Sewing Room - Countertop Install

 

This is where we left off several weeks ago.  We have been waiting on the countertop to arrive.  We chose to  use a laminate type countertop that we had custom made.  The right side of this is on the side of the room with the sewing machine.  The Kallax cabinet on that side also has the standard drawers available for the Kallax range of bookcases.Thus the over hang on that side is to be about 1.5" as is the over hang at the end.  On the left side, we chose to have 9" of over hang so that stools are "lab type" chairs could be used.  

First task was to put up a ledger board to support the countertop and a place to tie the countertop to the wall.  The ledger board was screwed into the studs in two places and then I will attach the countertop with L brackets.

Next step is to paint the ledger board the same color as the wall.  While under normal circumstances you cannot see the ledger board, I decided to paint it anyway, just to be complete.

While I was painting, I also put one more coat of white paint on the bottom of the closed in storage area that is between the Kallax bookcases and the wall.

As you can see the ledger board is blended into the wall.

I used small four 1" L brackets with one 3/4" screw in the countertop and one in the ledger board.   This should provide sufficient attachment force to keep the countertop stable.

Then in the four upper cubes on each side and the two at the end, I placed a 2 1/2" cabinet screw with a large flat head.  That provided a total of 10 screws through the Kallax bookcase and into the bottom of the countertop.  As a reminder there are also ten 2 1/2" cabinet screws in the bottom cubes, that attach the Kallax bookcases to the 2x4 lumber and plywood base.

In the original table on wheels, the user was slowly chasing the table.  By leaning over on the table in the fabric cutting process, she would slowly push on it.  While I did not put an attachment point at the free end, I believe that the screws in the base and those four in the countertop to the wall, should be sufficient to hold it in place.  I guess only time will tell.

Here are two views of the finished cutting table.  The rounded corners on the free end should prevent anyone from getting caught on the corners.  You can see in the first picture the over hang on the left side for the chairs.  The second picture shows the three upper cubes with the double drawers in each.  

Well in the last installment I said that only task left was the countertop.  Well I was wrong.  There needs to be base board installed around the three sides.  The 2x4 raw lumber is exposed.  But this will have to wait until at least March.  Once I cut these, they need to be painted before they are installed.  The garage is too cold to be painting, so we will wait for warmer weather.  The baseboard is pure cosmetic, so let the quilting begin. 😄