Kitchen Bench tops
- Thread starter The Underdog
- Start date
Pedro, Your idea sounds interesting- have you got any pics?
Theres a couple of Pics on the Gallery, but they are not close ups.
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3845
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3847
and
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3848
Pedro
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3845
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3847
and
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3848
Pedro
To be honest I cant remember exactly. I think that's about right. I'm not 100% sure but I remember the range of prices being about $100 up to $200 per sqm for the top of the line. All up though, if your benchtop is, at most, 2 or 3 sq mtrs, you're up for about 400 bucks, plus about $100 in glues and grouts.
Remember that the product should be polished porcelain not ceramic or glazed etc. That means that the tile material is the same throughout and not a layer of molten glass poured over the top (glazed). The benefit of that is when you cut a tile, you can polish the edge yourself to "almost" the same gloss finish as the top (e.g. for the edge of the benchtop).
Pedro
Remember that the product should be polished porcelain not ceramic or glazed etc. That means that the tile material is the same throughout and not a layer of molten glass poured over the top (glazed). The benefit of that is when you cut a tile, you can polish the edge yourself to "almost" the same gloss finish as the top (e.g. for the edge of the benchtop).
Pedro
No the tiles have a 2 mm (approx) gap. I think this is std for tiling. I asked around at various tile shops for advice on this. You really don't want to have the tiles touching in case the bench top flexes.
There are various options for what material to use in the gap. Normal grout, grout with a flexible additive, or silicone. I used a black heat resistant silicone which matches the glossiness of the tile, gives lots of flexing capacity and was cheaper ($36 for 3 tubes) and easier to use than any grout. Only time will tell if I made the right choice.
The kitchen was new so there was no previous bench to lay onto. In a paranoic attempt to prevent any flexing, I think I overdid the rigidity of the thing by using 25mm MDF. See attached pdf file. You probably only need 19mm. But the ting sure is solid now I can assure you. I stood on it later to finish windows, cornices etc with no problems (and no scratches). Waterproofed the mdf and then glued standard villaboard to it. Once the MDF and villaboard was positioned on the cabinets, I traced the sink and cooktop cutouts from underneath the cabinets. Once the mdf/villaboard plank was cut out with a Jigsaw I placed some tiles on top and traced the tile cutouts. Tiles were taken to a waterjet cutting crew in Queanbeyan who did the job for $45. They also cut one tile for me in 30mm strips for the fronts. Whilst the tiles were being cut I fixed the MDF /Villaboard to the cabinets. Then all tiles were stuck down with a flexible tile adhesive. The second last step was to round off the front edges with ever decreasing coarseness of wet&dry papers and lots of water. Last thing was grouting (read silicone).
Learnt heaps
There are various options for what material to use in the gap. Normal grout, grout with a flexible additive, or silicone. I used a black heat resistant silicone which matches the glossiness of the tile, gives lots of flexing capacity and was cheaper ($36 for 3 tubes) and easier to use than any grout. Only time will tell if I made the right choice.
The kitchen was new so there was no previous bench to lay onto. In a paranoic attempt to prevent any flexing, I think I overdid the rigidity of the thing by using 25mm MDF. See attached pdf file. You probably only need 19mm. But the ting sure is solid now I can assure you. I stood on it later to finish windows, cornices etc with no problems (and no scratches). Waterproofed the mdf and then glued standard villaboard to it. Once the MDF and villaboard was positioned on the cabinets, I traced the sink and cooktop cutouts from underneath the cabinets. Once the mdf/villaboard plank was cut out with a Jigsaw I placed some tiles on top and traced the tile cutouts. Tiles were taken to a waterjet cutting crew in Queanbeyan who did the job for $45. They also cut one tile for me in 30mm strips for the fronts. Whilst the tiles were being cut I fixed the MDF /Villaboard to the cabinets. Then all tiles were stuck down with a flexible tile adhesive. The second last step was to round off the front edges with ever decreasing coarseness of wet&dry papers and lots of water. Last thing was grouting (read silicone).
Learnt heaps
A quick update...am now considering a stone product from Impress Stone.
www.impressstone.com.au
Anyone used it or heard of it?
Cheers.
www.impressstone.com.au
Anyone used it or heard of it?
Cheers.
The latest....30mmm granite is the way to go. Received a quote for $3500.00...gonna look great!
that's really clever!
