Worktops

[John Whitworth]

For my new office setup, I'm going for some fairly decent quality kitchen worktop. Maybe something from the Duropal range. Any other suggestions gratefully received though - are there any specialist office worktops. Want durability, ease of cleaning, and 'cut-to-fit' room. No purpose built desks - fed up with them!

My office (small, but perfectly formed) is about 2.3m x 2.3m, and I intend having worktop as an L-shape, along one whole side, and then about another metre along the adjacent side.

I want to maximise free space under the worktop, so if possible, wish to avoid too many supporting poles. Although the worktop will not have particularly heavy stuff on it, I'd still want to to be as sturdy as possible. All PC towers will be underneath, though in the corner of the 'L' will be a large Multi-Function printer (Canon MP830), and at the 'top' of the 'L' may sit my old 14" CRT portable TV (for use with my selection of antique computers! :-) ). In the middle of the 'long' side, will probably be a 20" flat screen, and a 22" flat screen.

Any ideas or pointers as to how I can go about this? Obviously kitchen worktops generally have cabinets underneath, supporting the load. I'm not averse to using poles in some places - but just don't want them everywhere, and ideally not in the middle of the long side at all!

Cheers

JW

[Muddymike]

"John Whitworth" wrote in message news:4b6e9255$0$2526$ [e-mail]...

The worktop in our larder has an upside down "L" shaped steel support in the middle. Its made from approx 2 inch box section steel and came from the builders merchant that supplied the worktop.

Mike

[Midge]

For my new kitchen (Schuller), I had chunky 60mm worktop fitted to go with the modern design - just a plain white laminate.

I also had a matching kitchen table made up from the same stuff, and as you can imagine its pretty strong (and heavy!). It is 55 inches long x 35inch wide and of course unsupported in the middle, but I reckon you could extend it out a fair bit more without difficulty. One end is attached to the wall, and the other end has two 2.5inch tubular metal legs so it looks in proportion too.

The actual construction in this case is a 40mm + 20mm chipboard sheet stuck together and then laminated, and this *may* be a custom job by Schuller. However, if you search on "60mm worktop", it does look like that thickness is generally available, though the range might be a bit more limited.

HTH Midge.

[John Whitworth]

Cheers for the responses guys. In the end, I've plumped for having some of the 'breakfast bar' supports, in places that hopefully won't be too obtrusive.

JW