How To Make Your Own Laminate Countertop

This Old House general contractor Tom Silva shares his secrets for fabricating a stylish new plastic-laminate kitchen countertop.

How to make your own laminate countertop. We used oak but anything will do. Choosing a kitchen countertop is a big deal. Fill any holes with wood filler and sand smooth.

If you want to start by updating your countertops you can choose one section to put in a butcher block. Once youve selected an area to install the new counter you can begin measuring for the installation of the new countertop. It ended up being a little more costly for us because we needed a larger size.

Paint contact adhesive on the particle board and on the laminate and leave to dry for about 10 minutes until dry to the touch. A simple band of hardwood glued into place and chamfered on the edge with a router really increases the wow factor of a laminate. Youll also find tips for working with contact cement and for bending and routing the edges.

If you will be mounting your countertop in a corner do this on each wall where the countertop will be mounted. Build MDF Countertop Bases. Wait about 6 or 8 minutes until the cement feels tacky.

Place the sheet of laminate on top of the area and cut roughly to size. Use a paint roller to apply contact cement to the top of the counter and to the back side of the countertop laminate. How To Make Plastic Laminate Countertops.

Ben used a router. Once you have determined how high the countertop should be measure up from the floor to that height. These small nails are usually applied with a hammer but a nail gun can be used for larger projects.