Benchtops

I'm hoping someone can help. I'm in the process of renovating a daggy kitchen and have so far painted the laminate cupboards and replaced the handles. I'm now looking at replacing the laminate benchtops or giving them a facelift. I've been quoted $800 to replace the benchtops which is a bit over the budget. Does anyone have any ideas for a cheaper alternative?

You could just laminate straight over the top of whats there.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I did get a quote on re-laminating but it was going to cost me $1,000.

How easy and cheap is it to do yourself and where would I get the laminate? I am a real beginner.

If you're a real beginner you should get some one else to do it for you.

however :

hire a heat gun & a smal router with appropriate bit to edge the laminate, get an old chisel and sharpen it.

heat the existing laminate bits at a time and use the chisel to wedge off bits of the laminate. remove all of it and scrape the old contact cement off as much as you can.

buy your new laminate & contact adhesive

cut to shape, glue etc. edge it with the router. then attach the edging (which ever type you choose) perhaps a nylon moulding would be best if you are a true beginner

easy if you know how.

Oh... you may want to waterproof (what I assume) is particle board under the existing laminate.

When I rebuilt my kitchen I purchased complete benchtops from Ikea as they used to sell the various kitchen cupboards as flat packs as well as the tops. I don't know if they still do but it may be worthwile to contact them.


Peter.

Here some sort of comparrison....I just installed approx 16m of bench top which cost just under $4000. No special laminates, just the cheapest I could get cause its for a commercial work station environment not a kitchen so colours etc didn't matter.

Spose I should add though that the tops were 900 deep not the standard 600

Hiya

What general style of kitchen is it....or alternativley, what "feel" are you trying to achieve? The answers to these will enable me to put my 2 cents worth in

:)

Thanks for the comparison, it makes the quote I received seem quite reasonable.

The Ikea option would be great but I really need only 600 wide. It is to replace current benchtops.

I'm going for a modern/industrial look. I have so far painted the cupboards off white with brushed silver handles. I am hoping to do a glass splashback or glass tiled splashback depending on cost.

Thanks for the advice.

ohh glass splashback .... big dollars there. Do a search (button above) for glass splashbacks .... there were some users investigating making their own .... cant recall the results.

there are clear and tinted "sculpted" materials that are plastic but suitable as splashbacks - they look exactly like their glass counterpart but a fair bit cheaper and in many applications, more durable .... the HIA or ARCHICENTRE would probably be able to give you the names of the suppliers. I saw this product at DESIGNEX last year and was very impressed....... and you can cut it with a saw, and drill it to mount - obviously it isn't for use directly behind a coocktop or the like, but what I saw had a stainless panel in place there and this material everywhere else.

Apart from that, regarding the very-modern look, I can't suggest anything for the benchtops as I specialise in 19th and early 20th Century stiles.....if your kitchen was going to be in that style I couldve recommend a variety of timber species that, with the correct finishes, would have been serviceable.


success

There may not be any need to remove the existing laminate.
Depends on style of edge finish.... ect.

Sand the surface of the existing laminate well with a medium to coarse gritt & laminate straight over the top.
youve gota remove sinks ect.

Not high end but reasonable practise.

If you wanted to go cheap and you were reasonably confident in DIY, and the benchtop was a fairly simple shape you could look at concrete as an option. I bought a book from Amazon on concrete countertops and the process is reasonably easy. I am about to do one for a breakfast bar, but the majority of my bench has been done in Formica.

I have done quite a few Formica ones and they are reasonably easy if you take your time. In your case, I would definitely consider replacing the substrate instead of just laminating over the top of the old one. I use MDF and in NZ you can buythe panels in 600mm wide sheets. Two 18mm pieces together (you can use strips for the bottom as opposed to a whole sheet) gives you a standard size sheet. I use Ados F2 contact adhesive - double coat on the MDF. Do the edge strips first, then the top. There are a variety of edge treatments you can use too - solid timber clashing looks nice.

I bought a book on that from Amazon too, but it was worthwhile as I was intending making a few. Formica sheets over here are quite cheap - 3600 x 1500 was just over $300 (I wanted the 1500 wide sheet to avoid having a join for the return).

I have been thinking about a glass backsplash too. Haven't actually looked into it yet, but may for this kitchen.

some great ideas there - if you could do a separate post with the book names and ISBNs, it would be great.

Also, to anyone in Melbourne or nearby to it, there are numerous auction places that sell off "quit stock" on a weekly basis - you might find Laminex/Formica type product in sheetform or finished tops there - I know they sell granite and marble in various configurations and a LOT of cabinet makers buy from them and build kitchens around what they can get.....just have to be a bit more flexible I guess with colour choice.

success

I have just replaced benchtops in my kitchen and paid $110 per lineal metre of bench. This was with laminate of your choice and front edge of your choice. The depth was 600mm. I can't remember the price if you go to 900mm deep. I bought might from Verna Doors in Cambelfield, Vic.

I have also replaced bench tops before in the kitchen with plastic laminate. I just removed the old bench top, bought a new sheet of mdf (then) and applied the laminate to it with contact adhesive. Pretty easy really. The only down side to doing it yourself is the front edge really has to be square with a join in the laminate right on the edge. If you purchase the top with the laminate fixed, you can get a variety of rolled edges which look better and have no chance of getting water in on the edge.

Thanks for the great advice. I just got a quote from Verna for $200 less that my previous quote. I guess it pays to shop around.

Re the auctions...I have found a site called Graysonline [URL=http://www.graysonline.com.au] that sometimes advertise auctions for building materials. They also have on line auctions but these are mainly for electronics. Worth a visit.

Ailsa,

This isn't within your budget but this is what I used when renovating our kitchen. It might give you some ideas.

Granite Transformations

I built new cupboards etc and they supplied/fitted a 32mm HMR worktop covered in the colour granite we wanted, but normally they just lay it over your existing benchtop. We also did the kickboards and splashbacks in the same colour.

Fantastic product at a fraction of the cost of "solid" granite and without the normal up keep that granite/marble requires.