Joining an oak worktop to a granite breakfast bar

[SteveM46]

Folks

We have oak worktops, 40mm thick, and are awaiting a piece of granite, 30mm thick, to adjoin the oak to form a continuous breakfast bar. I'm sure (read "I hope") my kitchen fitters will come up with an elegant solution, but I wondered if anyone can tell me how this would be achieved? The breafast bar will be a continuous run of about 1800mm, 800mm of which will be oak and 1000mm of which will be granite, and both will sit on a run of three 600mm floor units. These units are already in place, and the oak worktop is already in place.

My concerns are:

- how will the granite be joined (abutted, linked) to the oak to form a smooth top surface
- how should the bottom edges be joined, given the 10mm difference in their width
- how should the top edges of the carcasses be built up by 10mm in order to ensure the oak and the granite are level on the top surface, without there being an unsightly spacer of some sort between carcass and granite.

I would really welcome views of how this should be done.

Thanks

Steve

[Simpo Two]

Another issue is how to get the front edge looking right, because IMHO the granite should appear to be the same thickness as the oak, ie 40mm. I think a step would look odd.

[Aviz]

I don;t really have any advice, as i am no expert on kicthen fitting, but in this photo they appear to have left a step.



I would have thought the best option would be to have the oak cut to 30mm ?

[SteveM46]

Hm...that's a good photo. I can see that this has been arranged so that the oak is a slightly raised food prep area; what we are doing is in reverse, although I was expecting the top surface to be completely level, since it's a breakfast bar.

Thanks for the posts; I'm concerned now that we're not going to get an elegant solution to this...

[RichB]

Humm, I wouldn't use granite as the food prep area because knives and stuff will soon scratch it, wouldn't you be better using the oak or chopping board for that? p.s. sorry, I would get them the same thickness but if not I would also leave a step.

[Aviz]

Another consideration may be that , where the two meet, you may need an expansion gap ?

Colour matched Caulk may be the only option for the joint if they are butted up to each other ?

[Aviz]

Some more photos i found

http://flic.kr/p/76DduJ

http://flic.kr/p/76ziH4

If the other end of the oak has a gap, then maybe you might not need an expansion.

[SteveM46]

RichB said:

Humm, I wouldn't use granite as the food prep area because knives and stuff will soon scratch it, wouldn't you be better using the oak or chopping board for that? p.s. sorry, I would get them the same thickness but if not I would also leave a step.

Thanks Rich, of course we will be using a chopping board! ;-) My point is more about how to join the two materials together elegantly while retaining a smooth top surface....so perhaps the step can be underneath i.e. on the bottom surface?

[SteveM46]

Aviz said:

Some more photos i found

http://flic.kr/p/76DduJ

http://flic.kr/p/76ziH4

If the other end of the oak has a gap, then maybe you might not need an expansion.

Thanks Aviz, excellent pictures. I think we should have thought through the thicknesses a little more carefully.... We won't need the expansion gap I don't think, since one end is open.

[Simpo Two]

Well you can only get one side flush. The simplest solution is to raise the granite by 10mm using a 10mm sheet of something, set back so it's not too obvious from the front (or stick a 10mm granite edge under the front so it looks like 40mm, but you will see a join). The photo showing the opposite looks smart but that's partly because the step is much bigger; ie it looks like deliberate design and not a mistake.

Or chamfer the underside of the oak so it's all 30mm.

As for the join, I can't think of any other way than a butt joint with sealant.

[RichB]

SteveM46 said:

... 800mm of which will be oak...

Right; so that's not a huge length of wood (30" in old money) so could you not rout out a 10mm rebate in the underside of the oak allowing it to drop down level with the granite? Of course this depends on the design of the units and how far below the overhanging work surface the top edge of the doors will be.

[SteveM46]

RichB said:

Right; so that's not a huge length of wood (30" in old money) so could you not rout out a 10mm rebate in the underside of the oak allowing it to drop down level with the granite? Of course this depends on the design of the units and how far below the overhanging work surface the top edge of the doors will be.

Do you mean so that the top surface of the oak slopes down by 10mm over the 800mm length? That sounds a bit odd, I think I'm not understanding you properly...

[Simpo Two]

SteveM46 said:

RichB said:

Right; so that's not a huge length of wood (30" in old money) so could you not rout out a 10mm rebate in the underside of the oak allowing it to drop down level with the granite? Of course this depends on the design of the units and how far below the overhanging work surface the top edge of the doors will be.

Do you mean so that the top surface of the oak slopes down by 10mm over the 800mm length? That sounds a bit odd, I think I'm not understanding you properly...

No, he means cut slots on the underneath of the oak so it sits OVER the top edges of the cabinet beneath. Quite a neat idea if it will clear the doors.

Then again it might be easier to cut 10mm off the top of the affected cabinets

[SteveM46]

Simpo Two said:

No, he means cut slots on the underneath of the oak so it sits OVER the top edges of the cabinet beneath. Quite a neat idea if it will clear the doors.

Then again it might be easier to cut 10mm off the top of the affected cabinets

Ah, I think I get it now. The trouble is that the oak that has been installed already is attached at a right angle to another 10ft run along the next wall, which includes the sink (again, already fitted). I don't think I will persuade the fitter to remove everything and replan the fitting of the worktops, he has to find a solution where he can simply place the granite alongside the already fitted oak.

[Aviz]

You could try and make a bit of a feature of the step down ?

[Simpo Two]

OK, Plan C. Skip the granite and buy more oak



Or Plan D: Get the granite made 40mm thick.

[m4ckg]

as a kitchen fitter and for my own home I would have it stepped, for one it helps defines the two areas and two, it gives an edge to work to for sealing. If you are really concerned about it ask the granite fabricator to double up some 20mm granite on the perimiter edges to look like 40 mm but tbh leave it as it is.

[RichB]

Simpo Two said:

...Or Plan D: Get the granite made 40mm thick.

With the 10mm packer you suggested, I do think that's the plan.

[m4ckg]

RichB said:

With the 10mm packer you suggested, I do think that's the plan.

do you mean a 10mm granite packer? if so, I think it will be very fragile, thats why they double up the 20mm

[SteveM46]

Aviz said:

You could try and make a bit of a feature of the step down ?

This looks good...unfortunately the fitters have already fitted the oak, so there is no scope to do the little overlap. I also really wanted the top surface to be level all the way along. The trouble is, they didn't think through the difference in thicknesses, so now they've got to figure out how to butt up the two bits. I think it will be the packer option to raise the granite 10mm. The challenge is how to do this elegantly; on one side it won't be too bad since the breakfast bar will obscure visibility, but on the outward-facing end, and the other side (I suppose the front, where we have a cupboard and then a free-standing dishwasher - the right hand two units in your diagram but the other way round) the worktop will be flush with the front of the units so this is going to be harder to make pretty.