Built-in Knife Storage for Counters?
abbysdad
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Hi,
Is anyone familiar with putting a knife storage slot in butcher block? I have a few questions about how to implement it in a butcher block counter top for the kitchen.
Can you just use a circular saw and plunge cut it? Or is a thin router bit better? Is there a better way? And what is the best way to finish the cut area?
Any help or ideas would be appreciated.
Best Regards,
Chris
Replies
Hey, if you haven't figured out your issue here's a go.
If your talking about cutting into an existing butcher block slab, hopefully it's only glued together. Be sure it's not also blind nailed or held by an internal all thread.
That determined you'll want as thin a slice as possible. You might try using a Zip tool, you'll need to make up a jig for it to follow so you can make a slow steady cut.
Most butcher blocks are at least 1 1/2" thick. The bits for the Zip tool may be just short. I'd make several small passes and not try it full depth, no matter what you do.
As to using a router, if you can find a bit long enough and small enough for the width of cut you want. The router would be more stable but you still might need a jig to guide it.
On the other hand if the top is removable and has no nails or rods just glue why not rip the top. Add strips back seperated enough for the knives and reglue the top back.
Thanks for the ideas.
The butcher block counter top hasn't been purchased yet, so it's definitely not attached. We're going to buy it from John Boos. If anyone is familiar with their stuff and has an opinion on this, let me know.
I hadn't thought of just ripping a slice off the top and cutting the detail I wanted into the counter. That would be simplest and I could use dowels and food safe glue to make sure the piece is bonded well back into the main piece.
Any other ideas out there? This seems like an easy thing to do but on reflection I can think of a lot of ways I can mess it up.
Best Regards,
Chris
What's going to be under this counter top? I have this vision of a bunch of knives hanging down into a lower cabinet. Groping for something in there may turn into a real adventure - and a trip to the emergency room. - lol
Even if there's no safety issue, what will keep water and "stuff" from falling into the space below the knives. It could get pretty grungy down there. - lol
I've built a section of butcher block into my counter, and I WAS going to put in a knife slot in the back of the block, 'cause it's convenient, and cool looking.
Until I realized just how much assorted gunk, goo, bits and pieces of food, dirt, meat juice, etc. was going to wind up down the knife slot and collect in the back of my cabinet.
Instead, I put in a shallow drawer, only 2-1/2" deep, with a magnetic strip 6" from the front and extending the full width of the drawer. A magnetic strip hung on the wall behind the block also works very well.
Not that the knife slot thing isn't handy, but I hope you never have to clean it.
If you ARE going to do it - a stopped mortise with a 1/4" up-spiral carbide router bit, make up a jig to stop, start and slide along the groove, don't slip, and make several passes to get all the way through the block.
BTW- I'm an "abbysdad" too.
JonE hit on my gripe, that the slots collect crud (or drop it into voids unseen and inaccessible below).
My other gripe is that, in a completed top, you really can't make them "nice" but what they are 1/4" or so wide. Go put a tape on one of your kitchen knives to see how much "slop" a 1/4" becomes. So, your knives wind up dinged and dulled from being bashed around in their slots (not good for the knives).
The length of the slots can also be a hassle. Anything with a thin, or less-deep blade, ratlles from side to side in an "average" slot (short blades, like paring knives, tip out with little or no warning while wiping the countertop off, to add excitment to a person's life).
So, to me, "best" method is to, while building up the countertop from individual strips, take and dado the slots into the actuall "fabric" of the counter top. The slots would be matched to the knife inventory.
Second best, take and layout the slots for the kinves using drill bits of a suitable diameter. Connect the "dots" with athe best tool to hand (hollowing out the underside of the counter top if need be).
Either of those cases, put a hunk of melamine-faced material about 10" tall behind the slots to give a bearing surface to hold them upright better.
Now, coolest install I've seen was a generic, countertop knifeblock. This was fittied with some stout dowels that kept the block both upright, and slightly proud of the counter top it was set into. Block was removable, and the resulting "hole" was big enough to suit any cleanup needed.
Despite all the naysayers, I like the idea. I've even seen the slots provided in some 'upscale' cooking tables.
The slots tended to be a bit wider than you would expect, perhaps 3/16". I did not see any bevel, or chamfer, on the openings. Some even had the area slightly raised above the level of the tabletop.
Two areas seem to be the most common choices for the slots. One is along the back edge, in the overhang between the table frame and wall. The other is along the side, with a skirt covering the exposed side.
Another variation was a plastic box, mounted to the side of the cart, with a slotted top for the knives. In this case, the case can be removed for cleaning.
In commercial kitchens, they don't clean with a sponge; they're quite likely to hose things down. I have yet to see a problem with crud accumulating in the knife slots. Accidentally cutting yourself on the edges seems to be harder to to than you might think.
Still ... were I to do this ... I'd use a plunge router with a 3/16 milling (straight) bit, then put a chamfer on the edges- on both sides of the slot. I'd also chamfer the larger hole for the steel.
FWIW .... exotic hardwood tops aside .... I've had great service from such a counter I made using "wideboard." This is a commonly available glued-up pine product, about 1 /4" thick. I wiped mine down thoroughly with vegetable oil, and renew that as needed. A good SOS pad scrub (more for the soap, than the scouring), a rinse, and a new application of oil ... could not be more simple!
Good points all!
The current plan is to buy a maple butcher block top (John Boos) and extend the cabinet base about 4 inches out from the wall. The counter top would be about 30 inches deep (24 inch deep cabinets) and the knife slot would be behind the end of the cabinets.
The drawers and cabinets space below would not come close to the knives, with the back panel of the cabinet preventing hands from reaching into where the knives would be, and we would avoid the emergency room scenario above.
To solve the crud problem, we're going to recess a plastic/tuperware container below where the knives would hang. The panel containing the knife slot would be removable from the rest of the counter top, so we would be able to get at the tuperware container and clean under the knives.
We got the idea from an old kitchen and bath magazine. I'll try to post some pictures but right now life is really busy. All this planning is for the kitchen work we have slated to begin in January.
Thanks for the ideas and points. Keep the ideas coming.
Best Regards,
Chris
Not what you asked for but...
How about a recess in a stud bay above the splash or if no defined splash then at a convenient point in the wall above the countertop.
You can then use a ready made knife block that fits snugly into the finished recess and can also be moved around if needed.
Helps keep the countertop uncluttered or frees up otherwise occupied space. Less work, too, than butchering the butcher block.
Consider also using adjoining stud bays to develop additional storage or display shelves for the small items that are often needed but stuck in cabinets, drawers or also occupying space on the countertop.
i use to build commercial kitchens... and found a reallv cool drop in unit once... have no idea where it came from (mfg) cause i removed it from another kitchen...
it was about 1.25" thick and maybe 14" long... had a magnetic side and about a 1/4" slot the full 14"... it had a small (1/4") flange all the way around it... and a stainless "can" that you didn't see under it... the whole thing lifted out of the slot in the countertop for cleaning... with no knives in it it looked alot like the filler piece around the blade of your table saw... i don't know if it was custom or common at a rest. supply place... when the knives where in it... they were (in the can) and the whole thing could be pulled to clean...
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