By Paul Bianchina Countertops are a huge part of any kitchen, both as an efficient work surface and as an aesthetic statement. Plastic laminates, such as products from Formica, Wilsonart and other manufacturers, have been a popular selection of kitchen and bath counters for many years, combining good looks and easy maintenance with affordable pricing.

Laminates can wear out over time, and certainly your tastes can change. So if you’re thinking that it’s time for a laminate counter makeover, you have a couple of options for how to proceed.

CUSTOM-MADE TOPS

The easiest solution to your outdated counters is to simply have some new ones made. You have two basic choices open to you here: pre-made, or made-in-place. Both have some advantages.

A countertop shop creates pre-made counters for you. They will come out to your house and carefully measure your existing kitchen, and then create new tops in their shop. Depending on the size and layout of your kitchen, the tops may be a single piece, or they may be made up in several sections. Backsplash will also be made to fit the needs of the room.

When the tops are ready, installers will come to your home and remove the old tops and install the new ones, all within one day. Since the tops are pre-measured and made to fit, final installation only requires minor scribing and fitting, plus fitting and gluing of the backsplash. Range and sink openings are precut as well, and while the installers will not typically remove and replace appliances or fixtures, the holes are in place and accurately sized to make the changeover pretty quick as well. If you want to save a few bucks, you can also have the tops made-to-fit and do the installation yourself.

Pre-made tops also offer the advantage of more choices in edge treatments. One of the most popular edge treatments today is called a beveled edge, which fits two pieces of laminate together on the front edge of the counter and the top edge of the splash. Bevel-edge counters eliminate the black line where the top and edge laminates meet, something that was often seen on older, square-edge tops.

Made-in-place tops are done by first removing the old tops, then installing a new base of high-density particleboard on top of the cabinets, which is carefully cut and fit to the layout of the kitchen. After these base sheets are installed, a front-edge of either laminate or hardwood is fit in place.

Next, large sheets of laminate are adhered to the base sheets using contact cement. Then the sheets are cut using a small laminate-trimming router. The router follows the layout of the front edge, and trims both the laminate sheet and the edge at the same time for a clean, smooth front edge. The router is also used to cut out openings for the sink, range, and cook top. A backsplash of matching wood or laminate, or even ceramic tile, is used to finish off the installation.

Made-in-place tops take a little longer to install, and there is a bit of noise and mess to put up with during the process. The advantage is that the large sheets eliminate some of the seaming needed with pre-made tops, resulting in fewer joints. Done correctly by experienced professionals, either method produces a clean, smooth countertop installation.

DO-IT-YOURSELF

So where’s the fun in leaving all this to the pros? If you have patience and a love of do-it-yourself projects–and you’re looking to save some money–you can undertake this project yourself. One option is to purchase the particleboard, laminate, and adhesive and do your own made-in-place tops, but this takes some skill and experience to do right.

A better choice would be to purchase pre-made tops from a local home center. Pre-made tops typically come in 2-foot increments, usually ranging from four to 12 feet long, with a standard curved or beveled-front edge. If you have corners to turn, pre-mitered counters are also available; a special adhesive is used at the joint, and connector bolts that fit into pre-cut slots under the counter draw the two pieces together and secure the joint.

You’ll need to do your own cutouts, which are made using a jigsaw that is fit with a down-cutting blade (the teeth are set to cut on the downward motion of the blade to avoid chipping out the laminate). A belt sander is typically used to sand and scribe the back edges of the counter to the wall, and the joint is covered with wood, laminate, or tile splash.

If you choose to give this method a try, all of the parts and complete instructions are available at most larger home centers and some lumberyards, either in stock or by special order.

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By Paul Bianchina Once upon a time, cabinets were site-built by the carpenters building the house. Today, in addition to the custom cabinets offered by cabinet shops, you can take advantage of the many lines of beautiful modular cabinets being offered by home centers, lumberyards, kitchen shops and other retailers.

Modular cabinets are individual pre-manufactured cabinets that are joined together to form a complete kitchen. You’ll find wall cabinets in different heights, base cabinets in every conceivable configuration, tall cabinets that span from the floor to the upper cabinets, and every type of trim piece, molding, filler and panel needed to complete the installation. Modular cabinets are now offered in an amazing array of styles, sizes, wood types, and stain and paint colors, along with an equally amazing selection of accessories. Whatever the size and architectural style of your home and no matter how you want to utilize your kitchen, you’ll find modular cabinets that will fit the bill.

MEASURE IT UP

The first step with any modular kitchen installation is to accurately measure the kitchen. This is something you can do yourself initially so that you can have some basic information to use when first meeting with the designer, but in order to ensure that your order is complete and accurate, most modular cabinet suppliers will then want to make a site visit and do more detailed measurements and layouts on their own. Also, if you have the store place your order off of your measurements, you’re typically stuck if the cabinets you specified are not the right size for the space. If they do the measurements, then it becomes their responsibility.

Make your measurements from drywall to drywall, since this is where the cabinets will be installed — measuring between rough framing can lead to errors. In addition to the overall size of the room and the length and height of each wall, you’ll want to make note of the centerline of windows and plumbing, the location of doors, and any other significant features of the room that will enter into the cabinet planning and layout. For ease of drawing, use graph paper with a convenient grid size.

With a basic sketch in hand, sit down with a modular cabinet specialist. You’ll want to begin your selection process by deciding on which cabinet line you want to work with, since different manufacturers have different sizes of cabinets and different accessories to select from. Since the overall appearance of the finished kitchen is the most important consideration, when choosing the cabinet line you like, first take into consideration the style of the cabinet and the woods and colors available. 

Next, take a close look at an actual sample of the cabinet, so you can see the level of quality and workmanship you can expect. You will find there are differences in the materials used — the amount of plywood, particleboard and solid lumber being the key factors — as well as the types of drawer slides, hinges, hardware, and even the assembly joints being employed.

When you’ve zeroed in a cabinet line you like, let the designer see if the cabinets that manufacturer offers are going to work with what you have in mind for your specific room before you get too far into the whole design process. If the cabinets you need to get the look you want are simply not available from that manufacturer, then switch to another line of cabinets.

Accessories are the next step. Cabinet manufacturers offer wine racks, spice holders, flour drawers, roll-out shelves — just about anything you can visualize for making your new kitchen really fit your lifestyle. Accessories can add a tremendous amount of convenience and functionality to your kitchen, but they can also add dramatically to the overall cost, so focus on those items you really need first. Also, some accessories can be added after the fact, so you might want to consider adding other things in the future as time and budget permit.

After the designer has made a site visit, measured the room, and discussed any design and layout options, he or she will work up a set of computerized drawings for you. It’s very important that you spend some time studying the layouts at this point, because this is the time to make changes to anything that doesn’t look or fit right. You will see a two-dimensional plan view of how the cabinets will lay out, as well as three-dimensional views from several different perspectives that will give you a much better idea of how the finished kitchen will look. 

The final stage is pricing and ordering. Your designer will provide you with a detailed breakdown of costs, including all accessories, delivery charges, and installation if desired. Make sure you fully understand exactly what has been specified and what will be ordered, as well as when and how the cabinets will be delivered to your site. This is a huge investment, so take the time now to review and understand your order so you can avoid any unpleasant surprises when that big truck shows up in your driveway!

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Anyone that has redecorated or remodeled knows what a mess it can be.  We recently started on our kitchen which we did it ourselves.  Before Thanksgiving my husband started on the kitchen cabinets.  We decided to scrub and paint and put on all new hardware instead of replacing the cabinets which is really costly.  We wanted it done before the holidays.  Well we got a partial by Thanksgiving as he was called into work and ended in working sometimes 6 days a week all the way up to Christmas. 

Part of the cabinets were done and half the walls painted.  The cabinets all received new hardware.  By Thanksgiving, we had company, half the kitchen was done, but the food was great – the turkey was killed the day before and was fresh.  It would be the first of January before we were able to get back and finish most of the kitchen.

My pots and pans set in part of the living room for a week along with items from the pantry all over the dining room.  Everything is done but the new countertops and new sink.  My hubby is back working again so well maybe by spring?

We went to Lowe’s and looked at the pre-made countertops which my husband would install himself.   We brought one home, but quickly realized it did not look good.  So back to Lowe’s we went.  I did not realize that Lowe’s has a whole board of laminate colors, many, many colors.  We found what we wanted and you can order the countertops for about the same price as what they have in stock.  Of course, if you want to change the dimensions or the way it is finished you are going to pay more.

We also bought a new granite sink which is guaranteed not to scratch, or stain.  It is now sitting in my home office until we have time to get back to the kitchen.

I found the following article in Inman on countertop surfaces and thought I would share it with you.

Quartz: a countertop surface that rocks

Engineered quartz a nice alternative to granite

Friday, February 02, 2007 By Paul Bianchina
Inman News

If you’re thinking of building or remodeling a kitchen, one of the tough questions you’ll be facing is what material to use for the counters. One product that definitely needs to make the list of possibilities is engineered quartz, which offers the striking natural beauty of granite without all the drawbacks of natural stone.Engineered quartz is made from approximately 93-95 percent natural quartz, with the remaining 5-7 percent consisting of resins and pigments. Natural quartz is first ground to small particles of varying sizes, then mixed to specific color and size blends, and combined with the resins. The resulting mixture is then molded into slabs, and the slabs are then vibrated and compressed while a vacuum removes air, all of which is designed to eliminate air pockets and create a very hard and dense material. The slabs are then heat-cured, rolled to specific thicknesses, and polished to a beautiful sheen.This carefully controlled manufacturing process results in a finished material that does not have many of the problems associated with all-natural stone counters such as granite. Engineered quartz counters are very hard and very dense, are resistant to knife cuts, and do not require ongoing application of sealers to prevent the staining common to porous natural stone. Because the air pockets have been removed, engineered quartz counters do not have fissures and cracks, and are also more heat-resistant. All this combines to create a counter with the natural beauty of real stone, but in a material that manufacturers can warranty for reliable performance.

CHOICES ABOUND

Thanks to the careful selection and blending of the quartz crystals and the addition of specific pigments, engineered quartz counters come in a variety of colors, with grain patterns that range from fairly soft to a little bolder. As with natural stones, the color combinations offered by the various manufacturers are somewhat similar but also different enough that it pays to check out a few different samples.In addition to selecting your color and pattern, you will be offered a choice of several different edge treatments. Standard edges include square and bullnose, with available upgrades such as beveled, double and triple bullnoses, and even custom edges. Be forewarned, however, that those upgraded edges can be quite expensive, and will add considerably to the overall cost of the installation.

One very popular option that’s definitely worth considering is an undermount sink. Undermount sinks do not have the overlapping edge common to most sinks that drop in from above. Instead, the top of the sink is flat to allow it to seat up against the underside of the counter. A hole of a specific size and layout is cut into the counter; the edges of the hole are rounded over and polished; and the sink is then set from below and sealed into place. The result is a cleaner, sleeker countertop without that dirt-catching sink edge to contend with. With the increase in popularity, most plumbing fixture manufacturers now offer a variety of undermount sinks. You’ll find single-, double-, and triple-bowl combinations in stainless steel, enameled cast iron, enameled steel, and composites, all in different bowl shapes and colors. You will, however, need to make your selection early, since the fabricators will need to have the specific sink available in order to correctly cut the counter.

DO-IT-YOURSELF IS NOT AN OPTION

No matter how ambitious you might be, undertaking the installation of an engineered quartz counter is not an option. Accurately cutting and fitting these big, heavy slabs requires specialized tools and training, and the manufacturers require their installers to be factory trained.Once your cabinets have been installed — or, in the case of a remodeling project, once the old counters have been removed from the existing cabinets — the fabricators will make a site visit to create templates. Using sheets of corrugated plastic, they will carefully cut, fit and glue up an exact replica of your counters, including the location of sinks and other cutouts. These exact templates are then given to the manufacturer, and the slabs are precision cut to match, a process that can typically take one to two weeks.Once the slabs have been cut, an installation team will do the final fitting. Small adjustments will be made on-site as needed, then the counters will be installed using a sealant that adheres them to the top of the cabinets. Larger kitchens will typically require seams between some of the slabs, but a good installer will carefully place the seams where they will be the least visible, and then blend color putties to make the seams all but disappear.

Engineered quartz counters are available from several manufacturers, including Silestone,

Cambria, Zodiaq and CaesarStone. For more information, including dealer locations, you can check the specific manufacturer Web sites or look in the Yellow Pages under “Counter Tops.”

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