Entry Details

Wall Cabinet Contest
March 1, 2005

Entry Details

# 61

Lance Rasbridge

Dallas, TX

Dimensions (inches):
	Width:	15
	Height:	18
	Depth:	2.75
Materials:		cherry, hard maple, slate, nickel hardware

I made this kitchen blackboard/key cabinet to complement our cherry frame and panel cabinetry and butcher block maple counters in the recently-restored kitchen of our 1911 Craftsman home. A 9x12x3/8 in. piece of New Hampshire black slate is dadoed into a mortise and tenon frame of cherry; the outer box of maple is backed by maple plywood in a rabbet. The blackboard-quality slate was very difficult to source, eventually coming from an archeological supply house. The hardware matches the kitchen cabinetry.

The carcase of maple is dovetailed for visual interest. The chalk holder has a stopped groove and is biscuited to the frame. The finish is boiled linseed oil and blonde shellac, applied carefully to avoid the slate.

Now we have a family message board and accessible grocery list, my wife never loses her keys, and my five year old son has a place to practice writing his abc's!

Judges Comments

AJH : Very nice. This is especially good since you went to great efforts to use high-quality slate, as opposed to white marker board.
LG : Every house needs one of these, quite functional..., shouldn;t beer be higher on the list?
RJ : An attractive selection of colours that go into creating a useful and functional cabinet. I do find the use of machine cut dovetails here rather shows up their aesthetic limitations. Tails and pins are the same size and the lap in the end of the cabinet top and bottom is rather heavy. If you have time and the inclination to learn how to execute hand-cut dovetails (if you can't already cut them) it would open up a world of interesting and variable dovetail layout options for you. I agree with Lee, the beer should definitely be higher up the list. Top seems about right, ha, ha!