Finishing the firewood drawer

I have found a few spare moments here and there between planes and coats of french polish, and have used the time to finish working on the firewood drawer. Other than a finish on the white Oak door - it is completed.

This was one of those odd notions that led to much head scratching but ultimately, I hope a very useful solution. Here are a series of photos to show some of the detail.

One of the big issues was how to keep this from being a huge source of heat loss in the winter. The cavity around the drawer was filled with spray foam insulation when the rest of the room was done. Below is a quick shot with the cover off.



The large red box on the end serves 2 purposes. First, to push the handle into a more convenient location. And secondly to store six, 2" pieces of high density insulation.



With the drawer in a closed position, the air gap is 3/16" around the perimeter of the drawer and 1/8" gap on each side of the glides.




The first test piece of firewood...




... and its new home under the hearth. There is a 3/4" lip on the front edge of the aluminum drawer, but this should be visually blocked by the 3/4" flooring.



And a wider shot to show the drawer in context.

The white Oak door posed another challenge. The door hardware was a little limiting - the door could not be thicker than 1-3/4" and the stile had to be at least 4" wide. I managed to create a 3/4" cavity between the panels to put a single piece of Johns Manville insulation (R5).



The cavity.


And the insulation.


And speaking of insulation - the two exterior walls are now done. Next step...12' sheets of drywall.