My new house has a kitchen extension with a window cut of the internal wall to let light into the dining room behind. It’s not the easiest space to make use of so I figured i’d put my large piece of staved oak worktop (picked up free on gumtree!) to good use and build a storage area with a little breakfast bar for a stool to slide under.
I designed it in Fusion:
Here is the work in progress so far:
and using a makerspace stool to demonstrate the breakfast bar function:
The frame is made from miranti and held together by crossed lap and dove tail crossed lap joints for the long side and maple dowels for the sides.
Marking the dove tail.
Design elements
A key design element was for the outer edges of the legs to be in a continuous line with the edges of the window. So it was useful to balance the worktop on some legs cut to the appropriate height.
Thankfully I also considered the skirting board in the overhang so that the worktop can be fitted flush to the wall.
I want to keep the light colour, so am planning to use some Osmo.
Meranti was more economical than oak which would have been my preferred material. Despite being pleased with the outcome, I cannot recommend Meranti for fine woodwork. . It’s very friable and tends to break up like shredded wheat when you are knocking in a tight fitting joint. I ended up pushing all the joints in with a clamp and piece of wood in order to support the fibres.
