Yesterday I mentioned the new DIY project I was working on. That project was a DIY Bread Making Table and the good news is that I managed to complete the project before the end of the day yesterday – with the help of my daughter.
I started out with a sketch book where I drew images of what I wanted my bread making prep table to look like. Then I went to Emco – a local plumbing supply store where I picked up the selection of 3/4″ inch, black iron pipes, tees, coupling, and floor flanges I knew I would need.
You can go to most any plumbing supply store to get the black iron pipe parts but I like going to Emco because Doug the counter sales dude is always super friendly, and he expresses an interest in what I am making. I don’t know, he just has that extra bit of being friendly that makes a customer (me) return to do more shopping.
Once I got all the pieces home I started putting everything together – just like the Meccano sets I had when I was a kid!
A word of warning – the pieces of pipe and all the fittings have a very light greasy coating on them. Wear gloves – gloves that you do not mind getting blackened with grease. I make a point of taking a rag and very carefully wiping down all the pipe pieces and fittings before starting to assemble them.
Rarely do you hear of a cabinet maker using pipe wrenches to put together cabinets – but that’s what I was using – again (this is the same style of cabinets I made when I put together the cabinets in the family cabin).
Because this is a DIY Bread Making Table, I did a few things differently than others might do. First, the top of the table sits at about 39″. That is noticeably taller than a regular kitchen counter top – 34 1/2″ from the floor.
The reason I made it so much taller than the standard kitchen counter is that I find when I am working at kitchen counters I am hunched over just a little too much. This makes my back ache (hello old age) so I thought, why not make this table fit my needs exactly. So I did.
I might lower it to 37″ by changing the top section of 3/4″ diameter pipe from 12″ lengths to 10″ pieces. We’ll see how it goes.
The top of the DIY Bread Making Table? That is a salvaged piece of countertop quartz – granite-like stuff that I picked up at a counter top sales place. It is what they call, “off cuts” that they cannot sell. It works perfectly for me!
This is where I had my daughter help me – I couldn’t lift the slab of quartz by myself so I had her grab a corner to help me get the rock slab on top of the legs. She was one proud kid; she helped her dad lift something massive!
Another addition for my DIY Bread Making Table is to cut a piece of lumber (or plywood – whatever I have that will fit the spot) to length and width to add a shelf below the work surface.
The shelf will be where I can store my bread making tools – Dutch oven, proofing pan, mixing bowls, bench scrapers, etc.
Of course the most exciting next step is to actually try making bread on my DIY Bread Making Table!