How to Install Laminate Kitchen Worktops

As with most things fitting laminate kitchen worktops requires a certain level of skill and the correct tools for the job. This is especially true if the counter is going to run around 2 or more walls.

As a minimum professional kitchen fitters will have and use a spirit level, a jig saw, a jig and a router.

You can see all of these being used in this kitchen installation that we undertook in Medway, Kent.

Using kitchen worktop jig and router.
Using a jig and router to fashion a mitre joint and butterly bolt recesses
The precision cut mitre joint is barely visible and is secured with butterfly bolts and worktop jointing compound.
Using a template, a drill with a shell bit and a jigsaw to cut a hole in the counter to accommodate the sink.
Installing the ceramic kitchen sink.

It will start with the requirement for accurate measurements and a judgment on the best place to place any joints required. The counters then need to be ordered in the required lengths with enough excess to allow for the number of joins required and any scribing required if the walls are not square and true.

The kitchen base units have to be level, square and secure before the laminate tops can be installed. Each worktop will then be offered up starting from one corner of the kitchen and then scribed to ensure a good fit to the profile of the walls.

Following this each piece of worktop will be cut to the required length and the mitre joints cut using a jig and a router. There is a male and female part to each join and the join is then secured using jointing compound and pull tightly together from the underside of the worktop using butterfly bolts. The result should be and almost seamless, barely visible join.

The tops are then secured to the base units and then and upstand or tiling can be undertaken if required.

You can see more about our kitchen worktop fitting services here http://www.hikent.co.uk/kitchen_worktop_fitter.html

All of these processes also apply when installing solid wood counters although the addition of barrier paper will be needed and more care needs to be taken around the wet are of the kitchen.