How
to assemble granite countertops on to your kitchen
cabinets
Before we start, some brief background on granite
countertops.
The word granite comes from the word granum, a latin
word standing for grain. Being a stone, granite countertops consist of about 85% of quarts and feldspars. This makes
the surface extremely hard and durable and the ideal
for kitchentops.
The installation of granite
countertops is fairly straight
forward, and not much different from the assembly of
laminate countertops or corian
countertops. Having done
all the cutouts and holes for kitchen sinks and faucets,
which is explained in our article about installing granite
countertop here, it all comes done to the fixture
of the stone on the kitchen cabinets.
Preparation of granite countertops before assembly
Instead
of attaching the granite countertops directly to the
top of the kitchen cabinets, it is better to have a
spacer board drilled to the cabinets first. Such a
board, usually plywood up to 1 inch thick, works in
two ways. First it levels the surface where the granite
kitchen countertop is later glued to and secondly it
gives additional room to fit the sink and faucets from
underneath. Just screw the board down from above and
seal it with a paint.
The
paint on the spacer board will prevent the silicone
caulk from sinking in too much into the wood. The
granite countertops are best fixed to the board using silicone
caulk. The joints will always be more visible on
the granite counter tops than on laminate or corian once,
due to the natural structure of the material. However if
you seal your granite kitchen countertops once a year and
keep the clean, it will be the ideal material for your
kitchentop.
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