Review #12 - Appliance Lift

We would rate the appliance lift as a "nice to have" item. This model is made by Rev-a-Shelf, and was purchased through Rockler for $100.

It has really been convenient for my DW, who cooks from scratch most of the time. She lifts it up, uses it, and drops it down. The pull-out shelf below holds the mixer and food processor attachments.

The shelf is 18 inches wide (cabinet opening is 22"), so it holds two applicances - a Kitchenaid mixer and food processor. It's not too heavy for my DW to lift up and down. Note that it is also covered with 1/2" granite to match the counter.

If you install one of these, make sure to put an outlet in the back of the cabinet - it's well worth the effort. The cords lay behind the shelf as you raise it, and simply stay out of the way.

Here is a shot of the lift in the cabinet.

I would have made the cabinet shallower if I had to do it over again. I wanted to keep the cabinet to a minimum depth so the back side of it could be used effectively. The instructions indicated you need 23", so that's what I made it to. In reality, I could have gotten away with 18" deep and saved 5 inches. This would have allowed us to put another stool on the backside, instead we put a bottle rack. This is not a terrible result though, since we like the bottle rack. There is also room above the applicances for a cutting board slot, but we haven't put that in yet.

In review, it was worth the cost and effort to install it.

Installed Appliance Lift

The appliance lift works! It holds both the KitchenAid mixer and food processor.

Since we had a piece of granite left over from the island, my DW suggested we use it on the lift. The weight of the appliances and the granite is pretty significant, so I had to adjust the spring tension to the maximum (third position). For detials on buying one of these, see this former post.

I bonded the granite to 1/2" piece of plywood, to give it strength and so it could be screwed to the lift assembly. I also glued a thin strip of granite with a rounded edge to the front, to give a fully rounded radius. If you look at the edge in the picture, you can see this. I am going to put cherry wood strips around the sides and back to cover it. I mounted it before I put them on to determine how thick they could be.

There is room to put a pull-out shelf under the lift to hold the KitchenAid accessories. I am trying to decide if there is room above it for a shallow drawer or slot for a cutting board.

Kitchen Island - Installation in Progress

Well, I spent the last month on the tablesaw and not on the keyboard. I had good intentions to take tons of photos and post every step - didn't happen.

The island has turned out great so far. I finshed building the cabinet boxes and main base. I set them in place and applied beadboard to the exposed surfaces. My DW primed everything while I was out of town and started to apply the base green color.

The dining room end of the island shown here has display / book shelves.

We spent quite a while playing with inches to get the maximum cabinets space, and also allow for seating. We can comfortably fit two stools in the 50" wide opening.

The other end cabinet is 23 inches deep for an appliance lift (see below). This gave us just enough space - 4.5 inches - to add a bottle rack to the back. It will fit wine bottle, but since we don't drink much, we'll have flavored syrup bottles displayed.

We put quite a number of outlets into the island. Since the wire is surface mounted, code requires it to be shielded by conduit. This flexible plastic option worked well. The cabinet with the lift and the center cabinet will have small appliances in them all the time. The in-cabinet outlets will keep the cords in order.

Here is the appliance lift harware. I need to build the shelf this weekend.

[Link to photo set]

Applicance Lift for the Island

We are installing an appliance lift in the island - the design is in the previsous post. The one that gets the best reviewes by far is the Rev-A-Shelf 60lb lift. It basically takes a full cabinet, but we decided it was worth it.

We are putting a wider shelf on ours than is shown below, at 20 inches. This will allow us to both the kitchen-aid mixer and a food processor on it.

The best overall price for it is from Rockler at $95 direct from their local store, no shipping. I did find a couple of online ones for $90, but the shipping made them about $100. Besides, if I can just buy it, I will - if there is a problem I can return it easily.