Worktop Planner and Calculator

General guidance for laminate and solid wood worktops. The worktop maker's own fitting instructions always come first, so check them for the product you are fitting.

Before you fit

• Store worktops flat, indoors and fully supported, and leave them in the room for at least 48 hours before cutting so they settle to its temperature and humidity.
• Check the base units are level front to back and side to side, and the run is straight. A worktop will not pull a run straight.
• Support the worktop at least every 600 mm. Across a gap, such as over a dishwasher or washing machine, fix a batten to the wall and a rail between the units.

Cutting

• Circular saws, track saws and standard jigsaw blades cut on the upstroke, so cut with the decorative face down. With a down-cut jigsaw blade, cut face up.
• Cut a few millimetres oversize, then finish to the line with a router against a straight edge for a clean, chip-free edge.
• For joints, use a worktop jig with a 30 mm guide bush and a sharp 12.7 mm (1/2 inch) two-flute cutter. Cut in several passes of about 10 mm, not in one go.

Joints

• Use a mason's mitre on post-formed (rounded edge) worktops, or a butt joint with a jointing strip. Square-edged worktops can be butt jointed.
• Rout the bolt recesses on the underside and fit worktop connecting bolts: three on a 600 mm deep joint and four on a 900 mm joint.
• Seal both faces of the joint with a colour-matched sealant, pull it up with the bolts evenly, and wipe off the excess straight away.
• Keep joints at least 150 mm from a sink or hob cut-out, and support them on a cabinet side or batten.

Sink and hob cut-outs

• Use the template supplied with the sink or hob. Where you can, keep at least 50 mm of worktop in front of and behind the cut-out.
• Drill or radius the corners first. A square internal corner is where laminate cracks.
• Seal every cut edge with a waterproof sealant before the sink or hob goes in. Bare chipboard swells as soon as it gets wet.
• Fit heat-reflective foil tape to the edges of hob cut-outs, and check the hob maker's clearances to walls and wall units.

Fixing down

• Fix up through the cabinet rails or brackets with short screws, about two per cabinet, so they cannot break through the top. Solid wood needs slotted holes so it can move.
• Leave a small expansion gap at the walls, about 3 mm for laminate and 5 mm or more for solid wood. The upstand hides it.
• As a rule of thumb, keep unsupported overhangs on a 38 mm laminate worktop to 300 mm, and fit brackets or a leg beyond that.

Edges and upstands

• Fix edging strips with contact adhesive or the maker's iron-on edging, then file the overhang downwards at 45° so the edging does not lift.
• Run a bead of sealant along the back edge where the worktop meets the wall, and under upstands and splashbacks.