage not to add screws. Does anyone know if glue would’ve sufficed? The sink is a dog bowl set into a hole in the countertop. The oven window is plexiglass, and I’d actually like to add an oven light on a toggle switch. I haven’t looked to see how that can be done with a battery setup.

Anyway, I’m learning. I’ve added this picture to a separate “workshop” set on flickr so you can monitor the snail’s pace of my progress.