Wine Cabinet, mission style

Here’s my rendition of a mission style wine cabinet made w/ quarter-sawn white oak. I made 5 of these in 2006. The project started as a pair of cabinets for my nephews’ weddings which I was unable to attend. After my wife saw the drawings she decided “we” needed 3 more – 1 for each of our kids & 1 for ourselves. I selected quarter-sawn white oak because wine & oak barrels seem to go together. I wanted an easier way to read the bottle labels so I decided to use roll-out trays to hold the bottles rather than cubby holes. I also wanted a place to store glasses, hence the glass rack. The only thing left was a drawer to store cork screws, coasters, napkins, etc. The top evolved into a piece of honed, 1” thick solid Brazilian slate – very heavy & impervious to everything! The pull-out shelves ride on blum undermount tandem slides.
As usual, I agonized over the best way to finish the cabinet & began experimenting w/dyes, stains, etc. What I ended up with was a relatively simple process: 2 coats of Watco dark walnut danish oil, 2 coats of Walnut gel stain (Bartley’s, I think) & 4 coats of gel polyurethane. It produced a nice “antique” look & highlighted the rays & flecks of the oak.
Since I dry fit every project & then tear it down to finish each individual part before final assembly, it took almost as long to finish & reassemble as it did to build it in the first place. Of course 5 cabinets took 5 times as long. But I like the results and would not change the process.
The doors were done by a friend who has a stained glass shop back in PA. The design was a colaboration.
Naturally, the hardware is from the “vineyard” collection from Lee Valley

Enjoy! Thanks for looking.

mjk

-- mjk, Prescott