I blogged a few months back the I created a knife drawer for the farmhouse kitchen. No sooner was it installed did I realize it had room for improvement.

The bamboo block that holds the knives sits low in the drawer and I thought that was waisting space.

I removed the block and shortened it by 1/8th inch which was enough to allow for a small piano hinge to be installed at the back end. (BTW: it’s easy to use a good quality hacksaw to cut piano hinge so do not worry that you can’t buy a really short one.) I measured and install the block so it was low enough to allow my largest knife to fit below the top of the draw. I installed a small stop block under the front.

Now the knife block has plenty of space under it for the steel and even a heavy butcher’s knife if I choose to add one to the arsenal.

I needed / wanted to bake bread last week. Now that I use the strait dough method, it’s easy to vary a recipe … A LOT!

I started by dumping just about any grain I could find into the mixing bowl. That turned out to include about 2 cups of spent grain from the Saint George’s brewery, a half cup each of wheat germ and oat bran and a quarter cup of milled flax seed. Considering the bread recipe only called for a bit more than 3 cups of bread flour, I needed to make some adjustments. Here is where the combination of the strait dough method, past baking, and a heavy duty mixer with a bread hook all converge. I had approximately 20 oz of water with 4 tsp of yeast in it. That was enough for two loaves. So added about half the liquid and and most of 6 cups of flour. I then dribbled in the remaining liquid about a tablespoon at a time. My target is a dough ball that pulls away from the mixing bowl and leaves the sides clean while at the same time, not being very sticky to my hands. If I over shoot with the liquid, I just add a sprinkling of flour.

This bread is heavy! Tasty. But heavy. The bread has so much extra stuff in it that when I chilled a baked loaf in the refrigerator, it allowed me to cut the slides less than 1/4" thick (nice for those starch fiends on a diet).

I ended up with three loaves. Here i have cut half the loaf as thin as I like and am trying our a strawberry rhubarb all frit preserve. It’s also great as an appetizer when lightly toasted and spread with tomato pesto (which I also ended up making more of last last week and canned).

I preparation for the next kitchen fabrication, I decided I wanted to finally create a worksheet for the project. I’m sure every cabinet making shop has their won worksheet but no one shares them … until now.

This will take a few posts to explain and at the end, I will post the actual worksheet. In the mean time, here are the "moving parts" …

There is a top sheet which gets into decisions that affect the entire project. These are things like how high the counter top will be, how thick is the counter top material, how deep will the cabinets be, will there be doors or drawers for the base cabinets, and are these "inset" or "overlay" fronts.

There are also a bunch of fixed dimensions – the width of the stock for the cabinet bodies (aka the carcasses), the drawer sides, the drawer slides, the face frame material, etc.

From these data, a bunch of calculations take place for the "fixed" measurements – depth and height of a cabinet carcass, depth of a drawer, etc.

Once all of the calculation are done for the overall kitchen, the next step is for each cabinet. There is a page for each cabinet when the overall width of the available opening and the desired width of the cabinet get entered. There are also choices for the drawer configuration – 1, 2, or 3, drawer(s), usable depths, use a door on the lower portion, etc.

In all cases where there are choices, the recommended value is right next to where the actual value is entered.

The last step is the sheep shown here. It takes all the values and generates a cut sheet – with measurements converted to "tape measure" – aka 1/2", 1/4", 1/8" etc.

If you look closely you will notice this cut sheet does not yet include the finish fronts for the drawers/doors. It does include the carcass, the face frame, and the drawer boxes.

I am currently feeling like Jeff Fahey’s character in the final scene of Lawnmower Man – my molecules are about to vibrate into non-existence. … but let’s step back two hours …

As blogged, I now make my espresso beverages using the AeroPress. This means "hot water" needs to come from somewhere. I’ve been boiling water on the stove. The 15,000 BTU burner (yes, that is as much as the gas fireplace) does a nice job but is not necessarily the most efficient option. So, I did a little Googling and the consensus was an electric kettle was the most efficient solution – both time and energy use.

I ended up with the Russell Hobbs Electric Kettle. There were four motivators – good reviews, decent appearance, a "cordless" operation, and "set it and forget it" switch.

The reviews said it was fast and it is. I typically fill it about 3/4 full and it takes about 90 seconds to boil. The base plugs into the wall and has a quick connect nub in the middle. The pot sets on this nub so all you do is pick up the pot and it is "cordless" when you are pouring. The smartest bit is that there is one switch – "on". It’s a bit like a toaster – you press it on and when it is hot, it automatically shuts off.

While it is "yet another appliance" and I’m not in favor of that, it does serve a few purposes since it is good for making tea; will work for the French-press when I make coffee for guests; and most important it is quick for my espressos!

… oh. about that molecular dispersion problem … I was testing out the kettle yesterday so I made a double espresso and decided I should not drink it. I make it into a chilled mocha. That lasted about 2 minutes this AM when taking Zen out for her break. I then made my usual morning mocha – double whammy!

There are some things you can do when having a 100% custom kitchen built – assuming you’re working with the Rod Tidwell cabinet shop. Two of those are "what to do with the space under the kitchen sink?" and "how to hid the dishwasher?"

The typical solution under the kitchen sink is to install a set of doors and just hide everything. However, if you want some organization and you are installing drawers in all of your base cabinets, you might consider a split drawer design. The idea is to install two narrow drawers that fit to either side of the plumbing. In my case, I designed the plumbing under the sink to all line up front to back and thus maximize the available space to either side. In keeping with the look of the other cabinets, I wanted a single drawer front. As you can see in the photos, the large drawer front is attached to two narrow drawers.There is plenty of drawer space and it still leaves clearance for the plumbing.

Concealing the dishwasher is personal choice. Some people want the front to match the cabinets while others want it to match the appliances. There are special dishwashers with unfinished fronts designed to take a custom panel. This may seem strait forward but there are some caveats. Not all panel designs will match up to the dishwasher attachments points. I would go further to say *most* cabinet designs will require the installer to get creative. For example, to insure clearance when opening the dishwasher, the bottom of the panel front was beveled on the back side and the supplied metal cover was lowered.  The larger issue will the the handles. The dishwasher requires a reasonable amount of force to release the spring loaded catch when opening. The typical panel front dishwasher does not allow for pull hardware that mounts from the back; however hardware that mounts to the front is weaker. Add that a panel front (rails, stiles, and a panel in the middle) has only a thin layer of wood for the hardware attach points. All this is to say that you might experience some additional costs from your cabinet installer or some grumblings or a less than perfect job … hopefully not all three and ideally none at all. My solution was to two fold. First, I used a urethane glue and add a filler band of thin material to the back of the panel where the hardware would install. Note: The material must not extend beyond the back side of the rails and stiles holding the panel. Second, after pre-drilling the panel for the bin-pull hardware, I used a slightly smaller bit and predrilled into the metal face skin of the dishwasher. Note: Be careful to just penetrate the metal so as not to hit anything that might be inside.

After installing the panel to the dishwasher front, I then installed the pull hardware with the screws now having a good "bite" into the panel, the filler band, and the face skin of the dishwasher.