Countertop Roundwood Shelf

For a number of years a toaster oven has sat on my counter, with a tray on top of it. The tray has held the coffee and tea supplies; and has served as the recharging station for our smartphones. The toaster oven has stopped working and the volunteer at my local Repair Clark County was unable to fix it. So now I can reclaim part of my counter space. My wife would like a shelf there with room underneath for her KitchenAide. The shelf would hold the things that the tray previously held.

I have a pile of dry junkpoles, so I am thinking about making this little shelf out of roundwood for practice. And beauty. We will see what I come up with. I'm starting this thread to document that process.

great, what dimensions?

Well, the height is the key thing. The Kitchen Aide is specified at 13.9 inches (353 mm) tall. So I think I'll design it with 15 inches clear underneath. Horizontal dimensions would be roughly 1 foot by 2 feet. I have a galley kitchen, the shelf would sit at the end of the counter against a wall, facing down along the counter. 6 inches by 2 feet would get the job done. It might end up as 9 inches by 2 feet.

In my conceptual drawing above I didn't have any kind of lip to keep things from falling off the shelf. I was also considering a frameless design; just slotting the legs to receive some thick plywood and counting on the plywood to give the shelf it's rigidity.

Now I am thinking about building a horizontal frame all around the plywood, and then attaching the legs to that. This would constitute a lip, and would give me a lot of joinery practice.