how much support does a laminate worktop need?

[a]

for some reason I was expecting to be able to rest the worktop on top of the fridge and freezer appliances but this now appears wrong - the fridge and freezer must have a 3mm gap above them (and probably couldnt take the weight anyway). So we will have a cupboard at one end, with the worktop spanning 3 appliances (fridge/freezer/washer ~1800mm) before stopping at the cooker. I need some way of supporting it at the cooker end - perhaps a carcass side panel as we will have some spare after putting on the decorative end panels, but is it ok doing the 1800mm without intermediate support (forgive me for not trying it yet, 3m of the stuff is damn heavy to be playing around with!)? It is 38mm thick and feels like concrete so is very solid, but will it flex over that distance?

cheers

Dave

[Grunff]

No, that's a little too much. It won't break, but is likely to sag over time. I'd say about 1200mm is the max you should span with 38mm chip.

[Grunff]

Do you mean sandwitched between appliances? Not very tidy, since you'll see the front edge of the panels, and it will sit some 20mm back from the appliance face. Also how do you fit the legs?

I'd fit either a 300mm base unit, or a 150mm wine-rack type unit as a support. Neat and useful.

[a]

hmm, as I suspected :o( Do you reckon a couple of base unit carcass side panels will do the job?

[chris French]

I've seen it down like this, where someone made up a suitable panel from (I think) MDF, so that it came out far enough,, and of a suitable profile and went down to the ground. Painted it didn't really notice

If there is space yes, a good idea.

[a]

they dont have legs - the panels go right to the floor, but the bottom is recessed for a plinth

Hmmm, I did suggest putting a 300mm base unit we have in there but it wasnt met very enthusiastically! A wine rack is an idea though if they do one in the same range (although next to a cooker - do you like your wine that warm?)

cheers :o)

Dave.

[Colin Wilson]

We have some spanning the width of a fridge and a freezer, with about an

8" gap that holds a veg rack. It does and will bend and flex over time - ours is now semi-bent-straight-again by use of packers jammed on top of the fridge and freezer :-}

Find some other means of support :-}

[Paper2002AD]

Why not play it safe and fix a batten to the wall for the enetire length of the worktop?

[Snowman]

We did that, but the front did bend slightly over a long period.

[Christian McArdle]

We had a similar problem, but with 30mm granite. It took considerable thought in laying out appliances. In the end, we used decorative column dividers to provide intermediate support. These were about 7cm wide and could also solved your kitchen end problem.

For us, it solved another problem in that the integrated dryer didn't have a plinth setback, so would require the plinth set almost flush with the doors. The dishwasher required the normal setback for the door to open. The decorative column provided a convenient place to set forward the plinth for the laundry appliances, and also breaks up the long straight run and into functional areas, too.

As it was granite, which is very brittle, we covered the 1200mm span with 5

20mm SHS steel rods to provide extra support, although this wouldn't be possible with freestanding appliances, as you can't just put the doors on higher to cover the gap. With chipboard, 1200mm is probably OK without the bars, especially if properly back supported on a batten.

Christian.

[a]

that is another possibility but as snowman said I would expect it needs support at the front too. The wall is plasterboarded but I guess long screws into the brick behind would hold it.

[dmc]

Prevented that by cutting a slot in the bottom of the worktop with a circular saw, filling it with epoxy resin and then screwing a length of metal angle to the underside of the worktop so that the metal was in the slot (if you see what I mean!). A slot 6 inches or so from the front and a batten on the wall at the back seems to have worked well.

You could recess it slightly so that it is flush if you really wanted with a router - I didn't bother as we have enough clearance (only a dog bed underneath). Didn't have a router either now I think about it ;-)

12 years on and it is still fine.

Darren

[Christian McArdle]

Excellent idea. I bet a 20mm angle iron would seriously improve the tendency to sag over time. Presumably the epoxy helps restore some of the strength from having a deep slot routed in?

Christian.

[MBQ]

Better would be large "L" shape shelf brackets that support at least some of the width of the worktop. That will probably require more than the 3mm above the appliances that the OP referred to.

MBQ

[chris French]

In message , Christian McArdle writes

Yep, I have a length of chipboard work top over that sort of distance (over 2 appliances) with batten at the back. It has been fine for the last 5+ years

[dmc]

Yeah. Was parnoid that the front of the worktop would fall off with a loud crack :-)

I seem to remember me climbing on it and bouncing to see if it flexed with good results. Thats with me a heavy boned 15 stone and the span being something over 1.2m.

Darren