ideas for cheap! 12' countertop?

13 years ago

Help.

We started out remodeling our family room, and somehow started an impromptu rearrangement of the adjacent kitchen which is somehow also becoming a major undertaking.

We have run into difficulties. This may surprise you (not).

In order to get ourselves out of our difficulties without expensive plumbing work, we need

a piece of 12' long countertop.

At home depot, the 10' run of laminate countertop costs an acceptable $130. The 12' is special order, and will cost a shocking $335. That's like $205 more for the last two feet!

I've called our 2 local countertop fabricators, both quoted me around $300 for ordering a 12'

Our local ReStore does not have any pieces that will work.

Does anyone have any ideas for an INEXPENSIVE 12' length of countertop? It will have a cutout for our kitchen sink.

We don't care too much what the countertop looks like, because after we finish the family room remodel, we will save our pennies and completely gut the kitchen in a couple of years. So its kind of a place-holder, and we don't want to waste a lot of money on it.

Thank you for any ideas!

Featured Answer

dndsmom

13 years ago

If you call around to a local countertop place, they might be able to sell you a 12' sheet of formica laminate that you could glue to 12' board (or you could join two pcs together, and use a thinset or something similar on the joint - just make sure it's smooth). If this is only temporary and you/your dh are handy, this could be a real inexpensive fix! The edge will be a bit trickier, but still do-able. We did this for our last kitchen reno (which had an l-shape w/ an angled corner and we didn't want a seam. we couldn't find a pre-made counter wide enough for us). For the edge, we put a pc of cherry to match the cabinets and beveled it. It went on before the formica and was routed after the formica was glued. If you want an all formica look, you can put the edge pc on over-sized and then route the top and bottom, then apply the top piece and route it flush (have never done this method myself). Bear in mind it won't be doable to get a rounded edge by doing this yourself - it will be a hard 90, or a bevel. It will still look great though!

Here is a link that might be useful: DIY Formica Sheet

Comments (8)

bedfordfred
13 years ago
If you only have to live with it for a couple years, why not butt together two 6 foot sections of laminate counter?
bmorepanic
13 years ago
Get the $130 and a piece of ikea butcher block. It will look good and maybe even be functional.
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kiki_redo
Original Author
13 years ago
thanks for the ideas -

we can't butt 2 pc of countertop in the middle bc the sink is there, but otherwise - you're right that would work.

hubby has just announced that he will do the plumbing himself, so if that doesn't work, we'll go the ikea butcher block route - that just gives me an excuse to go to ikea (:

thanks guys!
remodelfla
13 years ago
Lay down some plywood or hardibacker and get some inexpensive tile. Craigslist always has people selling off their excess tile. Even if you buy it from a place like Floor and Decor or a big box store, you can find tile for under $2 a sq.ft. You only need about 25 sq. ft.
formerlyflorantha
13 years ago
continuing on bpmorepanic's suggestion to use Ikea countertop butcherblock....we had sim. problem, a 16 foot run down the long side of a G-shaped kitchen. Installer ran the laminate across the top of the g, put a seam at the upper corner, then ran the next laminate piece to the center of the sink at roughly the center of the long side of the G. Then a third piece to 2 feet from the lower corner. We ran Ikea butcherblock across the end of the G (range at center of two pieces of wood) then ran a 4th wider piece of laminate up the peninsula side of the G.

We're glad we did this--the wood breaks up the runs of laminate and it allows a better work surface each side of the range.

By the way, you might want to get a price on an installed countertop by an independent installer. They know what they're doing and they can buy at a good price, which might be worthwhile in long run.
kiki_redo
Original Author
13 years ago
thank you for the ideas! hubs was able to do the plumbing himself - so we're back to a 10' run of countertop - but all of the ideas are great for when we redo the kitchen with longer counters, or hopefully another person with a similar problem will see this thread!
jauble55
4 years ago
Thank you kiki_redo. We have the same problem. My hubby thought about the butcher block and I wasn’t sure. But Good ideas.