kitchen cabinets

Our kitchen cabinets were custom built by SuCasa Cabinets, a really fantastic local cabinet company.  Rick deserves full credit for putting up with my unusual requests during this project, and I am sure that at times he thought I was crazy (don't worry Rick, I won't hold it against you!)

The reason we wanted plywood cabinets was twofold... we thought it would reduce the cost of the cabinets (turns out we were wrong), and we loved the unconventional look of them. I have always been a fan of flat-front cabinets, but solid wood is tricky because of warping and cupping.  Veneer looks great, and  plywood is just a very honest and industrial version of veneer.  Especially with the edges exposed!

From a cost perspective, it turns out cabinets like these are actually a little bit more expensive than standard cabinets... the reasons for this are:  

• There is extra labour involved every step of the way.  Screwing the boxes together, finishing all the exposed edges, leaving the frame exposed, cutting out the handles, oiling everything by hand.
• The Appleply plywood was more costly than standard ply, as well as an upcharge for NAUF glue.
• Hardwax Oil isn't cheap either

But, now no-one has a kitchen quite like ours.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely!

Here are a couple of inspirational photos of cabinets that I love.  I took these with me when I went to meet with Rick to see what would be possible.

inspiration: image from dwell

inspiration: kerf cabinets

I then sourced some plywood called "appleply" through Upper Canada Forest Products.  It is a type of plywood with extra layers so that the edges can be exposed without fraying.  It's made with NAUF glue and domestic white birch, and then Rick finished it with hardwax oil (I know, that all goes without saying at this point.. and yet I feel compelled to mention it yet again).  The boxes of the cabinets are screwed together wherever possible (instead of glued and nailed) and are constructed of NAUF birch plywood.  And so without further ado here is our finished kitchen!

This photo shows the kitchen how we actually live in it, complete with cakes that didn't rise and wood stacked too high outside the window.

detail of drawer interior

detail of lower cabinet cutout

detail of upper cabinet cutout

You can see in the detail shots the lovely striations of the exposed plywood edges.  The ends feel just as smooth and satiny as the fronts.  We decided on the cutouts instead of hardware because to me if feels very organic to have the handle integrated instead of applied.  The look is unusual for sure,  but that's what we love about it!

Soapstone counters by Canyon Soapstone.. more later!

The open shelving - a first for me.. would you do it?

I am getting used to the open shelving, although because I like to have everything just so I am feeling a strong desire to replace my motley crew of mugs with something more appropriate... and handmade.  I have two by Meghann Hubert which I love, so I think I will add to the collection! 

I am so thrilled with the finished kitchen.. the cabinets function beautifully, the finish is durable, and the interiors don't smell like new cabinets (in fact, they don't smell at all!).

I have too many photos to show you all at once, so you can look forward to seeing the islands and the bathroom cabinets in upcoming posts!

Osmo oiling

Today is the day before moving day!  Yesterday Greg and I spent 18 hours cleaning and buffing at the house, and I am exhausted but happy.  I thought I would show you a few more pictures of the oiling process, and my next post will be from the new house as soon as I get the computers up and running!

the bare plywood

 I took these shots as Greg was oiling the wood for the floor in the loft.  He got one coat on before installation, and this was his system..

you can see how thick and sticky this stuff is.. much elbow grease is needed!

 We have used a few methods for application throughout the build, here Greg used a rag to wipe it on...

then a squeegee to wipe it off...

a clear blade works best.. black blades colour the wax 

the foreground is wiped, the background is not

After being squeegeed, the oil feels almost dry.  Really, we should probably have buffed each piece with a white rag at this point, but the sheer volume of wood we needed to oil was overwhelming.  Greg checked to make sure there were no thick spots, then stacked them to dry overnight...

the drying system.. my man is so clever

I have so many photos to show you of the finishes that have gone in!  Seeing it all come together has been so exciting, and I can't wait to show you!  Think happy moving thoughts for us!

plywood ceilings?

Whenever I mention that we are using plywood for the ceilings.. people look at me funny.  I think they are picturing this...

And while this is perfectly appropriate and economical for a shop, we were inspired by ceilings like this...

sourced from dwell

And this is what we settled on...

my photography skills (or lack thereof) are not doing this ceiling justice

To keep things simple (and costs down) we used simple 4 x 8 sheets which we purchased from Upper Canada, it is C-grade domestic white birch, whole piece face 1/2" plywood.  We requested NAUF glues, which turned out to be simple enough, it just meant waiting a couple of weeks for them to be made.  Oh, and as usual an additional charge.  I can't help wondering if (or should I say hoping that) one day manufacturers will move to NAUF products as the standard rather than the exception.

Greg has been painstakingly softening the edges with a router, and then hand-rubbing them with hardwax oil before they go up.  He can only do about 15 sheets at a time, so many evening and weekend hours have been spent on this task.  I am quite sure he will be glad to see the end of it.

the ceiling before and after.. Thank you Joel for all your hard work!

this shows the gap along the wall above the kitchen... we'll need to come up with a solution for this

The ceiling sheets have all been installed with exposed chrome screws.

The product we are using to finish all the wood surfaces in the house (ceiling, cabinets, floor, closets) is a hardwax oil.  We've actually used two brands... Eukula and Osmo.  This was not intentional, but we purchased some leftover Eukula from Koeda which they had hanging around.  Koeda is a local hardwood floor supplier, manufacturer, and installer.  They are my go-to guys for hardwood, and if we were doing any in this house they would be the ones doing it.  They generally use the Osmo, so for the rest we will be using that.  You can read all about the benefits and technical info on the links, but I will just mention briefly what a gorgeous finish this makes.  I have long disliked polyurethane for how it turns perfectly beautiful wood into something that looks plastic.  This oil is the answer.  It is widely used in Europe for finishing wood floors.. even in public spaces like train stations.  The obvious upside is that you can maintain it easily yourself, and it will age beautifully.. like antique furniture.