Purpleheart and Slate

I'm behind in updates here; it's been busy since the last post, with the holidays, crazy weather, keeping up with two houses, and selling one of them. We've been keeping the wood stove burning for warmth at the 1,985 Sq Ft Ranch, though, and have been powering through the winter cold.

The kitchen is taking shape: the cabinets are installed, some appliances are in place, and most importantly ... we have counters! We weren't really sure what we were going to use for countertops. Choices like granite, quartz, and the cool "eco" counters made of paper or glass were way out of our budget. We had thought of just using plywood until we could afford something better, or trying our hand at concrete counters. Then I saw a photo of an old slate chalkboard used for a counter and turned to Craigslist to search for some. We found a man with a barnful of old blackboards from a school that was being torn down and paid $200 for the two largest pieces.

We had planned to use the slate for the long counters on either side of the sink, but we were still uncertain what to do for the island. Then, one morning Tom had an epiphany: use the slate on the island and see if we could find a big board that could serve as the long counter. A few years ago we had seen some huge planks of purpleheart at a local wood store. Were they still there? Yep. One big board, 25" wide and 13' long for $190. So for $400 and a lot of work hauling, lifiting, sawing, griding, sanding, and varnishing, we have counters.

Buying the purpleheart board

We managed to get it in the truck (we actually did strap it down very securely!)

Belt sander first

Trying it out in place with the sink opening template

This photo doesn't do it justice; it really is almost purple in color

Cutting out the sink opening. Purpleheart is so hard that two saw blades got stuck. The denseness of the wood makes it nearly rot proof, so it's perfect for the surface around the sink.

With a long piece of curly maple for a back edge

Island base: one side is Ikea cabinets and the shelves are custom built by Tom

Two layers of plywood plus a piece of cement board as the base for the slate

Dry fitting the two chalkboards and a sneak preview of the cooktop

The slate was cut to size with a circular saw and a steady hand. We used thinset to hold it in place

Getting the seam between the two pieces level

Polished, sealed, and waiting for the cooktop and trim. Curly maple trim has been added to the vent hood and at the sink apron.