Altering Corian worktops?? Easy or not??

[TheMitchells]

I have my eye on a redundant showroom kitchen at nicholls which I think will provide a large part of our renovation kitchen at quite a good price - it includes a Neff induction hob and double oven, dishwasher, and all the extra's which would probably add quite a lot to our quote of £2k for the basic units from Howdens.  It has a lovely Corian worktop which would need altering so my question is:- How easy is it to alter the worktop fit our use.  I think most of it could be cut to fit two of the sides of our u shaped kitchen and we would need to buy the third side which would be a breakfast bar.  But is it possible to join separate bits and still look good?

 

[Barney12]

Corian can be cut and joined without problem but it's not a DIY job IMHO.

Im sure the kitchen company that wants to sell the display kitchen could put you in touch with a local fitter. 

[Jeremy Harris]

The guys that supplied and fitted our Silestone worktops (a bit similar to Corian) couldn't cut it on site, but did joint it on site.  They cut it in their workshop, using a water cooled diamond saw, to get the dead straight and square edge needed to make the joints, and each joint has a chamfer at the top that is filled with the epoxy resin jointing compound.

 

I watched them fit the worktops, and they took a lot of time making sure that all the surfaces were level, then fitted them with silicone adhesive to the units, with the carefully colour matched epoxy jointing adhesive in all the joints (we had two joints in a "C" shaped layout).  The jointing adhesive cures fairly quickly, and they then roughly cut the overspill away with a Stanley knife blade, before the adhesive was fully cured, then waited until it was really hard before doing the finishing.  Finishing was done with a polishing machine, fitted with what looked like Scotchbrite pads, that was used to make the joints dead flush with the surface.

 

The end result was almost invisible joins between the worktop pieces, and no sign of movement in the two years since it's been fitted.  I did spend a lot of time making sure that all the kitchen base units were set dead level, and all secured to each other very rigidly, so that there was little chance of any movement, and this may well have helped make the worktop fitting go a bit more smoothly.  The guys fitted all the worktops, including the island, in about half a day, with most of the time spent waiting for the adhesive to cure and polishing up the joints.

 

I'd say that it's not really a DIY job to cut and fit this stuff, as you would probably spend more on tools and materials than a decent fitter would charge to do the job.  I'll tackle most things, but I think I'd just pay to have someone fit worktops like this.

Edited July 7, 2017 by JSHarris

[TheMitchells]

that sounds like good advice and I dont think its something we'd want to do ourselves. I have played around with the units and our kitchen plan and I do think it would work without having to buy any extra units. I shall go and ask about fitters tomorrow.  And to be honest, we were planning on a wooden worktop so if it didnt fit, its not the end of the world.  I think the value of the extra's and hopefully the quality of the units (better than Howdens?) make it worth going for, even without the worktop. 

Im thinking of all the handles, sink, tap, hob, oven, dishwasher and extractor.  They have to worth a couple of thousand??  I didnt really take in the models but Neff arent cheap.  I also will need to see what sort of guarentee they come with. 

 

[ryder72]

Few points to think about with Corian-

 

1. Colour Match. You appear to have a shade of blue there. If you need additional material, check first if its a current colour. If it is, it almost certainly wont match. There wlll be some shade variation.

2. Fabrication. Its not going to be easy to get a fabricator to touch this job. Frankly its not worth their while to mess around with an existing worktop with all the risks associated with getting it right.

3. Corian fabrication is done in a factory and finishing on site. Unlike granite or quartz which is glued on site using 2 part epoxy compounds, Corian can be manipulated to a greater extend on site. The final finishing is done using COrian glue and then sanded/polished to a final finish.

 

 

[jfb]

I got my worktops from a house in fulham that was making way for a big basement.

We had to cut  various bits to make it all fit and mimic angled corners. I think we had 4 big pieces to work with.

I am very happy to have it as the material is much better than wood for a worktop.

You can certainly tell if you look closely that alterations have been made but the overall aesthetic of the house is not crisp minimalism as it is a farmhouse so its fine.

Nasty stuff to cut though so get a good mask and a good cutter!

I think we used some CT1 at the one join we had to make which was the same cream colour as the worktop. 

[Ferdinand]

@TheMitchells Consider the option of making a virtue of the difference and making the breakfast bar out of a contrasting beautiful material.

 

What about something like annealed glass or a different colour or texture Corian?

[Ferdinand]

@TheMitchells - an example of what you can get away with.

 

This is a joint added in my kitchen when we extended the run of units by one to create space for a range cooker further along, and found a worktop as close as possible.

 

The new one is on the left.

 

 

Even though you can see the small difference in the matched worktop - the pattern is virtually identical but to my eye the one on the left has more cream and purple in its base tones vs more white and slate grey on the right - in 3 years not one person visiting has noticed, even though it is next to the kettle and people look at it sometimes.

 

I would say that the colour difference would even be within that which is tolerated between different runs of the same product, which highlights the importance of buying in one batch if absolute consistency matters.

 

It is also helped by the visual break. If they were just butted up, even as a specialist wavy join, then I think it would be more noticeable.

 

I would say trying to match the Corian exactly may be flagellating yourselves just because you happen to have inherited a horsewhip, by choosing the most demanding option. My order of preference might be:

 

1 - Contrasting material.

2 - Contrasting Corian (ie very different vs nearly the same) perhaps even black to pick up on the cooker colour or a single tone from the mottled Corian or elsewhere in the kitchen. Advantage of this is that the physical thickness should be easy to match exactly.

3 - Visual break.

4 - Exact colour match.

 

(Note: It could be that colour consistency in Corian is perfect, in which case my analysis falls.)

 

Ferdinand

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2017 by Ferdinand

[SteamyTea]

We had the job of making the samples that sales people took around for Corian.

I seem to remember that we just cut them up on the bench saw, then sanded the edges and polished with jeweller's rouge.

I was not very involved in the job and can't remember what happened exactly, but we treated it the same as our cast acrylic.

[Barney12]

Corian is nothing more than a branded acrylic. 

The biggest issue with cutting (or polishing) it is preventing too much heat as it will simply melt or worse still (with a worktop) warp. But as @SteamyTea has said it will cut relatively easily even with basic tools. In fact it cuts relatively easily with a simple kitchen knife, it's sold as being "bullet proof" but that is utter horse poo, its soft, it marks and it stains easily! 

[dpmiller]

try Trespa then. Nasty stuff to work with.

[ryder72]

On 08/07/2017 at 12:39, Barney12 said:

Corian is nothing more than a branded acrylic. 

The biggest issue with cutting (or polishing) it is preventing too much heat as it will simply melt or worse still (with a worktop) warp. But as @SteamyTea has said it will cut relatively easily even with basic tools. In fact it cuts relatively easily with a simple kitchen knife, it's sold as being "bullet proof" but that is utter horse poo, its soft, it marks and it stains easily! 

Sorry but thats not true.

 

Corian (and similar products) are around 65% MTTA (type of acrylic) and rest is pigments, ground quartz etc. It will score with a kitchen knife but it doesnt cut. It cuts with a fine dust so good dust extraction is a good idea.

 

Corian is non porous so it wont stain. Any marks are easily removed. It scratches & scorches easily but can be mended.

 

FYI - I dont like it. Its overpriced plastic but lets get the facts right.

 

There are a number of cheaper substitutes for Corian and these are polyester based which is much softer. Hard to tell the difference for a layman.

[Barney12]

4 hours ago, ryder72 said:

Sorry but thats not true.

 

Corian (and similar products) are around 65% MTTA (type of acrylic) and rest is pigments, ground quartz etc. It will score with a kitchen knife but it doesnt cut. It cuts with a fine dust so good dust extraction is a good idea.

 

Corian is non porous so it wont stain. Any marks are easily removed. It scratches & scorches easily but can be mended.

 

FYI - I dont like it. Its overpriced plastic but lets get the facts right.

 

There are a number of cheaper substitutes for Corian and these are polyester based which is much softer. Hard to tell the difference for a layman.

 

Sorry, sloppy typing. Yes it's an acrylic mix, as you say similar to the other "me too" products on the market.

 

Im not going to get into an argument over staining. I don't mix buisiness with this forum. We will just have to disagree.

 

I should though apologise. Its a subject that gets me on my high horse! Less reputable kitchen/bathroom salespeople and specifiers (retail and trade) tell such utter lies about the "bullet proof" nature of Corian and other "me too" products. Actually not just composites, natural stones too. If only people realised just how soft and porous marble and granite can be. And don't even get me started on soap stone, at one point the "must have" vanity surface in hotels! 

 

Only a a few months ago I watched a sales person vigorously run up and down on a corian work surface with a fork uttering the words "you just can't mark it, no need for chopping boards, cut your veg right on the surface and wipe". As you said above it scratches and scorches easily. 

 

/I'll get me coat! Sorry, that should be anorak  

 

[Onoff]

Lots of vids on YouTube. Search "cutting corian" & "how to corian".

 

 

[ryder72]

9 hours ago, Barney12 said:

 

Sorry, sloppy typing. Yes it's an acrylic mix, as you say similar to the other "me too" products on the market.

 

Im not going to get into an argument over staining. I don't mix buisiness with this forum. We will just have to disagree.

 

I should though apologise. Its a subject that gets me on my high horse! Less reputable kitchen/bathroom salespeople and specifiers (retail and trade) tell such utter lies about the "bullet proof" nature of Corian and other "me too" products. Actually not just composites, natural stones too. If only people realised just how soft and porous marble and granite can be. And don't even get me started on soap stone, at one point the "must have" vanity surface in hotels! 

 

Only a a few months ago I watched a sales person vigorously run up and down on a corian work surface with a fork uttering the words "you just can't mark it, no need for chopping boards, cut your veg right on the surface and wipe". As you said above it scratches and scorches easily. 

 

/I'll get me coat! Sorry, that should be anorak  

 

Corian will 'mark' but they are only surface marks. As much as I think corian is the most overpriced and over-hyped piece  of plastic money can buy, marks on corian can be removed quite easily because they dont enter the product but I would like to find out what sort of deep staining you have seen on Corian.

 

As a retailer we read out the riot act on Corian to potential customers with exclusions on heat, scratch and bleach. Normally puts them off. In fact I have had some protracted correspondence and arguments with DuPont on the Corian warranty. If you found out whats excluded, you'd prefer to buy a piece of MDF and expect to get more from it before you buy Corian.

 

No worktop is perfect and the new magic bullet is ultra-compact surfaces such as Dekton and even that comes with its caveats.

 

Thats why I always say, buy what you like  but make yourself aware  of its limitations and it will last you a lifetime.

[jack]

We have two worktops: an island and a long run along a wall. The island is calacatta (white with grey veining) marble and the long run is white Corian (TM).

 

Our kitchen supplier asked us to sign a document saying that we understood that marble was a relatively weak material that would chip easily, stain if you left red wine on it for more than a few moments, and etch the moment any form of acid (eg, vinegar, lemon juice) touched it. The Corian surface has the sink in it and was chosen in response to our request for a low maintenance work surface for around the sink.

 

Fast forward 18 months. Yes, the marble has etched in places (NYE lime base cocktails did a proper job in one area!), but it still looks amazing. It was sealed professionally when we had it installed. Other than that, we take no special care of it other than using a specialist marble cleaner/sealant now and then. There are zero stains.

 

In contrast, the Corian is an absolute nightmare. You just look at it and it stains. Put down a cup of tea beside the sink and not realise a bit's spilled? Pick the cup up in the morning and there's a stain. Wash up some steel skewers and accidentally leave them in contact with the surface while they dry? Deep rust stains.

 

I know that these can be scoured/buffed out, but having to do that every time a cup of tea is put down for more than a couple of minutes is ridiculous.

 

Frankly, I wish I'd never seen the stuff. I suspect we'll try and get a few years out of it and then replace it with something that ages more gracefully.

[lizzie]

I have reverted to granite after having silstone and corian in my last kitchens.  Nothing is maintenance free.  Silestone looks like fake stone no matter what you choose and I hate the look of corian. I looked at Dekton and the like but decided against.

 

I am going back to granite for all its drawbacks but as its a natural surface its doesnt look quite as bad as a man made surface if damage/stains occur. I'm going for honed granite not polished which will be a lot more forgiving and I will get it professionally sealed to start off with. I'm going for a gorgeous Spekva wood on my breakfast bar area.

Edited July 10, 2017 by lizzie
spelling errors

[jack]

1 minute ago, lizzie said:

I'm going for honed granite not polished which will be a lot more forgiving 

 

We wanted honed, but I think a lot of (at least marble) slabs are pre-polished. You can return them to a honed finish at extra cost.

[lizzie]

3 minutes ago, lizzie said:

I have reverted to granite after having silstone and corian in my last kitchens.  Nothing is maintenance free.  Silestone looks like fake stone no matter what you choose and I hate the look of corian. I looked at Dekton and the like but decided against.

 

I am going back to granite for all its drawbacks but as its a natural surface its doesnt look quite as bad as a man made surface if damage/stains occur. I'm going for honed granite not polished which will be a lot more forgiving and I will get it professionally sealed to start off with. I'm going for a gorgeous Spekva wood on my breakfast bar area.

 

[jack]

I like the "open" end - we have that in marble. Much better, I think, than having a row of four stools along one side of a long island.

[lizzie]

3 minutes ago, jack said:

I like the "open" end - we have that in marble. Much better, I think, than having a row of four stools along one side of a long island.

my thoughts exactly

[Onoff]

Cheapest of the cheap seats here, standard worktop with bullnose grafted onto end and other long side:

 

 

Let in some corners:

 

 

Job done. Agree about the open end, we spend ages sitting round it:

 

 

 

[dpmiller]

Now that's nice work, @Onoff

[Onoff]

11 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

Now that's nice work, @Onoff

 

Ta. Saved by the pattern tbh...and filler!

 

Up close one end of the insert wasn't quite right. Maybe I made a mistake on the CAD .dxf for when I had the jig plates lasered:

 

 

Looks worse here:

 

 

Took ages to figure a jig that would do the male & female cuts:

 

 

Tbh it would probably have been cheaper to buy Corian!

Edited July 10, 2017 by Onoff

[TheMitchells]

Its been very interesting reading all the comments and I shall not be using Corian in my kitchen!  In the end, we decided to not buy the show kitchen.  after buying the units, we would still have £2k to buy the rest of the stuff and I know we will make it look lovely.  I was also quite worried about how carefully the units would be dismantled and what damage stuff would have after being fixed/glued together for several years. 

And really, we are not quite ready for the kitchen yet so we'd have had to store it all somewhere and work around it. maybe another time.....