In the past few years, DIY kitchen gadgets have become very popular. They don’t have to be over the top and they don’t have to break your wallet either. If you’re looking to add a cheap way to get some solid worktops, you’re reading the right blog. Check out my countertop plans and follow along!
The materials I used to build the countertop
Step 1: Move the material to the shop and cut edges
The first thing I did was move my mobile cart next to my miter saw stand. This is so I can flip the wing over and pull the material straight from the carriage to the saw and cut off the ends. When you screw the panels together, you need all edges and ends to be at 90 degrees and straight. The miter takes care of all parties. Also in this step you can cut the boards to length. I recommend taking the measurement of what the top of your clothing should be and then leaving yourself and an extra 1 or 2 inches. You will cut it perfectly later.
Step 2: Round the edges of the material
Next is to get rid of the rounded edges of the material. If you have a joint, you can use it to get one flat edge… and one flat side. I then transfer the very large pile to my table saw. Here I make sure to place the hinge edge against the saw fence to get a second, parallel edge. Then I use a thick planer to get the second side flat.
Now, if you don’t have a joiner, I’ll leave you a link to two videos I made where I show how to use a table saw or router as a joiner. But you can definitely keep this project simple and leave it a little imperfect. If you only have a table saw, you can use it to cut off each rounded edge, then leave the face alone. This method will require more sanding and you may end up with some small gaps, but you can still build some countertops yourself.
Step 3: Create a countertop pattern
Well, after I got all the materials square and straight, I then laid out my boards to get the depth the countertop and shelf needed and then started rearranging them. The first thing I do is line up one side of the boards so they line up with each other. Now my finished countertop will land here but it’s always best to make a larger board than required and then cut it last.
Next, I look at the direction of the tree ring and try to line it up. Do you see how these rings bend downward? This ring is very central but this one bends up, this one bends down, what you want to avoid is all the rings facing the same direction as that will push the whole board into the cup in that direction while their rotation will conflict with the forces.
The next thing I look at is where do all the seams line up, see how most of them land in this area? I want more variety, so what you can do is take smaller boards and put them on top. Simply flip the two panels over and this will push the seam away from the other panels. To where after I did this with a few other rows, my layers are now spaced throughout the slab.
Well, the last thing I looked at before gluing things together, was the butt joints. You can see that this joint is not closing well. If it doesn’t seal well now, it certainly won’t get glue on it, so take the time to re-cut both ends here with the miter saw.
Step 4: Assemble the countertop
Okay, now let’s do the thing that I bet causes the most stress in woodworking. I’m talking about glue! It is common when starting construction to create a large board like this and try to glue all the boards at once. However, you will quickly learn that it is better to do several small pastings until it comes out right than to rush and mess it up or stress yourself out.
When you’re gluing things together with yellow wood glue, my go-to is DAPS Weldwood, and you usually have about 3-4 minutes of working time, which isn’t a lot. So have as many things ready to use as you can like clamps, brushes, hammers and in my case, biscuits. Which lets talk about next. You can certainly cut all your boards and just glue them together then screw them together but where the biscuits help is align the surfaces.
Once you apply glue to two surfaces, they will slip and slide and getting a perfectly flush surface becomes almost impossible. By cutting biscuit holes…. This tool points at the top of each board to cut a slot on each edge so that when you insert the cookie, it will automatically align each board and not allow it to slide while pressing. Alternatives that achieve the same thing are nails or dominoes but remember that you can certainly glue the boards if you don’t have any and it will require more flattening in the next step.
Step 5: Change the thickness of the worktop (optional)
In fact, I added it in step. See after milling my boards, my 2×4 turned out to be only 1 1/4″ thick. Which is fine but personally I wanted the look to be closer to 2 inches. To achieve this, I cut out a nose to the thickness I wanted and simply attached it at the front. So, know that this is a trick you can use to make the glue appear thicker.
Step 6: Loosen the countertop
Okay, now let’s flatten this thing. Like everything in construction, there are several ways to do everything. The work surface is too wide for my sander, so I did it by hand with a 4-inch belt sander. You want to choose your wider belt sander so that it will be easier to keep it flat and not create slots. I also like to turn my sander up to 45 on the first pass to extract the material faster, and then I sand away the scratches this creates in the lower grain. For my matching knife rack, I threw this through the drum sander and it makes quick work of it.
Step 7: Cut the countertop to length
You have now cut the top and shelf to the exact length you need. I chose the sliding part of my saw to ensure this cut was at the perfect 90 degrees but a chainsaw or circular saw with a fence would also work. Next I wanted to screw the worktop into place and see how it would look on the wall. No wall is perfectly straight, so expect some installation gaps.
You can cover this gap with a backsplash or you can trace the exact shape of your wall onto a countertop, this is called writing. I did this using a washing machine but you can use almost anything. Once I had my line marked, I used my sander again to remove the material in it. If you have a large gap, you can always use something like a multi-tool to cut more material in the front and then refine it with a sander.
Step 8: Apply the finish
Well that’s it for the technique building part, I now have a worktop ready to install but before doing that I finished it. I use Total Boat’s Gleam 2.0 which is a Spar varnish that is super easy to use, high gloss (exactly what I was looking for here), and my favorite feature: it dries quickly. I like to use Wood Sealer’s primer before hand which fills in the grain to give a smoother finish.
Finishing tip:
Have you ever seen things washed white before? Well, I wanted a slight gray tint, so I did the same thing where you can take latex paint and dilute it with water to create a more sheer finish, but I did it in grey. The more water you add, the more transparent it will become. I used a foam brush to wipe it off, then wiped it off almost immediately. After I let that dry, I applied a clear coat to protect everything.
Step 9: Install the countertop
To install the countertop, I simply crawled in and screwed some strips of scrap wood that I taped into place…and you can see how taking the time to write both edges really makes a difference. Next, for the shelf here, I installed a cleat in the corner where the frame is, and then cut a receiver slot so my shelf could sit on top and allow me to attach something to it. Left ends in the cabinets so I can go inside and go straight to the end grain.
I’ll call that another completed project. I will leave you links to videos that show you how to build the cabinets and also how to install them if you are interested. I hope this video gave you some good advice or inspiration if making cheap countertops is something you need to do.
