The secret to a fantastic countertop installation is prep — and installing a countertop involves a lot more than considering which materials to use. Counter installation is just one of the things to happen in your kitchen or bath renovation. Before your installer displays up to template, all cabinets must be installed nothing is able to move between template and set up.
Below you’ll find information you’ll need to be well prepared with on template afternoon and suggestions for following the counters are installed.
More: How to Remodel Your Kitchen
Amoroso Design
1. Sink and faucet installation. Consistently have your sink onsite prior to templating. For standard undermount or drop-in sinks, your contractor should make sure that they will fit in the sink cupboard. The faucet should be in the ideal place before template afternoon. The cabinet may need to be changed for the sink to match, so don’t hesitate talking about this with your contractor.
If you’re installing an apron-front sink, there may be many distinct ways to set the bowl. Think about the spot where the front edge of the counter and the sink match. Some sinks have a notch to which the counter fits. In this photograph, the counter was coped around the edge. How this detail will align with your counter overhang should be decided ahead of template afternoon.
As for positioning of the faucet, it shouldn’t always be based on the sink. The sink drain may be offset. You may want to centre the faucet onto a window along with other architectural detail on the wall rather than on the sink.
Fabrizia Frezza Architecture & Interiors
2. Wall-mounted faucets. It’s much easier to wash down a counter with a faucet. To get this piece right, you ought to know where the final wall will fall once the backsplash is installed and where the sink will be based so you’ve got a faucet that emerges above the drain. Ahead of the plumbers start roughing in pipes, every decision has to be created or you risk ending up with components that don’t work nicely together.
Susan Teare
3. Overhangs. If any part of your countertop will overhang the cupboards, think about how you’ll support this area. Overhangs of 6 to 12 inches will be possible without bracing, based on the substance, but an appealing bracket adds reassurance and peace of mind should someone jump up and sit on your counter tops.
Beautiful Kitchen Layout
4. Counter height. Different individuals and tasks need different counter heights. If custom cabinets are not in your budget, 1 way to vary the final height of the counter is to use substances of different thicknesses set on conventional cabinets. A normal kitchen counter top is 36 inches off the ground, but if you have someone tall in your family, 39 inches may be much comfortable height. Here, a butcher block place lower than adjoining tops gives the person chopping more leverage.
Jennifer – Rambling Renovators
5. Countertop support. In many spots, your cabinetry will provide the support for the countertops, but think about what will support the counter around the appliances. A slide-in range such as the one pictured includes a 2-inch strip of counter tops behind the cooking surface. Since it is tricky to move two big slabs linked by a 2-inch strip, this spot will frequently be seamed together onsite. Make sure that you put in wood blocking flush with the top of the adjoining cabinets so that the contractor can correctly attach this strip.
Another frequent trouble spot is where a countertop finishes on a dishwasher. The dishwasher can not support the counter, so provide structural support on the side — ideally greater than a 3/4-inch fill panel.
Atmosphere Interior Design Inc..
On template afternoon, you may still need to make a few decisions.
Decide how much of the sink will show within an undermount install. If maintaining the sink clean with very little hassle is a priority, then have the builder bring the edge of the countertop flush with the walls of the sink. If you prefer the look shown here, where a few of the best flange indicates all around, allow your installer know.
Ask where the tiles are. Hardly any counters lack seams. In rock with veining, you could be able to hide a seam together a vein, and colored epoxies must make all seams difficult to spot.
Tongue & Groove
Templates are often performed in one of two manners. The low-tech way is to use strips of thin luan plywood and a hot glue gun to form rectangles that match the spaces in your kitchen. High-tech templates may use paper targets placed around the kitchen and photographs of those spaces in a procedure called photogrammetry, or your installer may use a laser templating system. Both approaches may produce flawless results.
Once the templating is completed, you’ll normally have to wait for one or two weeks to your countertops to be fabricated. Be sure you get a firm date from your installer, because you’ll want to schedule your plumber to get right after the counters have been installed.
The sink will be clamped and siliconed in place, and the faucet holes drilled, on install day, but your plumber will need to hook up the faucet and drain before you are able to use it. Silicone and the epoxy used to seam substances together give off powerful fumes, so make sure that the room is well ventilated daily.
Brennan + Company Architects
After the countertops are installed, it’s time to think about backsplash painting and installation. Your countertop sets the lower line to your tile, so although you can install the tile before templating, you’ll get a better-looking backsplash if you wait. Muscling a heavy counter into place is a difficult job, and a few walls inevitably will get bumped or dinged. Save your finish painting until after the install for this particular reason.
Buckminster Green LLC
One final tip: If you have recycled paper counters (like in the previous photograph), or ones made of soapstone or wood, I recommend Real Milk Paint’s Soapstone & Wood Sealer. This finish is created from food-grade walnut oil (meaning it’s safe for meals to touch the surface without any the fear of contamination) and T1 carnauba wax aromas. There are no solvents, meaning no VOCs (volatile organic compounds) or additional fragrances.
More Contractor Tips: Installing Tile | Installing Windows | Building a Deck
More:
Kitchen Countertops 101: Selecting a Surface Substance
12 Ways a Kitchen Countertop Changes Everything