Kitchen Island, Barn Power – March 2024 Update

Welcome to my shop! This is a quick update to let you know what I’ve been up to. 

This big chunky thing is the leg assembly for the island. I’m pretty happy with this! It’s similar to the woodworker that I’m used to: all mortise and tenon, all wood that’s going to stay looking like wood, and more deliberate grain selection. In my last update, I made the two end panels, and this one is next to where the seating will be. I made this out of the same tree that those end panels came from. 

The island is set up with this leg assembly, with an open area for stools and seating, and then the end panels built into the cabinet section on the other half of the island. 

I’ve also been working on the trim for the kitchen, specifically the risers and tread for the steps and the trim that goes on the wall by the appliance garage. There’s less trim in the kitchen compared to the sunroom, but there’s still a lot of trim to make. I’ve also started working on the upper cabinets, so a lot of parallel work going on!

Some unfortunate news is that Triton and I have parted ways. I have been a brand ambassador for Triton since 2016. They were the first company to come on as an ongoing sponsor, and they really helped support me and helped me build up the channel. It’s sad to see that relationship end, but I have to acknowledge all of the amazing opportunities and experiences I’ve had because of that relationship. I got to travel and meet a lot of people by going to Triton shows. They are just a fantastic company to work with, they always made me feel like family, and I’ve made a lot of great friendships and relationships with the folks that work there. I’m saddened to see that go, but that’s how it goes sometimes. 

Now let’s head out to the barn. The last time I did a barn update, I had just received a transformer and was waiting to be able to hook the barn up to it. In early October, I trenched and laid the wire to connect the transformer to the building, and the changeover happened shortly after that. So now this transformer powers the barn, and the barn is completely separate from the house. 

So now the barn has this big gray box with the meter in it, which is super nice. The service coming into the barn is 400 amps, which is split into two 200 amp services. 

I have one 200 amp panel here and I left the other one off, because I will probably end up running that into a rotary phase converter and powering anything is three phase. 

Other than that, there’s not a whole lot going on in the barn. Most of the time, this is being used as a staging area for various things in the house project. There’s some trim here, and the stove hood, as well as some appliances as well. The barn has made it a lot easier to have all of these things going on at once. 

Thank you, as always, for joining. I greatly appreciate it! If you have any questions or comments on whatever I’m working on, please feel free to leave a comment. As always, I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have. Until next time, happy woodworking!