Kitchen worktops

[Lonsdale73]

Any of our experts able to offer some advice please? I'm trying to work out how much worktop I need to buy which I think will be determined to some extent by how they should be joined and how much extra to allow for that.

It's a u-shaped kitchen, the longest, the 'base,' measuring about 2.47m and the 'arms' c2m. At the moment, it's laid out like this:

The blue piece holds the sink and has two ugly metal strips where it joins the red arms.

Is there a good reason why it's done like that way rather than this:

My thinking is one 3m length cut to give the 2.47m as one continuous length (this will be the section that houses the sink, washing machine) and a second 3m length cut approximately in half for the arms to butt join the base. How much extra material do I need to allow for what the router removes when using a worktop jig?

I've no intention of even attempting to fit this myself so if anyone knows of a reliable fitter in the Lincoln area I'd be grateful for recommendations (will be six base units, worktop plus fitting the sink, hob and oven)

 

[hawkeyefxr]

Well i have done this myself for my sister many years ago, it was a big kitchen five 3mtr lengths, i started at 9am and finish at midnight, i was knackered as was the router bit. Your bottom layout looks the best to be.
If you have someone in mind ask there advice on the layout, if they are fitters then they are used to all the problems that may arise.
It is a daunting task and one i would never do again. As it happen we are removing a solid beech worktop later this year and going for granite, i am not doing it. We have found keeping a wood worktop in good condition is a fair amount of work in itself.
Haven't helped much i know but good luck with it.

 

[Dibs-h]

Lons,

Been a fair few years since I did a worktop with a jig. Same since did one at all.

If IIRC - on the female side of the joint, I don't have the jig to hand but can't see it "recessing" by more than 100mm. Or 4" in old money. So your sides would need to be about 100mm longer than what the footprint is.

I'll try to measure the jig when I get home.

On the question of top picture or bottom picture. Bottom one will probably allow you to use 2 x 3m lengths (just about). Whereas the top one would require 3 lengths with a leftover. I'm erring on the top picture, I think it looks aesthetically better (if that is an excuse), but equally the piece with the most cut out of it, is the smallest. If that makes sense?

HIH

Dibs

p.s. Can you mark on at least one drawing where the hob is going (and for completeness where the sink is, even tho we know where that is going)? I don't think you should have a hob too close to a "joint".

 

[Distinterior]

Lonsdale,
The length of worktops you will require will be dictated by which worktop jig you use.
The "Standard" jig cuts a 23mm rebate into the female mitre on the worktop, so you would need to add at least this amount to your male worktops.

The other jigs that are available go down to a 10mm rebate, which is much easier to cut and looks SO MUCH better, and there is another jig that cuts a much bigger rebate (about 30/35mm from memory) that Screwfix sell, for example.

If you just add 50 to 60mm to your lengths required, you will have more than enough no matter which jig you end up using.

Your 1st drawing would be easier to fit whereas the 2nd drawing would be more difficult as the middle worktop is fitted wall to wall.
Having said that, I would go with the 2nd option as that way, your worktop joints are as far away from the sink as possible. The proximity of the Hob is no where near as much of an issue as avoiding water over your worktop joints.

 

[Lonsdale73]

Not at all, hawkeyefxr, any help is a great help and I appreciate you taking the time to reply at all. Thank you.

Dibs, revised layout below:

The sink is where it currently is and as that's where all the pipe work is I guess that will remain the case. The black line I've added denotes where current worktops end. On the left is where fridge used to be and on the right is a free sanding cooker, again that's where the gas pipe is. Idea is to fit the hob as near to the edge as fitter recommends.

That's very helpful Disinterior. I was a bit concerned about the possibility of losing 100mm but a 'worst case scenario' of 35mm doesn't sound so bad. That out of a 620mm depth, plus the c1500mm should bring it close to the 2m mark although the only critcal aspect of that dimension is that's the maximum it can be before it starts encroaching on door ways!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If you think to use anything like this - http://www.worktop-express.co.uk/workto ... d_set.html
it could be wise to think about it before you have the tops fitted.

 

[Lonsdale73]

If you think to use anything like this - http://www.worktop-express.co.uk/workto ... d_set.html
it could be wise to think about it before you have the tops fitted.

I can say in all honesty that they hadn't entered my mind at all. Think I'll stick with the "I love Cornwall" trivet.

 

[Matt@]

I know its not what you asked but beware buying cheap laminated tops from the likes of BQ...

 

[Lonsdale73]

I know its not what you asked but beware buying cheap laminated tops from the likes of BQ...

Will do thanks

 

[stuartpaul]

I’ve fitted a few sets of solid oak worktop and never used a jig. Butt joins are fine, never had an issue with them. Use a few biscuits for lining up and pva and you’re done!

Might save you a bit of worktop?

 

[Distinterior]

.......Where did solid oak worktops come into this..??
I assumed as Lonsdale mentioned a worktop jig, that the worktops were Laminate...??

 

[Lonsdale73]

.......Where did solid oak worktops come into this..??
I assumed as Lonsdale mentioned a worktop jig, that the worktops were Laminate...??

I didn't specify in my original post but they will be solid wood, not laminate. Does this have a bearing on how they should be joined? I'm asking because I really don't know and have found this a useful place to find people who do.

 

[RogerS]

Just one thought which relates to the profile of the worktop. One of our early kitchens needed a long run (c 5m) of worktop. The property very old, the walls nowhere near straight. So we bought a couple of long and wide worktops which happened to have a rounded profile along both top edges. The plan was to cut them to get the joins as far away from the sink as possible (as suggested earlier in the thread) and then scribe the back edge of the worktop to fit the wall.

When we came to cut and fit them, we found out that the two profiles were sufficiently different between the two worktops. Guess how we found that out ?

 

[Racers]

But joints on solid wood tops are fine, I oil mine before fitting so you can seal the end grain, then paint on a thick coat of oil and bring them together, no need for glue just use a couple of worktop connectors.

I use a router with a spiral end mill to clean the end grain, just clamp a batten across the top, use the bit in the router and a couple of pieces of paper between the base and batten to set the cut.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RDGTOOLS-1-2 ... 1438.l2649

Pete

 

[dean0866]

If it was me, I'd fit the worktops as per the bottom picture because trying to fit the middle worktop (blue) in the top picture, it would need to be cut absolutely perfect otherwise you'd end up with a gap where it butts up against either of the two red ones. Also, the walls which the red worktops run against are unlikely to be absolutely parallel to one another meaning the cuts to the end of the blue worktop would need to be angled for the inaccuracies of the walls. Does that make sense?

 

[Beau]

If it's solid wood it makes a huge difference. As said no point in the jig. Worktop connectors are good and I would also add some biscuits. Now the tricky part with it being solid wood is to allow for expansion and shrinkage. Where are the walls in relation to the pictures?

 

[Lonsdale73]

Does that make sense?

I think so.

It struck me I've lived here almost ten years now and although I've met hundreds of people in that time, I don't know many of them particularly well and most of them are farmers so yesterday I placed an ad on rated people.

I've had one person contact me so far, said they were in the area and could call round today. They were just about half an hour late when I received a text to say they'd been involved in an RTA and couldn't make it after all. If genuine, then that's understandable. However, for me, it does ring alarm bells straight away.

My last house down south needed a lot of work doing to it and that took some work finding the right people to do it. One job was the bedroom ceiling, which was a right old mess. I called four guys. One didn't turn up on the day he was supposed to, said he had to take his kid to school - at 11am! - then when he did turn up he did so without pen, paper or tape measure and wanted to postpone till another day. Fortunately, I was prepared so he came in, took the measurements and said he'd get back to me with a price. Which he did, about three months later. Next guy turned up with all the necessary, took his measurements, said he'd get back to me. He never did. Third guy didn't show up at all. Fourth guy looked like Rodney from Only Fools and Horses, had a pencil tucked behind his ear.and a tape measure clipped to his belt, neither of which ever moved from those positions. He took one look at the ceiling, told me how many sheets it would take, how many bags of plaster, how much they would cost, how long it would take and what his labour would be for the job. The labour was more than I'd anticipated (I'd had same job done on my previous house prior to moving south, similar size and that whole job cost about two-thirds of Rodney's labour alone! Welcome to the beautiful south!) but he got the job there and then because he was precisely what I was looking for. I expected an experienced tradesman to be able to look at a job, know what would be involved (unforeseeable issues aside).

The kitchen there consisted of a sink with a draining board, that was it. I brought him in to quote for replacing the ceilings and plastering the walls in there and the adjacent dining room. The kitchen looked like it had been annexed to the house as an afterthought, a door out to the backyard taking up most of the longest wall. I told him I wanted to brick up the door way so I could have more wall space for cabinets, something I'd discussed with so-called professional kitchen consultants who all said 'No problem' and he told me it contravened building regulations as there's be no exit in the event of a fire! Him and his brother ended up fitting that kitchen for me, they had to call in someone to connect the gas hob, another to fit the worktops, someone to do the electrics but they were quick, clean and still cost a fraction of anyone else. Whenever they encountered something, they'd talk me through it. Sometimes only to seek approval for what they planned to do and really only once to said they'd encountered a problem that hadn't been allowed for in the budget. That was the floor joists which looked like giant Cadbury's Flakes. He only needed to touch one with a pencil for it crumble like the flakiest of chocolate! And he presented me with possible solutions and their respective costs. He did the whole back of my house and had time permitted I would have let him loose on the front of the house but by then I'd been headhunted and had to sell quickly while he was busy elsewhere. Thank god for pattern-less anaglypta!

 

[Lonsdale73]

If it's solid wood it makes a huge difference. As said no point in the jig. Worktop connectors are good and I would also add some biscuits. Now the tricky part with it being solid wood is to allow for expansion and shrinkage. Where are the walls in relation to the pictures?

Walls on three sides or - as you look at the image - extreme left (interior wall), top, extreme right (both exterior walls)