Butcher Block Kickpress Kitchen Island
Fern & Roby’s butcher block kitchen island tells the story of American manufacturing, by pairing modern production and finish with the relics of our industrial past. The cast iron bases are reproductions of legs from a nineteenth-century kick press machine, salvaged from a long-unused Providence, RI, factory.
We have had the original salvaged pair for over a decade, and have been waiting to find a perfect use. Our design firm in Old Manchester, Richmond, has a close relationship with OK Foundry, a 4th-generation owned family business located four blocks from our studio. We took molds from the original pair of kick press legs and made a new pattern for the foundry—the foundry is then able to cast exact replicas, which we patina to make them indistinguishable from the originals. All of the castings poured at OK Foundry have a significant recycled content, which is important to us.
The top is of end-grain rock maple, 25” x 60,” made in America for us by John Boos & Co. It can be produced in smaller sizes to accommodate the layout of any kitchen.
We have had the original salvaged pair for over a decade, and have been waiting to find a perfect use. Our design firm in Old Manchester, Richmond, has a close relationship with OK Foundry, a 4th-generation owned family business located four blocks from our studio. We took molds from the original pair of kick press legs and made a new pattern for the foundry—the foundry is then able to cast exact replicas, which we patina to make them indistinguishable from the originals. All of the castings poured at OK Foundry have a significant recycled content, which is important to us.
The top is of end-grain rock maple, 25” x 60,” made in America for us by John Boos & Co. It can be produced in smaller sizes to accommodate the layout of any kitchen.
