Mother's $10-Per-Square-Foot (or Less!) Earth Sheltered House: Part IV

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Then, to maximize our use of the kitchen's glazing, we made up some galvanized metal trays to serve as convenient interior window boxes for homegrown culinary herbs and placed them at the rear of the counter's surface, at the sills.

Concurrently, to define the boundaries of the food preparation area, we worked up a "floating" cabinet, or island, which we placed on the kitchen's east side. This 8' unit which assumes the shape of a modified parallelogram to enhance traffic flow—combines drawer and cabinet storage on one side with sit-down counter space opposite and a work area in between.

Since both sets of cabinets share essentially the same construction techniques (and were both designed on a modular theme), we've detailed a typical section in our illustration and will "walk through" the assembly sequence as well, highlighting the tricky spots as we go.

We mentioned previously that it's going to take a fair amount of shop equipment to successfully duplicate the cabinets shown here. Eco-Village staffer Dean Davis, who crafted the fixtures, had the benefit of a table saw (with a dado blade), a jointer/planer, a router, and a portable belt sander. . . as well as an assortment of hand tools that included a drill, a band saw, a block plane, file and wood chisel sets, a mallet, screwdrivers, a drawknife, a nail set, clamps, a scribe, a level, a doweling jig, and measuring equipment.

To start, Dean selected the best pieces of 3/4" plywood scrap he could scrounge from the remnants left over from various other construction projects. Using this "one side clean" material as a carcass, he completed the framework in poplar cut from the Eco-Village site, mating the standards with blind mortise and tenon joints. (Though most joiners would consider this species of wood inferior for finish work, we were determined to use indigenous lumber wherever possible and are not at all displeased with the appearance of the final dressed grain.) The exposed plywood was covered, as well, with 3/8" poplar panels, butted vertically and quarter-rounded at the edges.

The drawers themselves were made from white oak harvested on the site. Oak runners set into the framing uprights provided support, and dadoes cut into the length of the drawer sides were sized and positioned to match. It's important that this marriage be given allowance for seasonal swelling, and that wax be used on the mating surfaces, as well. Finger joints, made on the table saw with a simple homebuilt jig (see the accompanying sidebar), were used at all the corners, and the 1/4" drawer bottoms were held in place with narrow framing strips.

To make the doors—which are of a simple overlay design—Dean first cut the frames of 3/4" poplar, quarter-rounded their outer edges, then ran dadoes along their inner edges to accept floating tongue and groove panels ... one of which in every group required double tongues. Though this insert construction is perhaps more traditional, an alternative would be to use spline joints at every junction. Either way, the frame's stiles and rails are locked together at the corners with open mortise and tenon joints, which offer a pleasant appearance because of their exposed end grain.

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