When we removed the upper kitchen cabinets to access the structure behind it we (Jason…) ended up cutting off the end of one of the cabinets where the microwave used to be.  This made it way easier to remove everything and our end goal was to build a full height shelf instead of wasting half of it like it came from the factory.

This thing was broken AND rusty… it went to the dumpster in the sky…

Seriously.. what do you put on top of that shelf? like 4 paper plates? a spoon? Useless…

This is what it looked like without the microwave but before the sawzall of justice hit it….

Since I wanted the new storage to go all the way to the top of the nook, I needed to add some height to the side of the cabinet that’s already there.  Some quick work with cardboard and the jigsaw made me the piece I needed.

before
After

I still need to paint it and bolt it into place, but that’ll do!

The next piece I needed was the back panel to hide the exposed wiring run and fiberglass structure.  There were so many ways I could have done this, but I chose to cut a square of plywood and bolt it to the sides of the existing cabinets with small squares of wood. It’s super sturdy even with only 2 bolts holding it in place (there’s really nowhere for it to go) and it will be easy to remove if the need arises.  I decided to not bother painting it and instead covered it with the fake marble vinyl I got on Amazon so I can pretend to be classy.

Power outlet installed!
I wired an AC outlet! Everybody back up while I check for magic smoke! 😉
There’s that part done!

The marble look vinyl bubbled slightly, but at this point I just want it workable.  I can always upgrade it later.  Today I painted the vertical piece and the sides of the installed cabinet that weren’t painted before.

Just waiting for it to dry now!

I installed the vertical wall piece! It almost looks like a real cabinet now, doesn’t it?

I added the shelf liner on the bottom to cover a few holes in the countertop! Eventually I will have a platform there to stack things on, for now I will hide the problem!  The nook itself is now done.  I need to figure out if I want a pull out shelf of some kind and figure out how to keep all my coffee stuff from launching itself across the kitchen when the boat leans over, but that’s a problem for another day.

My red moka pot looks nice!

Still a few little things to finish it up, but we’re in the coffee business now! 🙂