New Kitchen Bench in my little Garden Cottage

ClissAT

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I have a granny flat on my property that I rent out. It has always been very basic which suited some but put many off renting it.
So over the years I have upgraded as I could afford.
Last September I saw some beautiful slabs of camphor laurel & thought one would make an excellent kitchen bench in the cabin.
I chose one cut from a log in the saw yard which then got wet in a big storm. Once it was put in the solar kiln it quickly warped so was not ready to be dried that quickly.
With the wet season approaching I was given alternatives of other timbers & I chose some slash pine planks.
There were many dramas & the time line slipped from October to February.
This has meant that I have been applying the 2pack in the wettest time & doing the hot work in the worst conditions of heat & humidity.
So after all of that it is finally done.
Here are some photos.

The kitchen is inside this end of the cabin. The window is the one you see from inside in all the photos.
Cabin 7 for GT.jpg
This is what the kitchen looked like before. On the right is a large sliding glass door which was the 'front' door.
cabin kitchen3 for GT.jpg old kitchen.jpg

Here below are 2 of the bench ready for priming & 2pack finish. Note the interest by the cluckles! Particularly Julian who had to get right up to inspect the workmanship! The bench is around 600-700 wide.

cabin bench 1.jpg cabin bench 3.jpg


Here are 2 showing progress & finished bench. I was hoping it would remain the beautiful pale timber of the unprimed slab. But alas, it went dark. I wanted to pull down the cupboard on the wall & may yet do that but the young couple who have rented the cabin now would like me to leave it there for now. I also want to put up 2 sets of those chrome wire racks on the walls on each side of the window. I have ordered a chrome steel commercial 5 shelf rack on castors which I will collect from Brisbane in 6wks time. It is very similar to those you would find in the cold room. It will replace the wall cupboard & provide even more storage. It will be mobile so that it & the tenant's fridge can be placed at either end of the bench depending on whether the fridge is left or right hand opening. So the trolley shelf can be swapped to the other end to suit the fridge.
You will see the edge of the glass sliding door on the far right of the right hand photo below & it is not the front door now because the porch has been closed in making the door at the top of the steps now the front door. So I could include that glass door area in the kitchen. So the fridge can be put in front of the non sliding part of the door if it is a righthand opening fridge. If it is a lefthand opening fridge it would go against the left side wall. That is also a reason why I want to pull down the wall cupboard because it prevents the fridge going against the end of the new bench because it is too low.
I won't be adding any cupboard doors. They always get trashed anyway.
In the near future I will buy a microwave/convection oven to put under the bench. In the meantime there is the little benchtop oven.

Cabin kitchen bench 2.jpg Cabin kitchen bench finished.jpg

I'm going to build a little 2 step ladder out of the remaining shelf plank bits because due to the width of the bench it is almost impossible to reach across & lower the sash window. It does work properly & the top does come down too as in these recent photos the top part is down but might be hidden behind the rollup blind. The little ladder will be able to be pushed in under the shelf when not in use. It is the type that hinges up to make the second step.
 
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Ash

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That's a positive upgrade giving the place character and charm. Well done with the finish and thanks for sharing the inspiration. I too am wondering how to fix up our own small 2br granny flat to make it appealing to visitors and guests - and it will be a retreat for the family when the principal residence is being renovated...
 

Mark

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It's lovely piece of wood hey! Great job.

I laughed when I saw "Julian Assange" in the photo :D

Wish I had a granny flat... I'd be so much more appealing for guests when they say over to have their own little cabin.

Excellent example of the "Tiny House Movement" it's very livable by the looks of those pics and well built.

A garden cottage it is indeed... I agree with Ash, thanks for sharing your kitchen reno and cottage.
 

ClissAT

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Thanks guys, I have been wanting to do this change for a few years & get rid of the old chip board stuff.
All up the reno cost around $1600 including the timber, various paints, tubes of coloured silicon, stove & sink, plumbing, electrician to replace power points, add new ones & upgrade the power box so more than 1 appliance can be run at a time! The paint was very expensive at over $40lt but I wanted hard wearing surfaces due to it being rented. The primer & 2pack was over $250.
The cabin now has more bench space than my house!
If the bench had been made at a normal kitchen business or specialist craftsman, it would have cost well over $1000. instead I got it at a unique little workshop in Cooroy where volunteer retired tradies & craftsmen turn (mostly) camphor laurel logs & branches into all manner of lovely timber things to sell for not a lot of money.

Hey Mark did you also see Pauline Hanson sitting down in the hay under the righthand end of the plank (bottom right corner of photo)? :)
 

Mark

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Hey Mark did you also see Pauline Hanson sitting down in the hay under the righthand end of the plank (bottom right corner of photo)?
Pauline Hanson... hahaha :D that's gold (or I should say red). Fancy naming your chickens after political players - I love it!
 
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