DIY kitchen counter

[Robert Adams]

I thought about concrete, but I have prior experience and I'm not up to that.  Still trying to decide.  Getting the walls done has taken longer than I thought

I haven't figured out if the Chinese stone is really stone or some mashed up radioactive material (I kid, I think). Not really interested in having installers do it for various reasons.

I did a concrete top with a friend for his bbq table and it is allot of work. You need to have a very flat surface to out your melamine sheet on then build the form from it. A mixer drill or small concrete mixer is preferred and on and on.... Then when it's done, out of the forms flip it over fill and sand if needed then install. 

       I have seen ones done in place but they look horrible imo and a often full of voids ad there is no way to really tamp the concrete well. 


        Look into the zinc sheets. It was mentioned in a thread a while back. Not too pricey and not hard to do.  Barring that look for some place like floor and decor as they carry a large selection of pre-made granite countertops for a fair price.  
         In your part of the country you may be able to get soapstone I mentioned earlier. 


           And the ikea butcher block tops are a good deal for the $ if you want wood. I was going to pick up a couple slabs once in the clearance section for cheap once but I was in the work truck on the way home and it was raining quite heavy.

[mike4244]

Have you considered laminating over the existing tops? Clean the tops and back splashes and the lightly scuff them up.Glue the narrow back splash edges and the counter edges first.Trim them and then glue up the tops.
Your inside corner can be mitered using a dovetail bit,9° is what I use.This gives you a very slight under cut that makes the seam go together very tight.
There are many nice looking laminates for sale that won't break the bank.
mike

[Cub_Cadet_GT]

If you want to DIY it then I would go with Corian/solid surface. You can work it with all your regular tools and it is easy to mill.

I did my own for my laundry room to kinda match the granite in the kitchen. I got cut offs from this place and got the matching glue from them as well. They sell full sheets too if you need that much.

http://solidsurface.com

[EricU]

The backsplash is definitely going to be some form of tile. Of course, it makes sense to do the counter tops first.  

Thought about Corian or other solid surface. 

I've managed to get bogged down in the details of the rest of the work, hope to get the electrical and drywall done this week and then we'll get serious about counter tops.

[TimmyGriffin]

Wow, fantastic job there. Looks like it belongs int he royal palace if you ask me.