Granite Overhang on Island

[pring_ing]

Been to three different granite showrooms and been given three different answers on this one! Looking to install a kitchen island with 30mm thick granite and a 300mm overhang. Design is like image below and this is how I calculated to put it all together to have a 300mm overhang.

Thing is, granite showroom 1 says they'll only do 20-25cm overhang, showroom 2 said 18cm, showroom 3 said 32cm! I'm inclined to go with showroom 3 but I'm confused as to why I'd be given such a big range. Who's right?

Secondly, for anyone who knows a thing or two about fitting - does that island layout seem achievable? DIY Kitchens didn't flag any issues but now I'm worrying. The 60mm gap between the units is just to reduce the overhang to a manageable level.

[MadCaptainJack]

Purely as a datum point, our black granite island overhangs by 25.6cm

[worsy]

I assume you need to slim the island as opposed to have facing units all the way around a rectangular design?

[PaulW100]

pring_ing said:

Been to three different granite showrooms and been given three different answers on this one! Looking to install a kitchen island with 30mm thick granite and a 300mm overhang. Design is like image below and this is how I calculated to put it all together to have a 300mm overhang.

Thing is, granite showroom 1 says they'll only do 20-25cm overhang, showroom 2 said 18cm, showroom 3 said 32cm! I'm inclined to go with showroom 3 but I'm confused as to why I'd be given such a big range. Who's right?

Secondly, for anyone who knows a thing or two about fitting - does that island layout seem achievable? DIY Kitchens didn't flag any issues but now I'm worrying. The 60mm gap between the units is just to reduce the overhang to a manageable level.

Your island width (the 60mm gap determines) should be considered when looking at end panels, not the worktop, make the width fit end panels that work, we have used two 500mm x 900mm high shaker style doors on ours - overall width is 1000mm obviously

[tomsugden]

I had this problem with the granite in my outside kitchen. Some metal reinforcing was needed to support the longer spans and the granite company was happy to do as I wanted.

Edited by tomsugden on Friday 7th May 14:37

[LocoBlade]

As the underlying units are an L shape and the granite is not overhanging the entire length, the overhang is effectively supported one end and only the triangle made if you drew a line from each corner of the back units is actually overhanging.

If it's still a problem you could get another end panel the same width as the closed end to support the open end and you'd have no overhang at all.

[so called]

MadCaptainJack said:

Purely as a datum point, our black granite island overhangs by 25.6cm

That,s interesting, ours is 25.8cm.
From Wickes.

[pring_ing]

worsy said:

I assume you need to slim the island as opposed to have facing units all the way around a rectangular design?

We could slim the island by reducing the 800mm to a 600mm but I'd like the extra width and it does seem achievable. My in-laws have 34cm unsupported.

PaulW100 said:

Your island width (the 60mm gap determines) should be considered when looking at end panels, not the worktop, make the width fit end panels that work, we have used two 500mm x 900mm high shaker style doors on ours - overall width is 1000mm obviously

DIY Kitchens will do end panels up to 1165mm wide and say they'll cut it to size for us for an extra £50 so that dimension can be anything up to 1165mm using one panel. I've been trying to balance it to get the 300mm overhang but could adjust it.

[LocoBlade]

Are you sure theyll cut the end panels width, and don't mean cut for height? If they cut it to a custom width it obviously then needs whatever finish the rest of the panel has reapplying to the cut end as you'll see it, if cutting for height the cut edge is hidden under the worktop.

[pring_ing]

Definitely width, with a £50 surcharge to get the panel cut and edged to match.

[healeyfan]

Mine's 30mm with a 330mm overhang. Installed 10 years ago.

[Lanby]

We have a 30mm thick piece of granite 2540 x 1600mm on our island.
It has a slight curve on one side with an overhang to allow seating going from 300mm to 395mm with no extra supports.

It looks nice but it's a pain to get into the cupboards below.

Famous last words but we've had people sit on the overhang in the past with no problems.... maybe I should stop them in future.

[KTMsm]

I don't think there is an answer as to what's "safe" depends if you're the type to sit on it etc

I've seen steel bars cut and resin'd in to re enforce it or posts or a beam as pictured above

[Wozy68]

300mm to 259mm overhang shouldn’t be a problem for a 30MM top.

However the overhang and weight of worktop material on an island should come into the calcs

I’ve seen very rockety islands where the weight of the worktop was damn near the weight of the cabinets underneath ... and the whole lot did sway

[dugt]

Rather than getting the end panel cut and edged and having no flexibility on site, you can use pelmit as upright corners, just route the back out to make it flush

[cavey76]

OP your design is almost identical to mine except aswell as overhanging by 310 in front of the cupboards(we dont actually have cupboards) mine also sticks out by 310 at the end (or too) of your image

[Voldemort]

You can have any size 'overhang' you want if you support it underneath with steel. Essentially, sit your stone on a metal table.

Caveat: this is a wild suggestion not something I have!

And whilst custom fabricated steel work might look pricey, given my kitchen reno was around £20k all in, I'll bet it would be a reasonable cost in the scheme of things

[RC1807]

36cm overhang on our island. It was meant to be supported by diagonal metal bars, but they couldn't be fitted as the panel is glass fronted. It's been fine for >7 years so far.

[LocoBlade]

Given it's a natural material there must be an element of luck of the draw as no two slabs will be identical in makeup, you could be unlucky and have a slab with a tiny flaw line or variation in the rock in the wrong place that world mean it breaks with smaller overhang than others have never had an issue with. That's probably also why different companies are quoting different numbers because some are more risk averse than others.

[Meeten-5dulx]

We just had our kitchen done last month and have 30mm quartz with a 300mm overhang.
Was told that is ‘the norm’
Looking at your base unit, it shouldn’t be a problem