What’s it made of, how does it fit together, what holds it up?

One of the things I’ve always loved about design is learning about what’s behind what you initially see.  Best way to do that is to look before it’s done.

Progress shots

We’re doing a 30″ wide 4 drawer base cabinet with a bamboo countertop.  Our plan design is here. I decided to do bamboo for this section because it was a stand alone section next to the fridge, and we’re going with a solid surface for the rest of the countertops.

This top isn’t attached yet, I was dying to see what it looked like with the dark drawer fronts. Verdict: thumbs up. My brother in law was surprised to learn that bamboo is harder than maple. We’ll still use a cutting board, though.

Still to do for this section:

• attach end cover panel
• connect under cabinet lights
• hang horizontal cabinet over fridge space
• attach toe kicks

What’s in it?

IKEA®: AKURUM 30″ 4 drawer base cabinet, NEXUS brown/black fronts & cover panels, metal drawer boxes, LANSA pulls, blum soft closures, AVSIKT aluminum doors on wall cabinet, GRUNDTAL under cabinet light bar. Countertop by Totally Bamboo.

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Getwithgreen has a really helpful article on facts you should know about bamboo before you buy it, like, bamboo is actually harder than oak floors, and if the subfloor isn’t cured it can fade. Also some other good info,  including:

• Do you live in an arid region?  Because bamboo is used to high humidity, you will need to be sure it is properly finished and sealed to assure its durability.  The less expensive bamboo flooring may not offer the moisture resistant finishing.
• Strand Bamboo flooring is a third pattern, created as the bamboo is mashed up and bound.  It is much denser than either the Vertical or Horizontal grains and said to be nearly indestructible.

Yesterday, for the second time in a couple of months, someone chuckled at my suggestion to use bamboo as a countertop or flooring material. It dawned on me that the image coming to their mind is something out of Gilligan’s Island – something that conjures up tiki themed parties and knick-knacks (of which I’m guilty of owning a few).

The bamboo surface *I’m* talking about is created in a way that’s smooth, so it’s more like plywood than rough terrain. It can also have interesting variation in grain and pattern, depending on which way it’s cut through the stalk. Bamboo building products are made by laminating strips of bamboo together with low VOC adhesives and a hot press. So a whole bunch of strips put together make a large piece to work with just like you would with plywood.

One company that makes bamboo construction products is Plyboo. My sample box came the other day, and it includes several tongue-and-groove, horizontal and vertical grain, butcher block parquet, and panel and veneer samples. They all look great, whether naturally finished (similar to beech) or caramel finish (similar to oak). I wouldn’t use the darker finish in a small space, though. Bamboo has the same warmth of more commonly used hardwoods like oak, and is basically the same to work with, construction-wise. Bamboo is harder than maple and lighter than oak, and requires the same maintenance as hardwoods. More on bamboo at Wikipedia.

What makes bamboo green is that it’s rapidly sustainable – it replaces itself in 5 years. And Plyboo uses water based, low VOC solvents and finishes. And it’s beautiful! I can’t wait to do some countertops with this stuff.

In the Triangle area, you can get Plyboo products at Caragreen, which is located at 109A Brewer Lane in Carrboro.

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