Square edge worktop - mitre or butt...

[Carrerahill]

I am ready to fit the worktops, I am now therefore in a bit of a predicament. 

 

I like mitred counters, I think it looks smart, I don't know if it's just the geometry of perfectly jointed counters I like because it's clever or if I do actually really care about the joint at an aesthetic level. I like nice engineering and nicely made things so I can sometimes be swayed by something well engineered.

 

I have a 1/4" collet router, which isn't really big enough to take a long enough cutter to do counters and with end float being an issue on long cutters on smaller shafts I just ain't going to risk it. Best case scenario I ruin £500 piece of worktop, worst case I lose an eye.

 

So my thinking was, I will call in the joiner chappy who has done work for my brother and I trust to do the job correctly and well and also to be careful working in my kitchen - then came along the bug from Wuhan! 

 

After doing a fair bit of image searching I found that many square edge counters appear just to be butt jointed and clamped (my router will easily deal with the "T" cuts for the clamps) and I have a professional saw that I'd get a brand new fine tooth blade for. However, I suspect that it may actually be laziness and or a lack of skill that many "kitchen fitters" don't take the time to do a mitre. 

 

I am tempted to try it myself, I could buy a jig and borrow a 1/2" collet router, buy a couple of good quality cutters and go for it. I could always cut the male piece initially too long as a trial cut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[joe90]

I used to do mitre joins, even for other “kitchen fitters”! still have the kit and did my own on our build. Yes you need a decent sized router, good cutters and accurate jig, but I taught myself but takes practice. I am sure there are plenty of u tube vids to show you how. Yes good to do joins before cutting pieces to length in case you make a small error. You will get a lot of self satisfaction when you do a good job.

Edited May 19, 2020 by joe90

[Carrerahill]

18 minutes ago, joe90 said:

I used to do mitre joins, even for other “kitchen fitters”! still have the kit and did my own on our build. Yes you need a decent sized router, good cutters and accurate jig, but I taught myself but takes practice. I am sure there are plenty of u tube vids to show you how. Yes good to do joins before cutting pieces to length in case you make a small error. You will get a lot of self satisfaction when you do a good job.

Nice work.

 

I have no doubt that with patience I could do it, I am however wondering if for speed and what not, I pay a man! A good jig will be what £75 then a couple of good cutters say £30 - so there is £105 then I need to acquire a suitable router for the job.

 

 If a man wants £200 to come and basically do two joints do I just pay him?

 

 

[joe90]

It was easy for me as I fitted kitchens amongst other work so the kit was used frequently. I also do lots of woodwork. With my build I wanted to do everything but certain things would take too long, cost more in kit etc etc, so I had to bite the bullet and sub things out which left me to get on with what I could do. shame you’re the other end of the country!,!,, unless your into woodwork it’s probably not worth the cost/risk. Not that I use face ache (Facebook) but I am sure you will find someone local that could do it fir you for a bit of cash.

[Carrerahill]

7 minutes ago, joe90 said:

It was easy for me as I fitted kitchens amongst other work so the kit was used frequently. I also do lots of woodwork. With my build I wanted to do everything but certain things would take too long, cost more in kit etc etc, so I had to bite the bullet and sub things out which left me to get on with what I could do. shame you’re the other end of the country!,!,, unless your into woodwork it’s probably not worth the cost/risk. Not that I use face ache (Facebook) but I am sure you will find someone local that could do it fir you for a bit of cash.

I am into woodwork and I like to do everything myself too. Having said that, I cannot see me installing kitchen counters that regularly, I'm more of a cabinetry or custom storage solutions sort of a guy. 

 

Mind you, I am tempted to quit my business and start a building firm doing extensions, so maybe I need to learn this now!

 

I am just off the phone to a chap I like the sound of, £200 for fitting the tops, I have scrutinised his workmanship on his Facebook page and note lots of masons mitres executed neatly. 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Carrerahill

[Mike]

Some online companies will sell worktops to size, including cutting mitres, so you only need to fit them.

[Oz07]

10mm mason mitre best for this job

[Oz07]

[Carrerahill]

56 minutes ago, Mike said:

Some online companies will sell worktops to size, including cutting mitres, so you only need to fit them.

Worktops are already in the garage!

 

I also see potential major issues with having them pre-mitred. I am fairly sure my kitchen is fairly square and my cabinets are sitting as square as possible but I'd expect a small variation in angle at joins which a factory mitre wouldn't allow for... or do you feed them that info?

Edited May 19, 2020 by Carrerahill

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Carrerahill said:

I am fairly sure my kitchen is fairly square and my cabinets are sitting as square as possible but I'd expect a small variation in angle at joins which a factory mitre wouldn't allow for.

Provided you don't have them cut to the tight dimensions, and aren't too out of square, it's easy to loose 10 or more under wall tiles and sealant.

[Carrerahill]

5 minutes ago, Mike said:

Provided you don't have them cut to the tight dimensions, and aren't too out of square, it's easy to loose 10 or more under wall tiles and sealant.

10mm!

 

I'd be annoyed at 2.5mm!

 

 

[Mike]

4 minutes ago, Carrerahill said:

I'd be annoyed at 2.5mm!

If you're fitting worktops butting up between 2 parallel walls, you'd probably struggle to fit it if you only had 2.5mm tolerance.

 

Bog standard ceramic tiles will be 5mm thick, + 3mm adhesive, gives you 8mm either side / 16mm total, so loosing 10mm is no problem.

[joe90]

I agree, working to that tolerance with walls is not really achievable (mostly), you need some “wiggly” room. Are you’re walls and plaster that accurate???., lots of people have 20mm upstands and that gives you even more tolerance.