Kitchen worktop - where to buy?

[Midnight]

Did you check out the damaged worktops section at B&Q (other DIYs probably have one too) I managed to get a 3mtr worktop damaged in exactly the right place to make two worktops for a boat I was re-fitting - cost me £30

[cariad]

Howdens seconded. Still not sure if they do any pale colours though, but their range of worktops certainly used to be diffrerent from the mainstream retailers.

 

Also check out Ikea. Same applies, being foreign their stuff is different because it isn't designed for the UK market, even though it still sells well here.

And a third approach is consider buying a sheet of just laminate. The timber suppliers like TimberWorld usually have sample sets and Formica for example, have a far bigger range/selection than you get on made up worktops.

 

Glue it onto your existing worktops with Evo-Stick which is available in 5 litre cans. Great fun in an enclosed space!

The problem with using the laminate particularly Formica, it would would work out more expensive by the time you buy the glue and the laminate. You will also have the problem trying to shape it around the existing post formed edge.

Buy a good worktop, buy cheap, buy twice and you will have all that work to do again.

[magnetman]

Did you check out the damaged worktops section at B&Q (other DIYs probably have one too) I managed to get a 3mtr worktop damaged in exactly the right place to make two worktops for a boat I was re-fitting - cost me £30

Someone told me he got a damaged section of oak worktop from ikea - I thought perhaps he had damaged it previously

 

Afaik they do have a section where they sell damaged gear

[MtB]

The problem with using the laminate particularly Formica, it would would work out more expensive by the time you buy the glue and the laminate. You will also have the problem trying to shape it around the existing post formed edge.

Buy a good worktop, buy cheap, buy twice and you will have all that work to do again.

 

 

But this ignores the problem outlined by the OP. No-one sells light-coloured worktops to her taste. Buying her own laminate and bonding it on to the existing worktops is a perfect fix! An £80 sheet of 8x4 Formica and £20 of adhesive fixes the problem just within budget. Body filler will convert the roll edge (if there is one) to square edge after bonding one surface on.

[cariad]

 

 

But this ignores the problem outlined by the OP. No-one sells light-coloured worktops to her taste. Buying her own laminate and bonding it on to the existing worktops is a perfect fix! An £80 sheet of 8x4 Formica and £20 of adhesive fixes the problem just within budget. Body filler will convert the roll edge (if there is one) to square edge after bonding one surface on.

This method you suggest seems a real potch and would require some skill to get a good result, perhaps it maybe wiser to consult someone like Llandaff Laminates or even look on their web site who specialise in these products.

[MtB]

This method you suggest seems a real potch and would require some skill to get a good result, perhaps it maybe wiser to consult someone like Llandaff Laminates or even look on their web site who specialise in these products.

 

 

Indeed it would. Are you saying you think the OP is not up to it?

[cariad]

 

 

Indeed it would. Are you saying you think the OP is not up to it?

No not at all, but i would have thought anybody with the skills required to obtain a good result would not be asking for advice, in the same way that you

would not be asking for advice in the plumbing trade.

The advice i have offered is after many years of trading in the kitchen business and with good will and i hope that the OP sees it that way, but at the end of the day it's for the OP to decide what advice to take.

[David Schweizer]

Having worked for a furniture making company which made it's own laminated table tops, I can assure readers that it is quite a complex process, involving powerfull presses and a lot of heat and specialist adhesives. Not something you can knock up in your shed.

 

However, there are specialist worktop manufacturers who will make them to order. but at a (considerable) price.

[MtB]

Having worked for a furniture making company which made it's own laminated table tops, I can assure readers that it is quite a complex process, involving powerfull presses and a lot of heat and specialist adhesives. Not something you can knock up in your shed.

 

However, there are specialist worktop manufacturers who will make them to order. but at a (considerable) price.

 

 

I disagree!

 

I've custom-made made various worktops on site using plywood with Formica bonded with EvoStick when I used to fit luxury bathooms. The results have been very professional though I say so myself.

 

The key is to use genuine Formica which is very rigid, flat and approximately 1mm thick, unlike most other makes of laminate.

[Dyertribe]

My dad has a craze in the late '60s for making picnic tables with plywood, Formica and those funny screw in legs popular at the time.

They held together well, I'm sure there are a few examples knocking around in his garage/ attic. Still perfectly flat.

Aaah the memories!

[Guest User]

Many thanks for all the extra suggestions - lots to think about.

 

Buuuut, I'm still stuck at finding a pale pattern I like - albeit solid wood would be the easiest option for DIY but I think it would be overkill as there already lots of wood panelling everywhere and painting it isn't an option for a kitchen work surface. I'm nearly tempted by the Mike The Boilerman's Formica option, but I think I'd rather have rounded edges and corners (coz I'm really good and bumping into things and square edges would have me black and blue in no time at all ).

 

... Oh, and I can do stuff, honest I can, here's my little bathroom worktop that I made with a bit of sawing, routing, sanding and acrylic spray painting:

 

 

Just had a thought - is it possible to bleach beech or maple to make it really pale, sort-of sun-bleached?

 

LCx

[MtB]

Many thanks for all the extra suggestions - lots to think about.

 

Buuuut, I'm still stuck at finding a pale pattern I like - albeit solid wood would be the easiest option for DIY but I think it would be overkill as there already lots of wood panelling everywhere and painting it isn't an option for a kitchen work surface. I'm nearly tempted by the Mike The Boilerman's Formica option, but I think I'd rather have rounded edges and corners (coz I'm really good and bumping into things and square edges would have me black and blue in no time at all ).

 

... Oh, and I can do stuff, honest I can, here's my little bathroom worktop that I made with a bit of sawing, routing, sanding and acrylic spray painting:

 

IMG_0914.JPG

 

Just had a thought - is it possible to bleach beech or maple to make it really pale, sort-of sun-bleached?

 

LCx

 

 

Very nice worktop, I'm impressed!!!

 

I dunno about bleaching maple but pearwood is usually almost white, IIRC.

[David Schweizer]

 

 

I disagree!

 

I've custom-made made various worktops on site using plywood with Formica bonded with EvoStick when I used to fit luxury bathooms. The results have been very professional though I say so myself.

 

The key is to use genuine Formica which is very rigid, flat and approximately 1mm thick, unlike most other makes of laminate.

 

It makes me wonder why we went to all that trouble, if we could have just got the local plumber in to knock them up!!

Edited October 1, 2015 by David Schweizer

[cariad]

 

It makes me wonder why we went to all that trouble, if we could have just got the local plumber in to knock them up!!

Exactly

[MtB]

 

It makes me wonder why we went to all that trouble, if we could have just got the local plumber in to knock them up!!

 

 

It was so you could mass produce roll-edged worktops costing peanuts. I'm sure you knew this really.

 

The worktops I used to make might take me a couple of days each to produce, and you know how much plumbers charge! There's no way could hand-craft a piece of worktop for the £80 one costs in B&Q.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Mike the Boilerman

[David Schweizer]

 

 

It was so you could mass produce roll-edged worktops costing peanuts. I'm sure you knew this really.

 

The worktops I used to make might take me a couple of days each to produce, and you know how much plumbers charge! There's no way could hand-craft a piece of worktop for the £80 one costs in B&Q.

 

No, they were not kitchen worktops, they were canteen table tops with square edges. They were not cheap as peanuts. but high quality products made with high quality materials, surfaces and edges laminated with either decorative Formica or Warerite and undersides balanced with plain formica.

 

Quite frankly if someone is prepared to pay a plumber to take two days to make a worktop, they would be better placed to go to a specialist manufacturer who will make one which complies with British standards for the same sort of price, rather than one glued together with DIY EvoStik.

Edited October 1, 2015 by David Schweizer