The S1 Cafe - Helping Your Espresso Dreams Become Reality

Just wanted to share some pictures of my S1 setup. I recently renovated my kitchen (did everything myself, including cabinets from scratch), and one of the main design issues was, "Where does the La Spaziale go?"

By making a larger passageway and extending a peninsula counter into that opening, I was able to acheive an "espresso bar" effect, while maintaining a lot of space in front of the machine. This is very handy when making espresso as well as when cooking.

Having a small prep sink beside the espresso machine is fantastic. And since it's a seamless Corian sink, it's easy to sweep coffee grounds into it.

Plumbing and power go through a grommet in the countertop, directly beneath the machine.

I love my La Spaziale!

Bob



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THAT IS HOT!
Really nice cabinet for my Illy Collection below the Spaz, I love it.

You look like a Leafs fan...
All the blue.
Nice.

Very nice Bob! Nice layout alltogether

A nice setup for everything, Bob. Nice design, color choices, the works.

One question. Are you using the sink as a knockbox, or is one stowed away nearby?

Hi Bob,

I like it. I've always liked the hanging pans. Your Corian work looks good. I like the glass cabinet doors.
What are the drawers faced with? They look very slick.

Thanks for your compliments, everyone.

Weska: I have a square knockbox from Chris Coffee in the top drawer (which has a dedicated area for espresso stuff), but nowadays I always use the sink. I found that there was often a mess around the knockbox, and I was concerned about the high humidity (with the drawer closed) causing deterioration of the cabinet.

CLB: the drawer fronts are made of 1/4" thick phenolic laminate... essentially, it's Formica/Arborite, but laminated extra-thick (it can be ordered in various thicknesses, up to an inch and a half!). It's really neat because when you open a drawer, the thin material looks very sleek, and yet it's very rigid. The core color is black, but you can get intermediate layers in different colors, so I ordered it with a yellow layer. This appears as a yellow "stripe" in the cut edges all around, visible when you open a drawer.

Because the material is so thin, it was challenging to attach to the drawer boxes (I used the Blum "Tandembox" system). Normally, the attachment brackets are screwed into a wood drawer front, which was not possible with this material. So I bored shallow (3/16" deep) holes using a router, and epoxied in some stainless steel flathead screws to act as studs. The brackets slipped over the threads, secured by nuts. It was time consuming, but the result was worth it.

Captive hardware in the drawer faces. That works.
How about a pic looking down on an open drawer?

Sure thing. Unfortunately, this isn't a great picture, as the camera flash seems to have made the black core appear less black... in real life, the core is fully black.



Here's a shot of the epoxy going into the bored hole:

...and the captive bracket being installed:

Niko wrote: You look like a Leafs fan...
All the blue.
Nice.

Well, are you a Mapleleafs fan?

Er, not really... I don't even follow baseball :?

Honestly, I'm not much of a sports fan... the choice of blue is just a coincidence... or is it something subliminal? Maybe I really am a Leafs fan and don't even know it!

BobY wrote:Er, not really... I don't even follow baseball :?

Ha, ha! "Baseball"... That was a joke, right?!

Seriously, very nice work on the cabinetry. How is keeping the faces clean?

Yeah, the baseball joke is part of my standard "schtick" (unless someone asks me if I follow the Blue Jays... then I say I don't follow curling).

Thanks for the compliment. The blue glossy surfaces on the drawer fronts don't require as much maintenance as I had thought they might. Because I used it only below the counter, you never really see light reflecting off the drawer fronts (unless you're lying on the floor), so any smudges or stains aren't nearly as visible. Also, they clean off very easily. But I don't have any kids, so that makes it a lot easier to keep the place clean!

BobY wrote:I don't have any kids, so that makes it a lot easier to keep the place clean!

Damn, I knew there was something to it!

Wow - really gorgeous.