Finishing

The cabinet is covered with black "chalkboard" contact paper.  It's not the most durable finish, but it looks really good and wasn't very expensive.  It took about 8 rolls to cover the cabinet, and another roll of green for the control panel.  Total cost of about $30.  The finished surface actually can be used as a chalkboard.  I coated a piece of scrap to test with some colored chalk, and it is a chalkboard, but I couldn't bring myself to start drawing on the cabinet. 

I found mine at Target, but not all Targets carry this style. Here are the details in case you want to hunt some down to play with:

Con-Tact Brand Style 9052 "Chalkboard" 1-877-353-6420 www.con-tact.com

And then there is the T molding.  I borrowed a router with a slot cutting bit, and ran it along the edge of the cabinet.  It cuts a slot about 1/2" deep on the edge of the wood.  The T molding just presses into that slot.  If it doesn't stay put, a little white glue will do the trick.  Since I mounted my top & back panels flush with the edge of the side panels I could only apply the t molding to the front, otherwise I would risk hitting a screw with the router & that could be dangerous.  On Genom's cabinet we routed the panels while they were still on the workbench right after we cut them out.  Then we recessed the top & back panels 1/2" and it worked out much better.