Season 11

It's a little known secret that when Norm is not in The New Yankee Workshop or on a This Old House job site, he can be found in his own kitchen cooking for friends and family. Viewers who share his interest in the culinary arts were the top of his mind when Norm created this Kitchen Island.

Meant to meet the demand for more storage space, Norm's custom designed kitchen pantry promises to be valued even more as a decorative showpiece and as an example of his superb craftsmanship. Built out of antique chestnut with punched copper double doors, its geometric detailing and traditional beauty are illuminated by interior accent lighting. Inside, six melamine storage shelves can store a shop full of pantry items. Watch and learn how to work with recycled wood, fabricate melamine shelves, create punched-copper door panels, and install accent lighting.

Norm's kitchen secretary solves the problem of creating a work space in the kitchen that still allows you to keep tabs on the dinner that's cooking on the stove and to take part in family conversation. Built out of mahogany, the ingenuity of its design can be found in its efficient use of space. Hung from the wall, this handsome piece features adjustable shelves to store cookbooks or a small TV and cubby holes for organizing recipes, bills, or correspondence. Below that there's a hinged desk front which folds down and offers enough space to accommodate a laptop computer. Watch and learn how to: create raised panels and intricate shelving work, and mortise and tenon joinery.

In each season of The New Yankee Workshop, Norm crafts at least one woodworking project whose beautiful design and detailing ensures that it will become a cherished heirloom. This season it is unquestionably the hutch he crafts out of 200 year-old pine. Featuring two glass front doors, a drawer for storing linens, and a lower cabinet with raised panel doors, the beauty of the old wood is accented by Norm's use of high-end, vintage looking brass hardware and wonderful moulding. Watch and learn how to: make glass cabinet doors, construct dovetail drawers, select and apply appropriate mouldings and vintage hardware.

Woodworkers who entertain are going to love making Norm's attractive, custom-designed teak bar. Featuring great-looking, nautical-inspired brass hardware and stunning louver doors, the bar promises to hold everything a party giver needs. The interior of the wall-mounted upper cabinet features a traditional mirror back, two glass shelves, and accent lighting to showcase a prized glass or crystal collection. The bottom cabinet unit features a durable teak countertop with a hammered-brass service sink and spout for easy cleaning. Underneath, a divided cabinet features a roll-out tray for storing spirits and snacks on one side and enough space to accommodate an ice maker on the other. Though Norm admits its louver and sliding doors make it a more complex woodworking project, its decorative appeal and utilitarian value justify the challenge.

This is a Norm original, inspired by his need to sort his bright plaids, pastel plaids, and even a few white shirts for the laundry. Entirely constructed of durable, easy-to-clean white melamine, Norm designed this laundry center to work as both a sorting station and as a place to fold clothes and hold laundry supplies. It's a large scale project, that employs a number of basic, cabinetry-making skills. Watch and learn: constructing with and joining together the man-made material melamine, edge-band detailing, heat-sensitive bonding techniques, installing pivot hinges and full slides.

Viewers who share his interest in the culinary arts were on Norm's mind when he designed several woodworking projects exclusively for the family chef. For the pastry chef, he consulted with good friend Chef Marian Morash of the Victory Garden.

Most woodworkers and homeowners own at least a portable light weight table saw for a variety of projects, but are limited to the size of wood they can cut due to the shortcomings of its design and a lack of accessory work surface. Always looking to expand the versatility of common tools, Norm created this season's home workshop accessory to expand the function of the common table saw. Using basic construction techniques, he shows how to build this station out of melamine and wood and to how to make an auxiliary fence, feather board, and push stick which will allow the home woodworker to safely cut and rip large pieces of lumber for more ambitious projects. Watch and learn: basic construction techniques, how to build a sawhorse, how to make essential saw accessories such as a panel cutter, feather board, and push stick.

The universal carpentry and cabinetry lessons that woodworkers will learn while making these classic kitchen cabinets will enable them to build any kind, says Norm. This two-unit piece consists of a wall-mounted, upper cabinet with double-glass doors and a bottom unit with raised paneled doors for storage. Its classic look comes from its basic cabinetry style, cornice moulding, soapstone countertop, and vintage-looking cafe hardware made of brushed nickel. Watch and learn: basic cabinetry making skills, how to create glass and raised paneled doors, drawer construction, and techniques for making adjustable shelves.

Host Norm Abram shows how to build a sink base.

Norm found the inspiration for this simple press cupboard in a Nantucket house he vacationed in last summer and was convinced that the antique original's modest size offered just the right amount of space to store linens and serving utensils for entertaining. Featuring streamlined flat-paneled doors, an upper drawer, and turned feet, its simple design seems almost modern. Norm crafts this piece out of recycled pine to give it a vintage look. Watch and learn: how to create flat-paneled doors, making shelves, using the lathe to create turned feet.

True gourmets will appreciate Norm's more sophisticated butcher block-topped chef's table which has both great style and utilitarian value. Featuring a poplar base with graceful tapered legs, it includes a built-in knife rack, towel racks, and pull-through drawers which can be accessed whether working at the stove or by the sink, as well as a large shelf for storing stock pots. Watch and learn: how to prepare rough-cut lumber, making blanks to create tapered legs, mortise and tenon joinery techniques, finger joint construction.

For the outdoor chef, Norm offers a solution to the shortcomings of modern barbecue grills-extra counter space-with a rolling grill cart made of weather-friendly redwood and cedar. Cart also features a pullout drawer, towel racks, hooks for utensils, and a large bottom shelf.