Kitchen Shelves

The next on my list of shelving projects was the kitchen. Our kitchen and dining room are connected, kinda like a great room, so we have very little wall space and limited cupboards. We bought an island and built a cupboard to put with it on one side and a breakfast table on the other. We realized, though, that no one was using the breakfast table. Partly because we were storing things under it that did not have a home. We weeded several times, but could not part with many of the things because we do use them too often. So the decision was made to forgo the breakfast table until there are just the two of us again. I modified the table into a cupboard, but did so in a way that will allow me to have a table again someday without permanent damage to the top or legs.

I forgot to get a before, but you can see that I just made a shelf in the middle of the table, straddling the cross brace. I cut some 2"X2" wood to fit on either side of the brace and attached them with some screws to the inside of the legs. Then I put the plywood shelf on top and screwed it into the blocks. When I take this apart, the holes will be on the inside of the legs, under the table, so they will not be visible.

Then I cut a thin shelf and attached it the same way, but I only put blocks in one side of the table (so as to avoid putting any holes in the island itself). This only works because the items for this shelf are very light weight (breakfast trays). I left the other side open for tall items like the lard press (which I use for a cheese press).


Lastly, I made some curtains to go in front and hung them on a dowel rod (one was not long enough, so I cut extra from a second piece and spliced them with tape) and hung this on cup hooks screwed into the underside of the table. I made sure to put two close together where the splice was located. Now I can keep the things that were under there anyway clean and organized as well as other items since I have a shelf.


Next I needed a plan for my entertaining dishes. We have a mismatched set of everyday dishes, and I don't mind that, but we have serving platters and bowls and 'company' dishes that I like to have for guests or for taking things to church. I needed somewhere to put these that would make them accessible but not in my way.
We put a shelf above the hutch and put the entertaining dishes on here. That left us the top of the hutch as a second shelf for items, and these things are pretty to look at as well.