Amber and Tommie bought us a very nice Anniversary/Birthday gift in the form of an Amana gas cook stove. What a pleasure it is…not that I do the cooking, but it is just nice to see Lauren using a real cook stove instead of what she referred to as the “Easy-bake” oven she’s been working with for the last year.
Once the realization set in that we were not going to be able to “remodel the whole kitchen” worthy of a photo shoot in Better Homes and Gardens we’ve begun to make the kitchen “workable” and this cook stove takes it to a new level. It’s a funky kitchen to be sure but with this new addition it seems…well, wicked nice. Thanks Amber and Tommie.
Tommie helped me get the stove surround started. Our buddy Dennis from Community Energy installed the gas line and got the stove working. A few weekends later we have a finished product. What’s really nice about this design is that I can stand on the back side of the stove and very comfortably rest my arms on that shelf and watch Lauren cook. I used 2” x 6” framing for the surround which allowed for the built in shelving you see in the photos. Do you like the two little shelf brackets near the top? I thought it needed this finishing touch so I drew and cut them out on a piece of pine. The bead board wainscoting on the back side is actually solid pine tongue and groove plank paneling. The pieces are about 3 ½” wide but they are only ¼” thick. I had a plywood backing behind it to add strength and stability to the half wall so I just nailed the bead board to the plywood but if you’re going against sheetrock you will want to use something like “Liquid Nails” to install it. The plank paneling is easy to work with but because it is so thin you may find that at some of the knots you have a see-through hole. Because we were painting this I just filled the few holes with latex caulking but if you were going to stain or clear finish it you would want to use wood putty.
Leave a comment telling me what you would love to see Lauren cooking on the stove when you come for a visit. I’ll be providing the wine and a cheese ball.
