Coffee Bar

I wanted to make a tea box but we didn’t have room for a tea box on the counter. Then my wife and daughter started making fancy drinks with syrup and we had those syrup bottles on the counter. Then my wife started making coffee at home with our very old drip coffee maker and that needed a place on the counter. That was the last straw. Time to make a coffee bar. I started by figuring out what I wanted to do for the fridge. Previously we had a chest freezer in this location and it was my intention to buy a two drawer freezer to replace it. Turns out small undercounter freezers are incredibly expensive. I suspect because they are a niche market for large custom homes. I switched directions and went with a drink fridge instead. Another issue we have is too many drinks in our main fridge and rather than have a second fridge in the garage the plan was to move the chest freezer to the garage and install a drink fridge here. Once I knew that it was quick work to figure out the dimensions of the space. The wall is straight in this spot but curves off to the right so I maximized the drawer width and set the depth to align with what the fridge needed.

The cabinets are made of poplar and birch plywood and painted white. For a small project like this a I prime with a roller and then use a few cans of semi-gloss spray paint which gives a nice finish. The top was white oak which was surprisingly expensive even though it wasn't quartersawn. I did some projects with this wood a few years ago and it was much cheaper. There was already power for the fridge and I ran the led lights from a transformer in the cabinet to the shelf above and used a remote for the light switch. That door has a sliding door so I couldn't really run wires. I used a metal bracket for the floating shelf. I was amazed at how much tea and coffee we owned in other cabinets. It barely fit. 

Tea Box

I've wanted to build a simple tea box for a while but never had any place to store it which is why my next post will describe the coffee bar I designed and built. I thought about going bigger but I wanted to keep it on the counter so I figured more compact would be better. Each of the squares is wide enough to hold your standard tea bag in a package and there are six spaces. The idea is you can present this to your guest to allow them to pick out the tea they want. I did mess up a bit when I built it and it wasn't as deep as I intended. I measured incorrectly and was off by a half inch. Turned out okay though as I just don't cram the tea in and they lay down a bit which is better for viewing the packaging anyway.

The wood is Sapele and I wanted something interesting for the top and went with a subtle Disney theme. The box lid is set in grooves as is the plywood bottom. The hardware was brass hinges and I had some 1/8 inch brass lying around so I decided to make my old lid lift hardware. It's just a brass plate with a curved front inlaid into the lid with countersunk holes for the screws. It's very effective for how the box is used since it mostly stays where it is and you just need to lift the lid. Finish was a wipe-on poly. 

 

Coffee Bar Sign

In a later post I will explain the steps that lead to deciding to build a coffee bar but this post is focused on the Coffee & Tea sign for the coffee bar. I'd recently seen some white oak and white epoxy signs and really liked the look. I wasn't sure how epoxy and white oak would behave but I had a few tricks to reduce risk. For some woods, epoxy can bleed through the grain but white oak is very close grained. In addition after I carved the lettering I sprayed on several coats of poly before pouring the epoxy. The only issue I had was there was still some holes in the wood and I got a lot of bubbling that happened during the cure despite using a heat gun. Next time I will use a wash coat of epoxy first. Still turned out great!