I've never been a granite fan and wanted something warmer that would fit in just right with the well-used, modest coastal bungalow style of my place. So ... I made my own copper countertops! For a price just under $21/sf, this was even more reasonable than plastic or butcher block, and vastly more durable. It's green, it's recyclable, and has the right historical feel to it for the house.

We used mdf as a substrate and basically "laminated" heavy-gauge copper onto it. This took many steps (I detailed the process in the metalworking forum), but I think the results are really stunning and wanted to share some pics for anyone else interested in exploring copper. Well, OK, I did need to brag, just a little. ;-)

Not quite all done yet, but hopefully enough to post a teaser. They look a little rough in the pix; I will be cleaning and buffing the copper smooth again when I've mounted the sinks.

On the advice of other copper countertop owners (ahem! you know who you are), I plan on simply waxing them and letting them patinate to their little hearts' content.

Then .. on to tiling the backsplash and refinishing the fir floors. *whew!*

Oru, the corner edges are mitered, then epoxied with a special copper epoxy, and sanded well, with the sheet seam to the side rather than top. Post-gluing:

Post-routing, pre-sanding:

Here's the thread with my details and more photos -- scroll down to the end.

cheers all (and welcome, Miles - gorgeous quilts!)

Have you chosen a backsplash yet? Have you seen the bungalow style tile from Mission Tile? Might inspire your creativity.

Ooh, mustbnuts, great minds think alike. I've settled on a local art tile very similar to the ones you've linked:

I'll use the matching handpainted yellow field tiles in a 3x6 subway pattern, with these as highlights (the yellow matches the knobs on my fabulous 1949 O'Keefe & Merritt stove). At least that's the plan while I still have some energy. :) As a quick plug, the folks at New England Art Tile have been utterly marvelous to deal with.

Momtolilenj: definitely go for the zinc! I was tempted, and it's cheaper than copper - but I had these fabulous copper cupboard knobs from eBay ....Also a lot of zinc sheets appear to be plated over steel and I was afraid it would be too hard to cut by myself. Although Rotometals appears to offer precut sheets, which would be ideal for your planned size. I expect pictures!

I worked at a retail place that had copper counters (obviously didn't have food contact, but they got a LOT of use) the patina that developed was absolutely gorgeous and made me fall in love with copper. I will definitely be referring back to your threads when we start our project.

Congratulations on a job well done!

kitchendetective: I assume that one could figure out how to do this on top of laminate, but you'd have to find a different adhesive than the one we used. The TC-20 we used really only worked on the mdf; it didn't stick in a few places where we'd put a little filler on the mdf before gluing on the copper, and we had to go back and use the epoxy putty for those, which was a pain. The TC-20 is something like Elmer's in consistency, so it's got more working time (15 minutes) than a contact cement does, which is really a boon when you still need to squidge the copper around into place after laying it down. Plus it has no VOC so we could do it right indoors in the kitchen. I think this glue works by soaking in -- you could try etching the heck out of the laminate before gluing, but it really might not work optimally.
Actually, if possible, I'd recommend trying to remove the plastic laminate layer entirely and then sanding down the substrate a bit. Should be the same copper procedure from that point on. (Of course I have no idea how easy the removal process might be, but where there's a will...)

rahime: my handyman was eager to try out concrete, but I thought it might be a little too much for my small kitchen. There was a great DIY concrete countertop thread just recently with lots of good photos.

Another quick plug: got the TC-20 from VeneerSupplies.com and received excellent service and lightning-fast shipping.

Thank you ALL for the many very flattering comments. I think the key to the nice corners was in good planning - we could use the factory-cut copper sheet corners for many of them -- and in the close trimming and sanding we did, followed by the Just for Copper epoxy to really seal it tight. For the routing of the edges that needed trimming, we used a rather pricy carbide router bit from Rockler, and the smaller of the Festool brand routers.

I do have a metalworking guy bending the barstock for the edge around the farm sink for me, since I simply don't have the tools for that. I'll definitely post pix to show how that turns out - waiting on pins and needles!

I'm Like.... Whoa Dude!!!! What you did was TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

I'm a Natural Stone Fabricator, Trainer & Consultant,
to the Natural Stone Industry so Copper "ain't exactly" what I do.....

HOWEVER...

It's WAAAAAAAAY refreshing to not only see what you did, but
also see the great lengths that you went to to share your
experience and post all of the pics that you did.

Even though Natural Stone is my "first love" -
Now, You've got ME wanting to do a project in Copper !!!!

You have done an outsatnding job, and MEGA KUDOS to you!!!

Garden Web is a richer place for consumers and pro's alike
as a result of your contribution...

Congratz!!!!!!!!!

kevin

I've also never waxed mine. I got some wax with my sink and didn't use it on that either.

Anyway, really awesome job, and I love the look! Wahooo!

Here's the prep sink hole, a perfect circle, glued and routed and ready to be sanded up:

We're getting there! Very soon now ... :)

Are you going to keep your Copper looking like it did
when it was new (shiny) or are you going to let it weather
and develope a patina?

I think it would be really valuable if you could post some
picsfrom time to time to show everyonr how your tops
look as time goes by - this will help people in making
a decision as to which finish they want to have - shiny
or weathered....

let us know OK?

thanks

kevin

LOL - that's a great question. I've been experimenting with various ways of maintaining the copper, trying to narrow down my technique for long-term maintenance. There are patches I've sanded all the way down to shiny, then let oxidize, and other patches that have gotten food/liquid on them, and still others where I've used various copper care products. I'm experimenting with various beeswax and butcher wax formulations, and a fun power car buffer.

One thing I've learned so far: Copper Glo does not make my copper glow.

I'll post pix this weekend, thanks for the interest and your great support! :)

First I've seen of this, & my jaw has dropped to my keyboard. I admit that I have a serious jones for anything copper, so perhaps I'm a tad prejudiced, but I am DROOLING! Amazing work - thank you for sharing!

(& thanks jayhawk for finding & bumping this!)

Jayhawk, I'm so jealous of your zinc! We have a good friend who just bought a Victorian fixer-upper and have promised to help her with a zinc counter (she's been drooling on my copper for 2 months now), so I'll surely be asking for your tips when we get started with that.

So far, my experience with cleaners and waxes has been:

Barkeeper's Friend: wonderful all-purpose cleaner, does remove the patina, but sometimes you have to do something for a bad (read green) stain, and it comes back very quickly.

Copper Glo: dreadful, awful stuff, left an almost black residue that had to be orbital-sanded back off. Dunno about zinc, but avoid on raw copper!

Johnson's original Furniture Wax -- goes on well, smooth and fluid, but the solvent darkens the metal too fast in awful smeary patches.

Butcher's Wax, both amber and natural: ditto the Johnson's. Less pungent smell than the Johnson's, but still leaves bad streaks from solvent.

Mineral Oil and Beeswax mixture: Better, but still leaves streaks from the mineral oil.

Pure beeswax: wonderful, but a real pain in the neck and quite slow to apply, since it's so stiff. Lots and lots of muscle required.

Renaissance Wax: my latest effort, seems pretty good, although it does have a chemical odor that makes me wonder if it's really food-safe. It claims to be, and it's sold for treating copper sinks, so I'm hoping it's OK.

I will likely alternate between the pure beeswax and the Renaissance Wax. I've promised to provide some pix of the countertops as they wear -- as soon as I can find my camera recharger, I will. :)

Jayhawk, I'd dearly love to see your zinc!

Again, fantastic gorgeous job!

Oh, I had done a search on your name after seeing your comments in the "how to save a buck" thread. I was hoping to see your kitchen if it is to that point yet.

Seriously: thank you, everyone, for your lovely support and good feedback.

Here are some shots taken this morning, 5.5 months after initial installation.

It has taken me a while to adapt to the rhythm of the copper -- it does mark up/blotch/discolor very easily and then you have the choice of either scrubbing it raw again or leaving the marks as patina. Of course I'm a patina kind of gal, and love how used/functional the counters look - hopefully the following photos can help others decide how much natural discoloration they are willing to tolerate in their own setting.

Close-up:

It does bang and dent, but not easily. Ignore the unpainted breakfast room to the left, I'm having the devil of a time matching yellows:

The discoloration is particularly strong where water hits the metal or sits, as around the faucets and sink rims. It's not ugly, just takes getting used to as the entirety of the counter slowly ages to catch up:

More sink. Disregard the World's Cheapest & Ugliestâ„¢ Vinyl Replacement Windows; they're not my fault and I keep hoping they will just slink away in shame some night:

The corners have held very tight; they feel solid as iron and I doubt there will be any trouble there:

I recycled cherry cabinets I got for a steal at Habitat for Humanity -- a local magnate remodelled and donated their old ones. They're from 1993, custom from Heritage, a PA manufacturer that has since gone under. But you'd really never know that they are as old as they are, they're in excellent condition. The knobs are not original to the cabs, they're vintage copper that I scored on eBay, 27 of 'em for $5.

We made new cherry end panels (designed to match my bungalow doors) and some drawers/shelves/fridge box from cherry and birch ply -- my one issue was how difficult it was to exactly match the toner the commercial folks used in their catalyzed varnish. If you look closely at the pictures above, you can see that I hit the color bang-on in some cases and not quite so in others.
In all honesty, though, I think the home-grown end panels and drawers with stain and satin varnish look better than the commercial finish; lots more depth. Some day I would love to make my own cabinets...

Have you made cabinets? We have a few incredibly talented members on here with very impressive kitchen carpentry work.

Speaking of tools (other thread), my carpenter friend took payment in the form of a new Festool Domino joiner which we both really enjoyed playing with. :-)

Looking at your finished pictures, I noticed you made a pot rack out of some of the left over copper bar. I have been considering doing the same thing with my left over bar stock. May I ask where you found the hooks/hardware for your pot rack? So far, I have had very little success trying to find similar material.

Again, thanks for showing the way with copper counters. I would do them again in an instance.
Russell

The potrack hooks are Rogar 5" copper plated bar hooks. I ordered 8 and wish I had a few more -- I can recommend the closed design, since they never come off no matter what direction you twist your pots. The eye screws are stainless (for strength) from the hardware store, and the connector hooks are additional open-hook copper potrack hooks. I just hacked off a piece of the bar, sanded the edges down a bit, drilled two holes, and went to town.

Poorowner -- the sink is a Whitehaus fireclay and it's 8" deep. At 5'7" I find that perfect with the undermount, wouldn't want a deeper one as a main sink. The round prep sink is a vintage find, probably from a hospital (?), and is slightly deeper, which works because it's placed where I don't want a lot of splashes.

I will try to get some pictures up in the next couple of days. I am in the middle of repairing plaster and painting a living room, so hence the rest of the house is a disaster. I am not even sure I can see my counters at the moment.

Russell

Maintenance. Ha. When I'm good, I use beeswax and lots of elbow grease to rub it in and buff it. When I'm in a hurry (and my eco-neurotic guy isn't around), I use the Pledge in the brown can or OrangeGlo wood care spray. The drawback to both of the latter, of course, is that they aren't particularly food safe, and the water-resistance doesn't last nearly as long as the waxing. But they do give it a great rich gleam, esp the OrangeGlo.

I always wonder whether I should/could have used an industrial metal coating like Incra-Lac to maintain the fresh copper look... But it just seems crazy to use something so toxic in the kitchen (even if wooden cabinets regularly have equally bad stuff on them, like catalyzed lacquer finishes). I guess if I didn't obsess, even retroactively, I wouldn't be on this forum to begin with. ;-)

Are you considering copper counters?

DIY is truly the way to go. We did our kitchen in phases too, and paid as we went, using largely recycled and salvaged materials. (I still crow over my score of 27 vintage copper cabinet knobs for $5 on eBay.) It's so gratifying -- I support your plan wholeheartedly.

FYI as I recall, the copper cost me about $1200 total for c. 58 square feet. Not too shabby. And at that price, should they ever fail me, I won't be heartbroken to have to replace or renew them. We've easily enjoyed them enough to be worth it already.

I am never at a loss for words....Chatty Cathy, that's me.

But....

I'm in awe, total AWE at the beauty of these counter tops....no words, just in awe.
*jaw hanging open*

Here are photos of the copper countertop done with enchantment color copper against black cabinets.

Here is a link that might be useful: www.ColorCopper.com

(Get it? Good penny? Copper?)

I crack myself up. :-)

*sigh* How I loved those counters. The new owner of my bungalow likes them, too, so all is well that ends well. I'm now debating between copper again or trying Maine slate for my new old house kitchen counters.

Here's how they looked after 4 years, with the kitchen finished (real estate photos):

If my kitchen ends up ONE TENTH as gorgeous as your last kitchen, I'd call it a huge success and be happy.

I enjoyed the thread... it was a fun read esp. knowing how it all turned out.