Kitchen Renovations, Part 5

Installing a Countertop for the First Time

I have never installed a countertop before, but I figured that if I made it that far in the remodel, I could. We chose a laminate countertop for three reasons: it was available immediately where we'd have to wait for granite; we like to bake and cook and don't want to have to worry about breaking an expensive counter top; and, of course, cost.

My main concern about installing a countertop was cutting; I knew I would have to make a few cuts and I didn't want to chip it. It was recommended that I put masking tape on top of the laminate and cut through it, which I did and found that it worked.

A Lesson in Circular Saw Blades

I also used a circular saw blade with a lot of teeth meant for finer work when cutting. During this, I discovered one thing about those blades that I didn't like. I have two circular saw blades for cutting countertops and both look and work identical. I have always noticed circular saw blades have cutouts in the blade instead of being a solid metal disk. However, the blades for cutting the countertop didn't have these cutouts.

On one of my cuts, all of a sudden it started to feel weird and it looked like the blade was loose on the saw. When I checked it, it was fine, but a little hot. I let the blade cool and continued, and it worked for a while before happened again. What I discovered is that you have to be careful about getting these blades hot; otherwise they expand and warp until they cool down again.

Measure, Measure, Measure

The rule with countertops, or anything else you're cutting that is expensive, is to measure twice and cut once -- or in this case, measure three or four times. What I ended up doing was making a template out of cardboard first to ensure all my cuts would be correct. In doing so, I discovered that my kitchen walls were not perfectly perpendicular.

My countertops came in a few sections with the corner having two 45 degree cuts that were meant to join. If I joined the angle as it was meant, I would have an inch gap between the wall and the back of the counter at the far end. I decided to re-cut the angle to match my walls. With my cardboard template this wasn't that bad, but still a difficult task.