# Laminate countertops



## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

First, I want to thank BigJim for this thread, and his help. If you're considering doing your own laminate tops, then read his thread. 
http://www.diychatroom.com/f98/how-build-laminate-countertop-166320/

Here's where I started.


You can't really see it in the picture above, but the tile counter tops were pretty bad. The grout wasn't taken care of. Some of the tiles had come loose, and some parts of it were warped. Everything to the right of the sink (when facing the sink) was rotten underneath from years of water seaping through the poor grout. 

Whoever built this top even left some of the spacers between the tiles before they grouted it. 


This side was very easy to remove. It only had about 5 nails holding the entire piece to the cabinets.


Some of the rot under the sink.


More of the rot. Whoever put this sink in must have ran out of caulking. It was real thick 2/3 of the way around, and then almost none on the back side. The sink lifted out with ease.




Once the sink was out, I started lifting up the tiles by hand. This was worse than I expected, but that just made it that much easier to take out. I don't even know what that brown ooze is. 


I got the old top out. I figured out why the smaller top had so few nails holding it in. It was because they used them all on this side. 


Taking down the tile backsplash really tore chunks into the drywall behind it. Luckily, most of them came off without a promlem, so there weren't alot of repairs to be made there.

I didn't get many more pictures or removing everything after this point, so i'll move on to the build of the new ones.

Being that I had never done this before, I really didn't want to make a mistake. If I did make a mistake, ah well. Learn from it and move on. Measure twice, cut once? How about measure 30 times and cut once. :thumbsup:


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

Part of the longer piece cut out.


...and the smaller piece, along with edges.


Remember this thread, where I asked the best way to make an 8ft sheet of plywood into a 9ft+ sheet?
http://www.diychatroom.com/f14/how-should-i-build-countertop-173547/



I didn't think it would work. I thought it would be slightly off, uneven, or not level. It came out perfect. (What you cannot see under the plywood is another sheet of plywood for support.)

I then built the edges, cut out the sink hole, sanded everything, and prepped for laminate. 



Here, I have the laminate cut down and ready to go. No pictures of the actual process. The glue was pretty potent, and I had 3 fans running behind me to keep the fumes out of the garage.





Here's how it looked after trimming it down with a trim router.


Before laminating it, I was having my doubts on how well it would look. After laminating it, my confidence was restored. It looked great.

This was my first time using a trim router. I did not expect it to throw so many shavings. The shavings were everywhere. I was covered in them. :laughing:


Now, to repeat the process on the smaller top.


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

Showing the gloss. I used a small point and shoot camera for these pictures, and the laminate looks more blue and dull than it actually is. 


This is after flipping it over and applying the 3rd coat of urethane.




I then cleaned up the old sink, put it in place (not installed yet), and installed the new faucet to the sink. 


This is much easier to do when the sink isn't actually in the kitchen. 


Here's the old faucet. It was toast. It leaked from every possible place, and no matter how you used it, it would shoot you with a tiny stream of water. I've never been a fan of the single handle faucets. I salvaged the copper and trashed the rest.



Afterwards, I reinstalled everything, put the laminate backsplash and trim on, and then got busy with the wall backsplash. I used these stamped aluminum sheets.


There weren't any pictures from here on, so ill just move to the near final results.


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

This is how they truly look. I shot these with my DSLR. That point and shoot camera did them no justice.






When I learn more about electricity, I plan to swap the outlets out with grey outlets. For now, I put the grey trim on.






Ignore the pan on the bar. :lol: I moved it off of the stove when I took a picture of the stove, then forgot that I put it on the bar when I took this picture.





I have the bar top built, but decided against doing it in laminate. I'm going to do something a little different to change the transition from the kitchen to the living room. I also plan to repaint the cabinets a light grey (maybe something else?). I still need to install the stainless knobs and hinges onto the cabinet doors (after painting). I'd like to change the light fixtures on the ceiling, and put in some under cabinet lighting. Then, when all of this is done, replace the floor. Once step at a time...


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## handyman_20772 (Jun 28, 2006)

Thanks for sharing.....keep up the good work.


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

handyman_20772 said:


> Thanks for sharing.....keep up the good work.


:thumbsup:Thanks! It was fun.


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## 123pugsy (Oct 6, 2012)

They look great for a DIY job.

Nice.:thumbsup:


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

123pugsy said:


> They look great for a DIY job.
> 
> Nice.:thumbsup:


Yeah, not bad for my first time, and a whole lot better than what I started with. Thanks!


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

Looks fantastic! Glad you went looking for the longer laminate.


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## lohryx5 (May 31, 2013)

The countertops turned out great! I'm actually considering doing this in our kitchen.

How did you do the beveled front edges? Did you have to apply 2 thin strips to get that looks...1 to the bevel and 1 to the front edge?


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

lohryx5 said:


> The countertops turned out great! I'm actually considering doing this in our kitchen.
> 
> How did you do the beveled front edges? Did you have to apply 2 thin strips to get that looks...1 to the bevel and 1 to the front edge?


The beveled front edges and matching beveled back splash piece, I ordered from here:

http://bevel-edge.com/

I've only ordered from them that one time for those pieces, and I have no complaints. They shipped them quick, gave a tracking number, and the pieces arrived in 8ft long boxes supported by a pair of 8ft long 1x4 boards to protect them.


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## lohryx5 (May 31, 2013)

Awesome! So you got the matching laminate sheeting from them as well? Wow, they have tons to choose from. Again, great job.


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

lohryx5 said:


> Awesome! So you got the matching laminate sheeting from them as well? Wow, they have tons to choose from. Again, great job.


No. I ordered the laminate sheets through Lowes.com because the prices were cheaper for the sizes I needed. The laminate sheets were an exact match to the edges.

Mine is Wilsonart.


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## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

Looks really good, are you going to laminate the pass
through as well?


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

Two Knots said:


> Looks really good, are you going to laminate the pass
> through as well?


What is a pass through?


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## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

An opening to the dining room. (pass the dishes through)


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

Two Knots said:


> An opening to the dining room. (pass the dishes through)


Ohhhhhhh! I keep calling that the bar. Thanks! Didn't know what it was called.

Yes, I plan on redoing that. I already have it built, just not finished. I decided against laminate for that. I don't want the countertop colors spilling over into the living room. I'm trying to come up with something that's a bit more creative, yet will flow with the living room and kitchen at the same time. Something transitional.


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## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

Does the bar hang over into the LR, or is it flush on the
L R side?

What about a wood top, but on the LR side overhang it and have
a nice molding (on the LR) side with brackets?

what about painting it a charcoal grey or creamy
white?


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

Yes, it hangs over about 8 inches or so.

I was thinking about something like this, but with a different color wood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7qyKCTwiMI

That, or stainless steel top with wood trim.


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## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

Take a pic from the LR side looking into the kitchen.


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