Cutting Kitchen Bench tops myself?

B

bythebay

Hello everyone!
I am new the the forums, and pretty much new to investing in property. I have just bought my first IP, near the beach in Redcliffe, north of Brisbane. It's a nice little unit over looking the water. However it has a very unattractive kitchen, which really needs some updating.

Originally I was just going to relaminate the bench tops, and 'tile paint' the currently plain white tile splashback. However it has an old upright white stove, which I would love to get rid of and replace with a stainless steel one. But after looking around discovered the prices are way out of my price range. So I would like to put an oven with cooktop in instead. Hence the need for a new bench top!

So, I have started researching bench tops and discovered that some are made from plain particle board covered with laminate. Could I do this myself? I.e. cut the particle board to size and cover with laminate myself? It would work out much cheaper than having them made. I would love to hear from the experience renovators or anyone who has some info.

Thanks :)
Michelle.
 
it sounds easy but believe me it is harder than it sounds , ring benchworks for a quote on 3804 5222 they do all my tops and are very helpful
 
Hi all

I am real handy with most things, bench tops need precise and special joins, I get them done by the pros, even the solid wood ones.:D
 
Michelle,
If you make it yourself it might not look as good as the ready made ones.
Ready made benchtops are not expensive these days.
You measure the existing one and they will cut it to size for you.
The installtion is relatively easy but you will probably need
a couple of extra hands as they are quite heavy.
You also need to be careful to get the joints right
or water can get in and damage the benchtop.

Good luck.'
 
Thanks everyone for your help. I've decided to just relaminate the existing bench tops and keep the old stove. It's not so bad, really. Perhaps in a few years time I will do a total reno of the kitchen, it probably isn't really necessary at the moment anyway. It's easy to get swept up in the idea of renovating on the cheap and end up doing more than is really needed :) I'll post some before an after photos after it's all done. It will be interesting to see how the tile paint turns out on the splashback :D

Thanks again :)
Michelle.
 
BV said:
Michelle,
If you make it yourself it might not look as good as the ready made ones.
Ready made benchtops are not expensive these days.
You measure the existing one and they will cut it to size for you.
The installtion is relatively easy but you will probably need
a couple of extra hands as they are quite heavy.
You also need to be careful to get the joints right
or water can get in and damage the benchtop.

Good luck.'
Click to expand...

Just one other thing, how much approximately are the ready made bench tops? Say per metre (or however they are priced). Do they come finished (ie with lamiate?)
If it is cheap enough perhaps it is still worthwhile as it will cost me money anyway to relaminate. Thanks!
 
600mm wide postformed tops cost around $90.00 p.m
850mm breakfast bar tops cost about $120 p.m
joins cost about $25 per join
i think in all honest that you should make a plan and fax it to a postformed company or several .then decide on the price basis ,if doing it yourself was the easiest way to go then all the kitchen companies would still be doing it that way ,when you do it yourself you must also calculate the waste factor from the sheets as they only come in set sizes ,also i looked at the site suggested and they advise you to break the laminate down from the cuts you have made this is incorrect you should raise the laminate up to break it ,once i read that i decided not to read any further and dismissed the site
 
bythebay said:
If it is cheap enough perhaps it is still worthwhile as it will cost me money anyway to relaminate. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Getting a 100% good look is difficult to do, especially when you do something for the first time.

If the rest of the kitchen is not perfect, then a slightly dodgy looking benchtop may be acceptable to you and prospective tenants.

With the DIY laminating, factor in the cost of getting it wrong and having to put up with the end result or buying more laminate and doing it again.

I'd recommend doing a practice piece first, maybe a 250mm x 750mm piece of wood, that you can also use as a bench/shelf in laundry/bathroom/garage. You get to learn from your mistakes cheaply and get a useful product as well !

I'm good at reno-ing and making things - but there are some things I just won't do, and will pay a professional, such as wallpapering, fancy gyprock cornices and installing roof insulation, as well as kitchen benchtop relaminating. Not cost&time effective for me to do myself.
 
I am staring to lean towards not laminating it myself - and back to having a bench made so that I can put the new oven in. I have been looking on the graysonline auctions and ebay for an oven (black or stainless). Any ideas on where to get one cheap? Are there auctions around brisbane, and how do I find about them?

Thanks again :D
 
Thanks for your help everyone :)
Richard - thanks for the sites, I'll check them out.
Tom - thanks for the ref to benchworks, I'll definitely give them a call and get a quote.


Cheers
Michelle :D
 
You can get pre-made benchtops from Ikea pretty cheap.

126cm X 60.6cm for only $90.

They also come in 1.8m and 2.4m. It's laminate but looks great, with a few different colours. I've used white marble lookalike.

You might also find that the cooktop/underbench oven combination is actually not cheaper than just replacing your upright.

Especially if you need to have a seperate 15 Amp circuit put in for the underbench oven :eek: Which I did at an extra $300.

Plus you'll need to cut out a hole for the cooktop to fit into. If you can't do that yourself then it means more dollars.

With an upright you just bung it in. Not as much to fiddle with. Though it doesn't look as neat as the cooktop combination.

Cheers.
 
I'm a bit confused about the ikea bench tops - do you need to cut them to size? And do the joins etc yourself?

Yeah, I am still not sure about the oven. There's nothing wrong with the one I have, but I am trying to modernise the unit so I can get better rent. I can get the oven/cook top fairly cheaply, and I figure if I am getting a new bench top made I may as well have them make it with a hole in it for the cooktop.

Thanks for you input :)
 
whoever installs the cooktop should be the person cutting the hole in the benchtop - that'll ensure that the cooktop will be correct distance from front & back and will sit cleanly into the cupboard space.

You can't get the hole cut offsite - virtually guaranteed to be wrong size/wrong location.

Cutting hole is simple. drill 2 x 12mm holes in opposite corners and jigsaw away. The hard part is setting out the dimensions and where to cut, so that cooktop is not over a cupboard sidewall, or into a benchtop support piece.
 
With regards to the Ikea benchtops, yes you will need to do the cutting and joining yourself, unfortunately.

It's not that difficult. As Richard says, you just need a jigsaw and drill.

Don't forget you have to cut out a hole for the sink aswell.

I don't know that I'd want to pay the plumber (who connected it) to do the cutting. He charged an arm and a leg as it is! :)

Cheers.
 
whoever installs the cooktop should be the person cutting the hole in the benchtop

this quote suprises me ,are you saying that the electrican cuts the hole for a electrical hot plate and the gas fitter cuts the hole for the gas hotplates
,if this is correct then i dont know how you got onto the top 500 ,
in my short time in my own business (26 years) i have NEVER heard of an electrican or plumber cutting holes for any appliance ,and if they did i would certainly guarantee that it was wrong .
by the bay ,you are getting confused by your responses ,may i suggest going with what i have suggested and asking benchworks if they know someone that could fit them for you ,in other words pay the dough and get them to go go go
 
arms said:
whoever installs the cooktop should be the person cutting the hole in the benchtop

this quote suprises me ,are you saying that the electrican cuts the hole for a electrical hot plate and the gas fitter cuts the hole for the gas hotplates
Click to expand...

What I mean is that the hole whould be cut onsite, after the benchtop has been installed, not cut in the factory, as bythebay thought to do in the 1:20am post.

The electrician / gas fitter 'connect' the cooktop. Somebody else has to physically measure and cut the hole. - aka 'installs' the cooktop.

I'd expect the builder / carpenter / professional kitchen installer / diy handyman to have the cooktop out on the bench and do trial placements to ensure it'll fit before cutting the actual hole.

If the kitchen designer is good, and the kitchen factory knows what they're doing ( knows where the cooktop goes in relation to the underbench cupboard sides ), and the factory gets/has the template for the xyz brand cooktop, then no problems should arise. If they get it wrong or benchtop breaks in transport or while being installed ( 2 thin edges ) , it's their cost to fix.

Cutting cooktop hole onsite ensures perfect lineup with rest of kitchen ( rangehood, rear tiles, etc )
 
Just something else for you to consider before doing away with the stove. I have noticed in the depreciation items that a free standing stove seems to fall under fixture/fittings which you can depreciate quicker than a built in stove and cooktop; which is included under the building depreciation of 2.5% over 40 years. If you stay with a stove you may get your money back quicker. Check with your accountant as I only briefly noticed it on my PIAF software in the depreciation schedule and also in the ATO list of depreciative items.

If you do it yourself most goods come with a template drawn into the packaging.Trace the template with a black marker (thin) in a position that will allow the fixing clips enough room all around the sink or cooktop (if you cut the hole to close to the front or back of the bench you will be in trouble). Also make sure that the dimensions of the sink or cooktop will allow enough room for this to happen PRIOR to cutting the benchtop; moreso in sinks as oversized sinks are more common.

Remember that if you have overhead cupboards above the cooktop you need to ensure that there is a suitable clearance between the top of the cooktop trivets and the bottom of the rangehood itself. This clearance differs depending on whether the cooktop is gas or electrical. It may also vary state to state but if you are in doubt ask your electrician (electrical) and/or plumber (gas). I allow 700mm for a gas cooktop to allow for the trivets (the minimum height is 650) and I used to allow 650 for electric cooktops which don't need to be as high (minimum is 600 for memory but we haven't installed an electric one for over 5 years so could be a bit foggy on that one).

Julie Fisher
daryl fisher homes
 
What I mean is that the hole whould be cut onsite, after the benchtop has been installed, not cut in the factory,

this is not what you said in your origional post reply
 
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