Zinc Project

I haven't had much time to post about the kitchen remodel we are doing in Ojai...because I have been knee deep in drywall dust and flying paint splatters... etc etc

But here is a little shot of the kitchen before we started demo

It's not too bad...but the cabinets are old and the drawer fronts are pulling off and the tile is terrible and cracked and the lighting is horrible and the windows won't open and ...nothing major really

NOT!

Major horrible!

But I love this big commercial Fridge that I bought for the kitchen!

Its a Frigidaire glass front on wheels....gotta love anything on wheels right?!

You've seen these in your local deli or Circle K

It has no freezer or bins or fancy pull outs or much of anything on the inside

It's just a big old Fridge and I love it

To fancy it up a bit for the new kitchen I decided it would be nice to put a covering of metal on the sides and top

So being the kind of gal who loves herself a good, messy, sort of weird project that involves power tools, liquid nails and flying sparks...

I bought these big rolls of zinc

Now let me just say this...I could never have done this with out hiring someone who understands how to work with sheet metal

It's sharp, heavy and requires special tools

Here is how the fridge comes from the appliance store...

It has black shiny sides that are not that bad really,

 but since it can be viewed from all sides and is essentially free standing,

I thought cladding it in 

raw aged metal would be really interesting

First we cut down the metal sheets into 3 sections to fit the sides and top

The sheet were then glued to the fridge using a really strong commercial adhesive

I wanted some sort of trim around the sheet metal 

so we used raw steel angle iron for the edges 

and flat iron along the front

The iron edging was cut to fit with a saw and then welded at the corners

 to tie the whole fitted zinc skin together

It was really important to clamp the entire fridge on all sides and along the top with straps and clamps for 24 hours to be sure the adhesive would hold correctly

The edges are going to be left raw and will have an interesting patina over time 

 maybe even a little rust

You can actually patina the zinc with acid or cupric sufate  

if you want an aged look 

I will share the finished fridge project 

as soon as we are done!

I purchased the metal from a company called Roto Metals

Here are a few photos of projects done using their zinc products

 great tables

 this is an outdoor bar

 counter and table tops

 entry gates

wow is that cool!

 And these gorgeous range hoods

 The ideas are endless

Stay tuned for more!