When I first got married, my wife and I moved into a small apartment. It was a single bedroom, with an oddly shaped kitchen. It was nearly 20-30 feet long, but only about 5-6 feet wide. Due to no built in cabinets other than the sink, there was almost no place to cook a good dinner. My wife was constantly on top of herself trying to get things ready, and had no place to prepare meals. I decided to build her a hutch that would 1. give her some counter space to cook. 2. act as storage for appliances, liquor, mugs, ect.

The hutch I built was easily done for less than $100, if you shop at the right places. And I built it while living in an apartment with no real workshop.

Step 1: Planning

I started out by laying out my kitchen floor plan, to roughly get an idea of how big I wanted this thing. The gap I had to work with was 8' in length, and roughly 3' out from the wall. I decided to go 30" wide and 6' long, which left room for getting it in and out of the tight space, and also leaving room for my trashcan.

Next, I decided to make it 4 levels. A lower level for storage, the counter level to work on, the mid section for mugs, teas, ect., and an upper level for decor, liquor, and less used items.

The lower level sat 1' off the ground

The counter sat at 3' the same exact height as our stove and other counters

The upper level was exactly 19" above the counter level to make room for our mixer

and the upper level sat 14" above the mid section.

Step 2: Materials

All of my materials were purchased at my local Home Depot.

Materials:

4 - 2x4x8's (untreated)

14 - 1x6x8 common board

2" Deck screws

8 - 12" 1/2 pipe (not galvanized)

4 - 4" 1/2 pipe (not galvanized)

4 - 1/2 pipe joints

Wood Finish

Tools (Drill, circular saw)

Step 3: Assembly

1. Cut 2x4s to base cabinet height

2. Attach to base frame

3. Rip common board to desired width, glue and screw together

4. Drill 1/2 holes for piping

5. Assemble upper sections to desired configuration

6. Attach Piping to lower section, and place upper section on pipes.

Step 4: Finish

I simply sanded my project. Starting with 80, moving up to 220. After sanding, I stained it with a dark walnut stain, and used an aerosol poly urethane to seal the project. Make sure you use food-safe poly to ensure that any food prepared on the project is safe to consume.