One of the biggest challenges in many kitchens is lack of counter space: there just never seems to be enough room for chopping vegetables, mixing ingredients and preparing food. DIY Decorating & Design host Nancy Golden makes a cutting-board cart that adds valuable work space. You can make it by topping a chrome shelving unit with a butcher-block top and adding casters to make the unit mobile. Materials: Chrome shelf kit
Tubing cutter or hacksaw and file
Butcher block
Drill
Conduit clamps
Safety glasses
Screwdriver
Casters
Optional: chrome hooks or rack
You can find shelving units, such as the chrome kit used in this project, at your local home-improvement store. A maple butcher-block top is a bit more difficult to find: order one from a kitchen store or home-improvement center. - Cut the legs of the shelving unit to countertop height. The legs are ridged in 1" increments, which makes it easy to cut them evenly. Using the ridges as a measuring guide, cut the chrome legs with a tubing cutter. Tighten the tubing cutter over a groove in the leg (figure A), and rotate it around the tube, tightening it again after each revolution until the cut is complete. A tubing cutter gives a nice clean cut at a perfect right angle, but you can also do the job with a hacksaw. If you do, file the rough edges of the tubing smooth after making the cuts.
- Attach the butcher block to the top of the unit with conduit clamps screwed into pilot holes (figure B).
- To attach the legs to the top, clip the tapered leg brackets that come with the kit in the proper position on each leg, and insert the legs into the connecting holes in the top (figure C).
- To make the cutting board mobile, replace the leveler at the bottom of each leg with a caster (figure D). We chose decorative heavy-duty casters in blue to match the decor.
- If you like, attach decorative chrome hooks or a chrome rack to the side of the finished cart for added functionality.
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