Produce Cabinet

As part of our kitchen cabinet design, and at our request, our cabinet maker built a produce cupboard so we could have very easy access to our potatoes and onions. His design was to be an open cupboard with drawers, the bottoms of which would be very similar to Masonite pegboard only with larger holes. These holes would allow air to circulate thus extending the storage life of our spuds.

After Mel installed all of the cabinets, I decided we needed to have a door on the cupboard because I didn’t really like the look of the open cupboard. Mel returned to Logan and built the requested door.

In the meantime, our friend, Pat, was visiting. While we talked about the produce cupboard, she suggested we use the metal we had purchased and make the face of the cupboard door like the old tin pie safes of bygone days. I hadn’t even considered this application, but once Pat suggested it, we knew that was exactly what we needed. I called Mel immediately and described our new plan. He graciously removed the center of the cabinet door so we could replace his beautiful hickory with our metal.

Had I thought about it enough, I would have devised a beautiful pattern of flowers or leaves or some fanciful folk art involving cats or harvest scenes. Instead I made a geometric pattern of small, offset circles because, when doing something for the very first time (other than building a timber frame, strawbale house) simple is usually best.

First we drew a grid and pre-marked all of the drill points with a center punch.

Next I used a small bit and drilled holes.

Using a larger bit, I drilled holes to the desired diameter.

Scott used the belt sander to smooth the back of the metal so no one would get cut on sharp edges.

Scott applied silicone to the cabinet door and we inserted our metal.

Not bad.

Anyone for potato salad?