Making own kitchen worktops.

[Jake]

Teak is unaffordium.

Iroko is great for worksurfaces, and looks fantastic when it goes chocolatey brown. If you make your own (I'd endorse Jason's plan) you could have full length wider strips which would avoid the staved look of the cheaper solid wood tops which are so ubiquitous these days.

 

[Matt1245]

wow, thanks for all you replies guys.

I should have said from the start, i'm making the kitchen in a shaker style, so i don't thing the granite would go, plus the iroko won't cost me a penny . i wasn't planning on glueing the iroko down, rather screwing it down, with expansion slots. But jasons idea seems the way to go at the moment.

The concrete does look great, but don't think it would suit the house we are moving into, but it's definitely something for the future.

Matt.

 

[Benchwayze]

I am going for wood. SWMBO wants a light colour, so it's sycamore, or maybe ash.

I shall strip the planks to 2" widths, and edge-joint them with a combed router-edge jointer. That way I hope to avoid too much warpage.

Thanks Hiltsy for the tip on the flexible bonding.

There was also some kind of two-part epoxy finish that one mixed and poured onto the countertops and allowed to set. The finish was like glass. Does anyone recall this, what it's called and where it can be obtained? I last saw it demonstrated at Ally-Pally about ten years ago ...
Cheers
John

 

[Anonymous]

Sycamore OK except near heat and hot water. Ash not suitable I would have thought.
Iroko best.
cheers
Jacob

 

[Bodrighy]

Best wooden worktop I have seen was made from recycled beech floor blocks. They were set in a frame in a herringbone pattern very tight together so they didn't need to be grouted in any way. . As they make butchers blocks from beech I would assume that it would be really hard wearing.
Pete

 

[Lee Brubaker]

One of the previous posters mentioned corion which was very popular in Canada in the late 70's to early 90's. Now the fad is granite.
Corion counter suppliers used to describe their product as indestructible
& neglected to mention that placing a hot pot on it can result in cracking it. Average cost to repair $600.00 cdn (10 year old pricing). I don't think that I would even consider it.

Lee

 

[jasonB]

There was also some kind of two-part epoxy finish that one mixed and poured onto the countertops and allowed to set. The finish was like glass. Does anyone recall this, what it's called and where it can be obtained? I last saw it demonstrated at Ally-Pally about ten years ago ...
Cheers
John

Sounds like Rustin's plastic coating to me. I would go with the sycamore at ash has too open a grain.

Jason

 

[Benchwayze]

Yes, well SWIMBO has her way in most things culinary.
So I might be able to persuade her on an end grain effect, as per the butcher's block. I had also thought about beech, but it isn't light enough in colour for 'er indoors.

Iroko makes me sneeze, and can look garish! But again it's too dark.
Maybe I will just settle for a good quality laminate after all!

I will look into Rustins too...
As long as it does what it says on the tin!!


Cheers folks.

John