CABINET WORK
Bamboo Vanity Cabinet
I used Solid Core bamboo material for the top, doors, drawer fronts, and face-frame of this vanity cabinet. The rest of the cabinet is built from wood core cabinet plywood with a matching bamboo veneer.
This is one of a pair of "his and hers" English walnut built-ins. This is hers. The two pieces face each other at the entry of a master closet and dressing room. As such, they could not be photographed together. Her piece utilizes more of the silver-colored sapwood, a portion of the walnut that isn't traditionally used. In this case, the sapwood contained beautiful curly figure, and gave the drawers three distinct color bands and a unique personality.
This is a view of his top. While the face-frame of hers is almost completely silver-colored sapwood, his is mostly the classic dark brown walnut tone that most people would recognize. For me, this made the whole piece feel more masculine. One of the most rewarding aspects of doing this project was of course the wood itself. In this case, the walnut came from locally harvested, kiln-dried slabs of retired orchard trees. The trees have a productive lifespan of many decades, and then gradually lose their productivity. The operators of the walnut orchard allow a few aging trees to be removed each year, making room for younger trees, and supplying a local small-scale expert miller (literally a backyard operation) with some amazing material. The slabs are air-dried slowly and gently over a few years (approximately one year per inch of thickness), and then finished in a state-of-the-art kiln, which my client and I had the pleasure of touring.
Hands down the biggest single cabinet I have built.
The client wanted a maximum storage pantry given the available space.
Dimensions are 24" deep, 30" wide, 92"tall. Maple, with birch interior.
Three deep drawers in the lower half of the pantry made room for pots and pans, etc. Full-extension drawer slides allow easy access.
Wine and spirits cabinet in clear-finished eastern cherry.
This relatively small unit actually holds nearly 100 bottles.
Built-in cherry bookcase to match the wine cabinet.
Afternoon light.
Vanity cabinet in clear, vertical grain Douglas fir.
Powerful quarter-inch rare earth magnets create a silent latch.