How I Built a DIY Vintage Inspired Oak Kitchen Hutch

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If you read my last post, you’ll remember we had to remove the kitchen hutch I built so we could replace our countertops.

When I originally built the hutch, the plan was for it to sit on top of our existing countertops. At the time, I had painted and epoxied those countertops as a temporary fix because I couldn’t stand the ugly brown builder-grade laminate, and I knew it would probably be a long time before we could afford new ones.

Well… that day finally came. The new quartz countertops had to slide underneath the hutch, which meant there was no way around it, it had to come down. As much as it hurt to take apart something I built with my own two hands, I knew it would be worth it in the end.

Once the old hutch was out, it left this big blank space. Before I built the original hutch, this area was just a standard builder-grade upper cabinet. I removed that cabinet, along with the cabinet above the refrigerator, to make room for a custom hutch that actually fit our kitchen and gave us a dedicated coffee bar along with the added cabinet around the fridge.

After what felt like forever, we finally got the new countertops installed… and I honestly couldn’t be happier with them! They completely transformed the kitchen. The soft, cloudy pattern is exactly what I was hoping for.

We originally took the old hutch down with every intention of putting it right back up, so we were really careful during the demo. Well… Tyler and our neighbor Shane were careful. I mostly supervised and crossed my fingers that it would survive since it is super heavy!

But once the new countertops were in, I made the mistake of opening Pinterest. I kept coming back to these gorgeous stained wood hutches with that warm, vintage look, and I just couldn’t get them out of my head. The more I looked at them, the more I realized reinstalling the old painted hutch just wasn’t going to scratch that itch anymore.

So, naturally, I asked ChatGPT to mock up a few ideas for me. I had it create one version with a warm stained wood hutch and another with green-painted cabinets and glass doors. Seeing both designs in my actual kitchen made it so much easier to compare them than trying to picture everything in my head.

Of course, I couldn’t make the decision on my own, so I did what any indecisive DIYer would do, I let Instagram weigh in. I posted both designs and put them up for a vote… and the results were almost 50/50. Super helpful, right? 😅 Half of you loved the warmth of the stained wood, while the other half thought the green cabinets were the way to go.

The thing is, I already knew the green version would look amazing because… I’d already had that before. I loved my old green hutch! If I went that route again, the only things I really wanted to change was adding a drawer on the bottom, adding a cabinet up top instead of wine storage and the center of the doors. Instead of the stained paint stir sticks I used the first time, I wanted something a little more sophisticated, like reeded glass.

But then there was the stained oak…If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I have a slight obsession with stained oak. I especially love it in Spice Brown by DuraSeal because it gives everything that warm, vintage feel. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I already had stained oak throughout my house, the kitchen island, the vent hood I had just built, the laundry room cabinets, the aquarium built-in, and even my bathroom vanity and built-in armoire. A stained hutch would tie everything together beautifully….But then another thought crept into my head. Would it be too much stained oak? 🤔

And don’t worry, the old one got donated to a friend!

I still hadn’t completely made up my mind. But when we went to Home Depot for materials, I decided to hedge my bets. Instead of buying the cheaper sande plywood like I normally would for painted projects, I picked up oak plywood. I could always paint oak if I decided to go with the green hutch. But if I fell in love with the stained look, there was no way sande plywood was going to blend with the rest of the oak in my kitchen. Spending a little extra on oak gave me the flexibility to go either direction, so it felt like the safer choice.

So off to Home Depot we went to load up on supplies. I actually love bringing Tyler on plywood runs because, at 6’4″, he can throw full sheets of plywood into the truck like they’re made of cardboard. Meanwhile, my 4’11” self is over there trying to convince a sheet of plywood to cooperate.

Once we got everything home, it was time to start making sawdust. I got right to work ripping the plywood down into the sizes I needed for the cabinet pieces using my track saw. If I could go back in time and get a track saw right off the bat as a beginner, I would! instead of using a regular circular saw to make these cuts, a track saw is a game changer!

Next, I drilled pocket holes into the back panel on all sides and the ends of both the top and bottom pieces using my Kreg Foreman. I love using pocket holes for cabinet builds because they’re strong, hidden, and make assembly so much easier.

I rolled out the modular cabinet I built for my garage workshop and gave all of the oak plywood a quick sanding with my orbital sander. Nothing too crazy, just enough to smooth everything out and prep it for stain or paint later… easier to sand now than when it’s all put together.

Then it was finally time to start building! One thing you’ll notice about my cabinet builds is that I always use wood glue. The pocket hole screws provide plenty of strength, but the glue helps create an even stronger, longer-lasting joint.

Since I was working by myself, I also like to shoot a few brad nails into the pieces first. They act like an extra set of hands, holding everything in place while I drive in the pocket hole screws.

I did the same with the top and bottom.

Then to get to the other side, I had to move the whole cabinet onto the floor so I could get to the other side. By this point, it was already getting pretty heavy! But I made it work!

With the cabinet on the floor, I attached the second side the same way, wood glue first, a few brad nails to hold everything in place, and then pocket hole screws to lock it all together. And just like that, I have a cabinet carcass!

Next up was the face frame! I built this using 1×2 oak because I wanted the solid wood face frame to match the rest of the stained oak.

I always start by assembling the outer frame first. Before driving in any screws, I make sure everything is clamped down as tightly as possible using the T-track system on my workbench. Oak is beautiful… but it’s also hard. It’s much denser than pine, so it takes more effort to drill into, and if the boards aren’t clamped securely, they have a habit of shifting just enough to throw things out of alignment. Again, I ALWAYS use wood glue!

Before going any further, I did a quick test fit to make sure everything lined up the way it was supposed to. It’s a lot easier to fix a problem before the face frame is attached than after. Once I knew the outer frame fit perfectly, I used it to figure out where I wanted the next horizontal piece to go. This piece would create the opening for the drawer at the bottom, so I took a few measurements before cutting anything.

Once I had the drawer portion of the face frame installed, I did another test fit.

Then it was time to measure for one last face frame piece that would separate the upper cabinet. I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want two really tall cabinet doors. Instead, I wanted to split the upper section into four doors. I just like the look better, it breaks up the height, gives it more of a vintage furniture feel, and keeps the proportions looking balanced. There’s also a practical reason. It’s much easier to build straight cabinet doors when they’re shorter. The longer the boards, the more likely they are to have a slight bow or twist. Shorter doors are a lot more forgiving, which means they’re easier to build and much more likely to function properly.

I did one final test fit, and when everything lined up perfectly and I loved the proportions…

Then I removed the face frame one last time. I applied wood glue to the cabinet, put the face frame back in place, and secured it with brad nails.

With the face frame attached, I stood the cabinet upright so I could start working on the drawer slides. Since the face frame sits proud of the cabinet, I needed to add spacers so the drawer slides would extend out far enough to clear it properly. Otherwise, the drawer wouldn’t open. Rather than buying something new, I dug through my scrap pile and found some leftover 1×4 primed pine that was the perfect thickness. One of my favorite parts of DIY is finally finding a use for all those scraps I’ve been telling Tyler I “might need someday.” I used wood glue and brad nails to attach the spacers, making sure the brad nails were short enough to not go through the other side.

Next, I cut a few more spacers for the bottom of the cabinet to support the drawer slides while I installed them. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but those little spacers make it so much easier to get the slides installed at the correct height and keep everything level while you’re driving in the screws.

This is what it’s looking like so far! Doesn’t look like much, but just wait!

Before I got any further into the build, I decided it was time for another test fit. I had Tyler and our friend Mark, who just happened to be over, carry the cabinet inside and set it in place. Could I have waited until it was completely finished? Sure. But I’d much rather find out now if something needed to be adjusted than after I’d spent hours building doors, drawers, and trim. Plus, this thing was only going to get heavier, so now was definitely the time to check.

Thankfully, it fit perfectly! One more reason I’m a big believer in test fitting as you go. It might feel like extra work in the moment, but it can save you from a whole lot of heartbreak later.

While the cabinet was already inside and sitting on the countertop, I figured I might as well install the lower shelf, the one that would sit directly above the drawer. Apparently, my measurements were a little too accurate because that shelf was a very snug fit. I had to persuade it into place with a hammer.

The funny part was, I had added the pocket holes to the bottom of the shelf because I didn’t want them showing. Great idea aesthetically… slightly less great when it came time to actually screw everything together.

To attach the shelf, I had to get my drill through the drawer opening, but the opening was too narrow for the entire drill to fit. So we had to take the battery off, slide the drill through the opening, pass the battery through separately, and then reassemble it inside the cabinet. And because the pocket holes faced different directions, we had to take the drill apart and repeat the whole process every single time we needed to flip it over. 😂

Then I called Tyler over to help screw everything into place while I pushed down on the shelf from above. I had spacers underneath it to make sure it stayed perfectly level while we secured the pocket hole screws. Plus, Tyler has much longer arms than I do, so obviously he was better suited for this particular job. At least that’s what I told him.

Then I had Tyler and Mark carry the cabinet back out to the garage so I could keep working on it. I’m sure glad Tyler puts up with me… “Bring it inside. Okay, now take it back outside.” Just another normal day around here.

Once they got it back into the garage, I finally made a decision. I was going to stain it! 🎉

I figured the worst-case scenario was that we’d get it back inside, I’d decide there was way too much stained wood, and I’d end up painting it green anyway. You can always paint over stain, but you can’t exactly un-paint oak plywood. So, stained it was! I got to work using Spice Brown by DuraSeal, the same stain color I’ve used throughout our house.

Once the stain was dry, I cut down more oak plywood for the remaining shelves and added edge banding to the front edges. (Not pictured, because apparently I forgot to record that part. 😂) It’s much easier to add the edge banding before the shelves are installed, so definitely do yourself that favor. It’s also very easy to install, you just iron it off and cut the excess off with a razor knife or a edge banding remover tool.

Next, I cut more spacers so I’d know exactly where the next shelf needed to sit. To figure out the height, I measured our Keurig, Nespresso machine, and Ninja CREAMi, because this hutch wasn’t just going to be a coffee station, it was going to be a coffee AND ice cream station. Priorities!

All three machines would sit on a pull-out drawer, so when figuring out the shelf height, I had to account for the height of the appliances, the drawer slides, the thickness of the plywood drawer base, and then add a few extra inches of wiggle room. I especially wanted enough space above the Keurig to easily add water without having to pull the drawer out every single time. The pull-out drawer would also make it much easier to access all of the machines when we needed them.

I used pocket holes to attach the shelves to the sides and the back of the cabinet.

Then it was time for, you guessed it, more spacers for the next shelf up. For this shelf, I put the pocket holes on the top instead of the bottom. Since this shelf would be above most people’s eye level, no one would ever see them anyway. I put the pocket holes on the bottom of the lower shelves because, let’s be honest… at 4’11”, I’m probably the only person who’s ever going to see those. 😂

And then one more shelf! I promise we’re almost done with shelves. This one didn’t need edge banding on the front because the face frame would cover that raw plywood edge. I also added the pocket holes to the top of this shelf since, just like the last one, they’d be completely out of sight once the hutch was finished.

I didn’t add another shelf at the time, but now that I’ve lived with the finished hutch for a while, I’m seriously considering adding one more to the top section. I actually bought bowls specifically to display up there, and you can hardly even see them. Adding another shelf would bring them up into view and give me an extra row of storage, which is basically a win-win.

But that’s a problem for future me. Current-blog-post me still has an entire hutch to finish.

Then it was time to build the drawer! For this, I used 1/2-inch sande plywood and cut all of my pieces down to size with my track saw. One thing I absolutely love about using the track saw is the dust collection. It catches most of the sawdust as I’m cutting, which means way less dust floating around the garage, and, more importantly, way less cleanup afterward.

A little trick I like to use when cutting a narrow piece of wood with my track saw is to place another piece of material the same thickness right beside it. If the piece I’m cutting is too narrow for the track to sit flat, the extra piece gives the track more surface area to rest on and keeps everything supported and level while I make the cut. Such a simple little trick, but it makes cutting those narrow pieces so much easier!

I started by cutting the front and back pieces to match the length of the drawer bottom. And as always, I assembled the drawer using wood glue and brad nails. For smaller drawers like this, that’s usually all I use. If I’m building a really large drawer or one that will hold a lot of weight, I’ll add pocket hole screws for extra strength, but for this one, glue and brad nails were plenty!

Then for the sides, I cut them to the length of the plywood bottom plus the thickness of the front and back pieces. I like to wait and cut these after I’ve attached the front and back. That way, I can hold my board up to the drawer, mark the exact length, and cut it to fit instead of doing math and hoping for the best. Because if I can avoid unnecessary math in woodworking, I absolutely will.

Then it was time to install the drawer slides. I measured and marked where each slide needed to sit at both the front and back of the drawer, then used a straightedge to draw a line connecting the two marks. That gave me an easy guide to follow when screwing the slides into place and helped make sure they stayed straight and level from front to back. Because drawer slides are definitely one of those things where being slightly off can turn into a whole lot of frustration later.

Then I positioned the inside portion of the drawer slide on the drawer, making sure the front of the slide was perfectly flush with the front of the drawer. Using the line I’d drawn as my guide, I lined up the tips of the screws directly over it before driving them in. That way, I knew the slide was staying straight all the way down the drawer instead of slowly wandering off course.

I will say, installing the slide on the other side is a little trickier. Once you flip the drawer over, it wants to wobble because it’s now sitting on the drawer slide you just installed. My very professional solution? Hold the drawer still with my knees while I screw the other slide into place. 😂

Then came the moment of truth… does the drawer fit? Does it actually slide smoothly after all that measuring, marking, and knee-clamping? YES! 🙌 It slid right into place and worked perfectly.

Then it was time to build the next drawer. For this one, I used 3/4-inch oak plywood for the bottom and 1×2 oak for the front, back, and sides. Unlike the lower drawer, this one would actually be visible, so it needed to be oak… and it needed to be pretty. I stained all of the pieces with Spice Brown before assembling the drawer because it’s so much easier to get an even finish while everything is still flat and accessible.

Before bringing the cabinet back inside, I needed to deal with the trim above the refrigerator cabinet. My old hutch went all the way to the ceiling, but this new oak one wouldn’t. The existing green cabinets already had decorative trim at the top, and I wasn’t confident I’d be able to find new trim that matched that exact profile in oak to tie in.

So instead of trying to match it, I designed the new hutch to stop right underneath the existing green trim. That way, the original trim could continue to the back wall and visually tie everything together. Luckily, I kept the trim from the top of the old hutch that was the same so I could just piece it together. I started by removing the existing trim on the right side of the fridge cabinet and taking measurements to put up the new trim.

Then I added a new piece of 1×2 primed pine to replace what had been there before. Nothing fancy here, I was basically just rebuilding that section so the existing trim would have a clean, solid base to attach to. I used a level to make sure it was level and brad nailed it into place.

Then I added the upside-down MDF baseboard that I took off the front of the old hutch. Using it upside down gives the top of the cabinets a chunky, decorative trim detail without needing any fancy molding.

Then I added the basecap moulding on top of that.

Then I got it all caulked, then the excess wiped off with a wet wipe. You want to MAKE SURE you use paintable caulk!!! You’ll cry later if you don’t. Also, this caulk gun comes in different colors! I have this one on my wish list though, it’s battery powered!

Then once it was dry I got the paint touched up where it would be seen once the cabinet is installed. These are my absolute favorite paint brushes by the way!

I needed to touchup the bottom a bit too, way easier to do this before the cabinet gets installed.

Then it was finally time to bring the cabinet inside! After all the cutting, sanding, staining, shelves, drawers, and approximately 47 test fits, it was so exciting to finally get this thing out of the garage and see the stained oak in the kitchen for real!

As you can see in the pictures, we also had to cut openings in the back of the cabinet for the outlet and phone jack to come through. Will we ever actually use that phone jack? Absolutely not. But since it was there, we wanted to keep it accessible rather than permanently cover it up. Tyler added the faceplates back on and spray painted them black so they would blend into the back of the hutch instead of immediately catching your eye.

Once we got the cabinet inside, I noticed the right side of the drawer was sticking out farther than the left, even though the drawer slides themselves were installed evenly. My best guess is that the cabinet ended up just slightly out of square, because handmade furniture likes to keep you humble. So I grabbed a torn-up cardboard box and started using little pieces as shims behind the inside drawer slide, playing around with the thickness until the drawer front finally sat flush and even with the face frame.

Next, it was time to build the cabinet doors! I set up my Ryobi router table with the correct bits and used 1×3 oak to make the door frames. If you want to learn how to set up the router bits for this style of cabinet door, check out the YouTube video below. It’s much easier to watch someone demonstrate the setup step-by-step than for me to attempt to explain it in writing and somehow make it sound 10 times more complicated than it actually is. I started with the long sides, taking my work table to the driveway because routers are MESSY!

Then I switched out the router bit and cut the ends of all my pieces. This creates the matching profile that allows the rails and stiles to fit together almost like a little puzzle. Once everything is cut correctly, the pieces lock together and start looking like an actual cabinet door.

And here’s how they fit together so perfectly as long as you have the router bits at the correct height! It’s always recommended to do a few test pieces before cutting your actual doors!

Then I gave all the door pieces a good sanding. I used a hand sanding block for the flat areas and an orbital sander pad, but without the actual orbital sander. The sanding pad is flexible enough that I can fold it and work it into all those little grooves I just routed. This helps clean up any tear-out from the router and softens the sharp edges before assembling the doors.

With this style of cabinet door, there are no nails or screws, just wood glue! I added glue inside the routed grooves and then fit all the pieces together like the little puzzle I mentioned earlier. Once everything was lined up, I clamped the doors tightly together and let the glue dry overnight. The clamps keep everything pulled snug while the glue cures, and by the next day, you’ve got a solid cabinet door!

I even use a small paintbrush to work the glue into the grooves and spread it evenly in those harder-to-reach spots. It helps make sure everything gets a good coat of glue without making too much of a mess… although somehow wood glue still manages to get everywhere.

By the next day, the glue was completely dry and the doors were officially one solid piece! 🙌 I took them out of the clamps, and they were ready for the next step.

And the next step was… removing part of the groove I literally just made with the router. The last time I used these router bits, I made wood center panels with a little “tongue” around the edges that slid directly into the grooves of the door frame. You assemble the door around the panel, and everything fits together nice and snug. This time, though, I was using glass, and I didn’t want the glass permanently trapped inside the door frame, or trying to squeeze it into those tight grooves while assembling everything. So once the doors were glued together, I used my router to remove the back lip of the groove. This turned it into more of a recessed ledge so the glass could simply be placed into the opening from the back of the finished door. Once the glass is in place, It gets secured with clear silicone. Much easier, and if the glass ever breaks or needs to be replaced, I won’t have to rebuild the entire door!

Now, this method definitely wasn’t perfect. The router left the inside corners rounded, and I really didn’t feel like chiseling every single one perfectly square (oak is SUPER hard and dense and I wasn’t in the mood to mess with it). Thankfully, the glass guys said it wouldn’t matter because there was plenty of room for the glass to sit properly.

I also had my guide board slip on me once while routing one of the upper doors, which left behind a nice little oops spot. But honestly? I’m leaving it. It’s on the inside of the door, and once the glass is installed, no one will ever see it, especially on the upper doors that will rarely even be opened. Not every part of a DIY project has to be perfect.

I started with the small doors to get the hang of it. I figured if I messed them up too bad I would have to buy less material to fix them. Then once I was confident I got to work on the larger doors.

Once the inside lip was removed, it was time to route… some more! For the outside edges of the cabinet doors, I used a roundover bit to mimic the profile of my existing builder-grade kitchen cabinet doors. It’s a small detail, but it helps the new hutch doors feel like they belong with the rest of the kitchen. I like to do this step after the doors are completely glued together so I can run the router around the entire outside edge in one continuous pass and get a nice, consistent finish.

I started with the drawer front I had cut down, and I’m so glad I did because I immediately discovered a problem, my router table was warped in the middle! 😩 The center of the table dipped down by about 1/16 of an inch, which doesn’t sound like much, but with this particular detail, it made a huge difference. I like to leave about a 1/16-inch reveal when I use the roundover bit, and because the table wasn’t flat, that reveal wasn’t consistent. You can see in the photo that I had the 1/16-inch reveal I wanted along the edges, but as I got toward the center, it basically disappeared completely. Apparently 1/16 of an inch is nothing… until you actually need 1/16 of an inch.

You can see the difference in the sides to the middle when I put my long level on top of the table. I had this same problem when I originally bought this router table when I build my laundry room raised panel cabinet doors, but I didn’t consider it was the table then because it was brand new! I’m pretty disappointed with this router table to be honest!

So once I realized the router table wasn’t going to work, I had to switch up my method. I clamped the drawer front securely to the router table and grabbed my handheld Milwaukee router instead. This way, the router was riding directly along the drawer front rather than relying on the warped table to keep everything at the correct height. Thankfully, that worked perfectly and gave me the consistent roundover detail I was looking for.

The downside, I don’t have a shop vac attachment to the handheld router so it’s WAY more messy! You should definitely always wear a mask and eye protection when using a router! Even with this protection it messes with my allergies super bad! I’m pretty sure I’m allergic to oak.

For the larger cabinet doors, I moved the router table out of the way and just clamped the doors directly to my workbench while I used the handheld router. This actually worked much better, and had the added bonus of not shooting sawdust directly into my face like the router table height was doing.

As you can see, the router is SUPER messy! So I had to vacuum in between each door!

I got the small and bigger doors done and clamped them down to my work bench with my t-track system. It works so well!

Before putting the router away, I also ran a 1×2 piece of oak through it to give it the pretty detail. Why? I’ll show you in just a minute.

Then I ran that same piece through the table saw, ripping it down really thin so I was left with basically just the routed detail. It probably looked like a random little strip of wood at this point, but I promise there was a plan. This tool I’m using in the photo below you can find here.

Have I mentioned that the router is super messy???

At least it’s satisfying to clean, kind of like one of those sand zen gardens.

Once all the routing was finished, but before giving the doors their final quick sanding, I went ahead and drilled the holes for the concealed hinges using my Kreg hinge jig. It’s much easier to get all of this drilling out of the way before that final sanding so I can clean up any little rough edges or tear-out afterward.

You can see here just how much tear-out the router can leave behind, especially on the ends of the wood where you’re routing across the grain. The sides usually come out much cleaner, but those ends can look pretty rough at first. Thankfully, it looks worse than it is! I just went over everything with a 220-grit sanding block, cleaned up all those rough fibers, and it was good as new.

Then it was time for stain, my favorite and probably the most satisfying part! I actually love staining wood. There’s something so therapeutic about watching the grain come to life as soon as the stain hits it. The smell of stain is also weirdly nostalgic for me because it always reminds me of my great-grandma. She used to reupholster furniture when I was little, and that smell instantly takes me back to being around her while she worked. Funny how certain smells can do that!

Then it was time to install the soft-close hinges. Since oak is so dense and hard, I’ve found that the grain can sometimes push a screw slightly off course as you’re driving it in, which can leave your hinge crooked even when you lined it up perfectly. To avoid that, I like to make a tiny starter hole right in the center of each screw hole on the hinge. Normally I’d use a very small drill bit for this… but naturally, I couldn’t find mine. So I improvised and used just the very tip of a paddle bit to make a tiny indentation. I wasn’t actually drilling with the paddle bit, just barely touching the tip to the wood to give the screw a place to start. It worked perfectly and kept the screws from wandering as I drove them into the oak.

Then I drive the screws in.

Then it was time to install the cabinet doors for another test fit before sending them off to have the glass installed. I’m using 1/2-inch overlay hinges, so I made a mark on the inside of the bottom of each door 1/2 inch up from the edge. I could line that mark up directly with the edge of the face frame while installing the door. That gives me the 1/2-inch overlay I need, with the door extending past the face frame by 1/2 inch at the top and bottom. It’s a simple little trick that makes positioning the doors so much easier!

I did the bottom larger doors first.

Then I installed the top smaller doors.

Once the doors were hung, I handed the hinge adjustments over to Tyler. He has way more patience than I do when it comes to figuring out which tiny screw moves the door up, down, left, right, in, out… or somehow makes it worse. Some jobs are just better delegated. You can see below that he adjusted the bottom doors but hadn’t done the top yet, and the top gap was way bigger than the bottom.

But he got it fixed!

It was looking SO good! 😍 But before I could get too excited, it was time to install the drawer front. I held it up where it needed to go and immediately realized I had a problem, the drawer front was wider than the cabinet doors. I wanted the outside edges of the drawer front to line up perfectly with the outside edges of the doors above it so everything looked intentional and symmetrical.

I could have just installed it as-is, and I’m sure absolutely no one would have noticed… except me. And then I would have stared at it every single day for the rest of my life. So back out to the shop I went! I used my miter saw to trim the drawer front down to the correct width so the outside edges would line up perfectly with the cabinet doors. Luckily it was too long and not too short!

Of course, cutting the drawer front down also meant I had just cut off the routed edge I worked so hard to add. So that side needed to be routed all over again. I definitely wasn’t setting up my entire workbench for one little 3-inch section, so we improvised. I opened the tailgate of my truck, had Tyler hold the drawer front securely in place, and rerouted the edge right there.

Then I gave the newly routed edge a quick sanding and restained it with Spice Brown to match the rest of the drawer front. A little extra work for three inches of wood… but at least now it wouldn’t bother me every time I walked into the kitchen.

Side note: You might notice some other cabinet doors painted green hanging out in the background of this picture. Consider that a little sneak peek at one of the next blog posts! Might as well do the other doors I was planning on building while I had my door making router station set up!

Then it was finally time to install the drawer front! I held it exactly where I wanted it, using spacers underneath, because at this point, you know I love a good spacer. They held the drawer front at the perfect height while I secured it. I shot a couple of 1-inch brad nails through the front to temporarily hold everything in place. The drawer front is 3/4-inch thick and the drawer box is 1/2-inch thick, so I made sure my nails weren’t long enough to poke through to the inside of the drawer. A 1-1/4-inch brad nail would have been cutting it way too close, so 1-inch nails were perfect.

Then I very carefully opened the drawer, added clamps to make sure the front couldn’t shift, and secured it permanently from the inside using 1-inch screws.

Is there probably a more professional way to install a drawer front without shooting brad nails through the front first? Absolutely. Have I ever taken the time to figure out what that method is? Nope. But maybe I should… but until then, this works!

Then I removed the entire drawer so I could install the hardware. I’ve actually used this same hardware all throughout our house, on the kitchen cabinets, laundry room cabinets, the built-in storage I added inside the kitchen wall, my built-in bar/bookshelf, and even the built-in aquarium. I love repeating the same hardware from room to room because it helps everything feel connected, even when the cabinets themselves are completely different colors or finishes.

To install the 5-inch handle, I stood the drawer on its end, measured and marked exactly where I wanted it, and drilled the two holes. And look at that… I finally found my drill bit set! 😂

Then I screwed the hardware into place and reinstalled the drawer, and instantly the drawer looked finished! 😍

I’ve heard people call cabinet hardware “cabinet jewelry,” and I think I officially agree. It’s such a small detail, but it can completely change the look of a cabinet and make everything feel polished. Consider this hutch officially accessorized.

And if you were wondering why I made that drawer so short, here’s your answer! I designed it specifically to hold our K-Cups and Nespresso pods. I wanted them tucked away instead of sitting out on the countertop, but still easy to grab every morning. It’s a small drawer, but it has a very specific, and very important, job. Tyler even 3D printed some drawer k-cup holders that fit perfectly! He glued them all together using super glue so they wouldn’t slide around in there.

Then the Amazon package I’d been impatiently waiting for finally showed up, my oak crown molding for the top of the hutch! 😍

This is actually the third time I’ve used this exact molding. I used it on my laundry room cabinets and again on the built-in aquarium, and I love how much it changes the look of a cabinet. It’s one of those little details that takes a cabinet from “Yep, that’s a box I built” to something that looks finished, fancy, and more like a piece of furniture, which was exactly the vintage look I wanted for this hutch.

The molding comes packaged in a box and wrapped in plastic to keep it protected during shipping. You can see below that the back is squared off, which makes it really easy to lay flat, measure, cut, and install. No weird crown molding angles to figure out, which I very much appreciate.

I measured the molding and cut the corner pieces at 45-degree angles with my miter saw so they would meet nicely at the right outside corner. Since the hutch sits right up against the refrigerator cabinet, I only needed a 45-degree cut on one end of each piece. The opposite ends could stay straight, one would butt directly into the cabinet on the left, and the other would run straight into the back wall.

Then I went ahead and stained the molding before installing it. Trust me, this is way easier to do out in the garage while it’s sitting at a comfortable height. Trying to stain crown molding after it’s installed at the ceiling while also attempting not to drip dark brown stain all over my freshly painted walls and ceiling? No thank you. I’ll make my life easier whenever I can.

I always stain using medical gloves and a paper towel vs. a staining brush and then wiping it off after. I do prefer the blue paper towels though, they are much stronger than the regular paper towels I’m using there.

Once the stain was mostly dry, I held both pieces up in place for one final test fit to make sure everything lined up perfectly before attaching them.

They fit perfectly! I started with the front piece because I needed to make sure it landed on the hutch at just the right height to sit directly below the existing trim on top of the refrigerator cabinet. I got it level, recruited Mia to stand on the step ladder and hold it in place and hold my brad nailer while I got it into place, and then nailed it into the cabinet and the thinnest part of the crown moulding.

Then I moved on to the side piece, making sure it was level and lined up perfectly with the front. Once I had it exactly where I wanted it, Mia handed me the brad nailer and I secured it in place. I even shot a few brad nails into the mitered corner connecting the 2 pieces of crown moulding.

And you can really see here what a difference the crown molding makes! 😍 It’s such a simple detail, but it instantly makes the hutch look more finished, custom, and like an actual piece of furniture instead of just a cabinet sitting on the countertop. The goal was to make it look like the top of an old hutch that we repurposed vs. a newly build cabinet.

Remember that little strip of oak I routed earlier and told you would come back into play? Well, here it is! I made it specifically to use as trim along the very bottom of the hutch where it sits on the countertop. This little trim piece, and the crown molding at the top, is actually why I needed the face frame to sit perfectly flush with the right side of the cabinet. That way, both pieces of trim could wrap around the corner nice and square without leaving an awkward gap.

I installed this little trim piece using my pin nailer, which was perfect for this! The pins are so tiny that the holes are basically impossible to see, so there’s very little touch-up afterward. And since this trim isn’t actually supporting any weight, those tiny little pins were more than enough to hold it in place.

I seriously love finishing work and trim work! 😍 It’s always the little details that make the biggest difference, and you can really see that here. The cabinet was already looking good, but adding those finishing touches is what makes it look custom and complete. This is the part of a project where everything finally starts to feel worth it!

And then it was time for more cabinet jewelry, the knobs for all four doors! They do make jigs that make lining up cabinet hardware super easy, but since I was only installing four knobs and not an entire kitchen’s worth, I just measured and marked them individually. Plus, I need to get a better hardware jig anyway, so we’ll call this my excuse to go tool shopping. I make the tiniest pen mark to know exactly where to drill in to, it can be kind of hard to see on this dark oak.

This hardware is just soooo pretty!

But we weren’t done yet! The doors came right back off because it was finally time for the part I had been so excited about, the reeded glass! We took all four doors to Glass Connect, a local glass company, and they did such a great job installing it. They do offer in-home installation, but since they weren’t far from us, it was just as easy to load up the doors and take them there.

And I’m SO glad I went with the reeded glass. It was 100% the right choice for this hutch. It gives the doors that vintage look I wanted while still letting you see a little peek of what’s inside without everything being completely on display. The second I saw the finished doors, I knew I had made the right call!

Then we brought the doors home and got them reinstalled on the hutch. And let me tell you, the second those reeded glass doors went back on, the whole thing came together!

And WE ARE DONE!!! 🎉😍

Here’s a little before-and-after-and-after, what this space looked like in the original kitchen, then with the first hutch I built, and now with the new stained oak version. It’s kind of crazy seeing all three side by side. Each version was an improvement, but this one finally feels like it was always meant to be here. The stained oak, reeded glass, crown molding, and all those little trim details gave me exactly that vintage furniture-inspired look I was hoping for! Which is your favorite??

And actually, now that I’m going back through old photos, I realized the first version of this hutch had burlap in the doors! I completely forgot about that. I eventually built new doors for that same hutch using the paint stir sticks, so technically that cabinet had two different looks before I tore it out.

Here are both versions, apparently this little corner of my kitchen has been through more makeovers than I remembered.

And here’s the ChatGPT mockup I had made before I actually started building the new oak hutch. I wanted to see if the stained wood would work in the space before I committed, and honestly, seeing this was a big part of what convinced me to go for it!

And here it is from a few different angles because apparently one finished photo wasn’t enough. I seriously can’t get enough of how this hutch turned out! Every time I walk into the kitchen, I find myself staring at it all over again.