Hi
I have been asked to mill and build hard wood kitchen counter tops for a reno.
Wood could be yellow birch, maple etc. They are requested to be 2″ thick.
Any tricks to this or should it be approached as creating a heavy table top?
Thanks for any suggestions……..Teejay
Replies
To be honest, especially if you are doing this for money, I would suggest that you buy a factory made solid wood counter top. A premade top will probably cost less than what it will cost you just for the roughsawn wood if you are going to make it yourself.
Also you should make sure that the customer realizes that a wood counter top is far more easily damaged and will show wear much sooner than any other type of counter material. The top will also expand and contract with humidity changes so it will have to be mounted to the base cabinets in a way that allows it to move. You will also need to be careful that the counter isn't exposed to higher than usual temperatures from undercounter appliances and ovens which can cause extreme shrinkage and glue line failures.
As you may have guessed by now, I'm not a big fan of wood countertops for kitchens. If you decide to go ahead with the top get back to me and I'll give you some tips.
John White
Thanks a lot for your quick reply.
Your concerns mimic mine also! But the people who want this counter top really want it! I am going to look at the their kicthen this thursday to see if I want to take it on or not.
I did find a company in Quebec that does make wide board kicthen counters and also bucther block style. They use white maple or white bich for the wide board and charge $45 a sq/ft for 2", approachs the cost of nice granite!
They use polyvinyl acetate, type 2 glue (what do you think?) and finish with a product called Bizzz wax suitable for food contact (ever heard of Bizzz wax?)
Also I would like to run this mounting scenerio below that I dreamt up by you.
They want 2" of thickness.
I was wondering if I made up the counter top of 5/4 finished maple then placed it on top of 3/4" water resitant ply wood (total 2") and secured the maple top to the ply with with routed screw slots in the ply wood to allow for any movement in the maple top and attached a nice edge profile of 2" to the maple top to cover the ply edge. Also leaving 1/4" between edging and ply wood base to allow for movement. With the plywood as a base this would be much easier to attach to existing cabinates below.
Does this make any sense to you??
Would really appreciate your opinion again....Thanks a lot ....Teejay
The idea of using a plywood base under the top is a good one but you have to watch the details. You won't be able to run the edging on the ends because you'll have cross grain movement problems and it will also wreck the illusion of the solid wood look. The fix is to cut a slice of the end of the top and then to glue it onto the underside of the top. This will keep all of the grain running the right way on the ends and will give a very good grain match.You should figure on wood movement of at least 1/4 inch per foot of width of the top. So a 30" wide top should have 5/8" of clearance for movement. If the counter is against the wall, all of the movement will be at the front overhang so you will have to have much more than 1/4" clearance there.I would shop around for the premade top, in New England they can be ordered through most lumber yards for less than the price you mentioned. Try to get an unfinished top, it will be much easier to apply a fresh finish after all the cutting and installation work is done rather than trying to touch up and match a scuffed or damaged factory finish.John W.
Thanks a lot for the good advice...Have a great day......Teejay
Wooden kitchen benchtops will always end in tears.
There is no finish that will do the job.
Bob
Bob,That sums up, in two short sentences, my experience exactly.John White
Edited 5/9/2008 11:20 am ET by JohnWW
Ikea carries 1 1/2" laminated beech tops that are very reasonably priced.
Is it the salty tears that ruin the finish....???
I have used indoor/outdoor Helmsman - spar urethane as a finish over an oil based Minwax stain for a spruce log bench / table I built 5 years ago.
It has been inside and outside, summer and winter for those 5 years in our extreme Quebec weather.
It has seen many a BBQ with lots of cold beer spilt on it and even a little dancing (I have great BBQ's) and I have yet to have had to refinish it. It has stood up amazingly well.
Could this not be used for a kitchen counter made from hard wood?
It is great for wooden bars made from either soft or hard wood that see continual washing and splillage.
Maybe I am as dense as the yellow birch kitchen counter but I really don't see why so many FWR's find wood kitchen counters so repulsive.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled