quick update - cabs & butler pantry

Nothing new has been completed, but work is going on. So I'm posting some pics to prove it.
Nam and I put 6 of the cabinet frames together this weekend and we worked on the butler pantry (we're calling the new wall with the refrigerator and 6 feet of cabinets next to it - the 'butler pantry'). The plan, in my head, has been to use plywood for the butler pantry - to build around the refrigerator and behind the base cabinets next to it. Looking at the plywood this weekend though, we weren't really excited about it. A fresh stack of OSB did catch our eyes though, so we brought a piece home to try it out. We thought it worked pretty well for our industrial'ish apartment.

Anyways, to make a long story short, we started building out the butler pantry w/ OSB (oriented strand board), and now I'm having second thoughts. I'm posting a few pictures while I think about, so please let me know what you think. And a few shots of the cabinet progress too. Holla.

Remember my rendering...? not bad eh?

The Cantilever Shelf

After several weeks looking for a shelf system or hardware to make this shelf a reality, its finally up. I really wanted a shelf to cantilever over the sink side of the kitchen (8' long). Surprisingly the only thing I found that was even close was Hafele hardware that was only available in the European catalog...? So, I ended up building a torsion box and anchoring to the wall on three sides. Once the lights are installed and the underside of the shelf is covered it will be at its full strength, and we'll be able to judge how much weight it can support without any deflection.
Here are a few shots of the process while it was coming together:


(The dirty reality)

Below is the box core. The idea of the torsion box is similar to honey comb core in Ikea furniture, and the plywood laminating the top and bottom add a lot of strength like an I-beam.

In this picture you can see some of the probably 14 anchors and screws holding this massive shelf up (about 8' long by 1' wide).

BX cable coming in the back of the shelf into the front channel for the light fixture.

Soffit

Nothing exciting to say about a soffit.
I'd rather not have one, but it was necessary.
At least it's in and almost done. Here's the soffit:

Primer

Benjamin Moore - Natura zero VOC primer

Ikea Expedit hack = closet shelving

We've had a Expedit shelf from Ikea sitting unused in our second bedroom (left from previous owner). Rather than hauling it out and throwing it away, I at least wanted to use the pieces. So this last weekend we finally tried our own Ikea hack to use the pieces of the Expedit to make a linen closet. Here's how it turned out.

We used the outside edges of the Expedit as shelves and the small square interior pieces for support screwed to the sides of the closet. To cut the shelves down to size I scored the laminate with a utility knife and used a circular saw.

Still need a little touch up paint on the back wall, but we're happy with the result.

Drywall

The drywall is up, and tape is on. Just need a few more passes w/ the mud and some sanding and we'll be paint ready. Then just the tile, and the cabinets, and the counters, and whatever....

Preview of the lights

Just wanted to post a few pictures of the lights. It should look quite different once the sheetrock is up and painted, but just a preview.

I'm pretty excited about the fluorescent, it's still exposed in these pictures, put will be recessed in the top of the wall once it's clad.

from the other side:

The light is nice with a mix of halogen and fluorescent:

Just the halogens: