My wife has wanted a bread box for quite some time. It has finally came to the top of the list. Her criteria was that it needed to hold both baguettes and loaf bread. Beyond that, she was extremely flexible. We decided that it should be able to hold two loafs of normal size bread and two 2-packs of baguettes from Costco (our frequent source of them).
As for the measurements, it was quite simple, I measured the real world product dimensions and added an inch or two in each direction so I didn't need to cram the bread in there. As for the design, I did a quick google image search and didn't really see anything I liked so I knew I would be designing my own but would be heavily influenced by things I've made and things I've seen and liked. After the sketch, I waited a few weeks to mull it over. The final design is show afterwards. Essentially, very similar to the sketch but I put the floating panel on the front (and back) and used solid sides. The wife approved of the design. The only difference was the hardware, I wanted more of a Mackintosh dangling pull on the front. My wife preferred a knob. Not the end of the world so a knob it was. Happy wife, happy life.
The inspiration came from a variety of sources. For the frame and panel, beveled top, and curved legs, I took the design cues from a craftsman/mission style nightstand I had built for my daughter off of a set of plans I purchased from Wood Magazine (Issue 159 from Nov 2014). For the legs lifting the carcass off the carton, I saw a while ago a small box from a website (don't recall whom). I liked it and thought it would look good here. The actual curve itself came off of the aforementioned nightstand, just scaled down.
In terms of wood, I wanted to use up what I had. I had enough cherry and maple laying about. My biggest regret is the maple front. The cherry and maple compliment each other and will only look better over time. What I regret is that maple I had for the front was kind of blah (I did the best glue up config with what I had). I really should have either bought a new piece such as tiger or Birdseye or veneered birdseye or tiger maple on the front. Given the time and energy I spent on this, the cost for that extra bit of wood is really irrelevant. It's a learning lesson that I will take to heart. If that this maple had been a non-show face it would have been fine. For show faces, I will keep in mind that at times, it might be better to just spend a bit more if my budget does allow it. In this case, I got sucked into the allure of making it from spare "free" wood I had laying about. For the legs, I had enough figured maple to make them. Of course, I used my favorite holdfast to break down the rough stock.
The underside of the top used housing dados to hold down the top. The bottom is attached to the sides via dovetails. The joinery itself was straightforward to do and came out decent. No perfect but good enough. On the back will be a frame in panel so I made the housing dados with a mixture of chisels and router plane. To hold the middle shelf (needed to separate loaves from baguettes), I went with housing dados. I gotta thank Paul Sellers for his online training. Everything I needed to do to make this, I learned from him. The post is getting long so we will stop here.
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