One furniture style that is a versatile modern furniture comeback, and is unique in every instance is the butcher block. Butcher block tables used to be made from a solid piece of wood, and they were used in commercial and residential kitchens for food preparation. More recently, in the interest of keeping costs down, butcher blocks are often made from strips of wood pressed together to create the block, instead of using large center-cut pieces of wood. Far from being unattractive, woodworkers use this process to create amazing patterns and incredibly beautiful pieces of furniture…most of which will never be used in the kitchen. We like the simple look of a butcher block finished with hairpin legs, but they can just as easily be built with flat bar legs, or tube steel bench supports.
One of the ways woodworkers and DIY furniture makers have used the butcher block to great success is the butcher block coffee table, or the butcher block end table. There are classic styles, striped butcher block tables, and even these butcher block style tables from Wood Shed Production, which are a revival of classic butcher block styles (albeit with updated table legs). Some of these tables are made from single sections of wood, like turn of the century butcher block tables, and some of them are made from composite wood styles, like we expect to see in modern butcher block tables. Thanks to the good folks at Wood Shed Production for allowing us to show off their amazing workmanship alongside our hairpin legs, and hopefully this will inspire your next furniture project…whether it’s a butcher block or not!
