At last, it can be revealed. The Secret Kitchen Project is, in fact, Techno-Kitchen 3000, AKA a cabinet-mounted tablet.
This has been a weird, distant dream of mine pretty much since we got the house. I got the idea when Belkin announced a cabinet under-mount iPad stand, but that was impractical for a few reasons, the main one being that I'd have to pop the iPad out of its case I use most of the time and transfer it to a stand every time I wanted to use it in the kitchen.
Last year, Google released the Nexus 7, a low-end, high-quality Android tablet that kicked the shit out of the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet on a few levels. The most important one for me being that it ran pure Android, without any of the shopping overlays and bullshit you get with Amazon or Barnes and Noble's devices. That kind of flexibility is important because as I think up different ways of using it, I don't want to be limited.
In the fall, I realized that, thanks to a spare electrical outlet in the cabinet above my vent hood, I could run USB-charger power very easily to the front of the cabinet over my main prep area. A plan formed in my mind. Nexus 7. A couple of drilled holes. A long USB cord. Some... way of mounting the damn thing.
The plan was in place, but it wasn't a priority over things like replacing the dishwasher and, you know. Eating and paying the bills. But right around Festivus, I came into possession of a Nexus 7, and thus the plans began in earnest.
First thing I did once I got the tablet and got a feel for the form factor was do some poking around online. Regardless of mounting method, there was a general consensus about getting a cheap backing case for it. One of these, specifically. Eight bucks, pads out the back. I had thoughts about just using big-ass Command strips to stick it to the cupboard door, but decided to go with a more secure, more removable approach.
First step was to buy four feet of u-shaped aluminum channel (from Menard's) and cut one eight inch and one four inch piece. Or, in my case, have a friend, who offered to cut them for me using professional equipment, do that for me. But you can just take a hacksaw and some beeswax to it, apparently.
I picked my spot, and glued the bottom channel in place with some Loctite of some kind. Once that cured, I positioned the top channel so that it would hold the tablet loosely and glued that in place as well. A big drill bit put a couple of USB Micro-B plug sized holes, one between the two cabinets, and one in the door. I happened to have a six foot cable on hand, which is about two feet longer than I needed for the install, but the slack will come in handy with the final piece of the puzzle:
One iHome portable Bluetooth ball-shaped speaker. The Nexus 7 speaker isn't bad, and once the sound bounces off the cabinet it's surprisingly loud, but it's not great, and something a little louder, that I can put anywhere in the kitchen and hear over vent hood or faucet or sizzling is better. And I like better.
What to do with it? That's the next post.