Any one have experience with wood countertops??

[kooshball]

My wife and I are considering redoing our kitchen and are in the process of design / material selection. Although I have not seen too many homes with wood countertops the few I have seen were beautiful.

Does anyone here have wood countertops? If so can you comment on the maintenance required to keep them looking good? I have read where most people finish them with food grade mineral oil but as we have plenty of cutting boards we will never have food in contact with the countertop; in this case what would a good sealer / top-coat be to protect the wood?

Thanks

 

[bluchz]

I can't speak too much about the maintenance yet. I just put in some "temporary" Pine countertops until we could decide on something more permanent and was informed by my better half that that was the finished product. it's been 8 months and i finished with gloss poly for easy cleanup and they still look good.To the left of the stove has yet to be built but hopefully i will get to it this summer!

 

[gator]

I have not used it nor do I have any experience with it, but the bar top and table top finish that you see in some restaurants would seem to be a good finish for kitchen counter tops that are subject to water . You know, the thick clear stuff that seems to be ½" thick.

George

 

[Phil S]

When I lived in Fairport NY, we had maple counter tops that I laminated from 3/4 x 2 strips. I finished them with Waterlox original which I just wiped on. Once a year I would clean the tops with ms and steel wool and then just wipe on a light coat. The tops made it thru 4 teenagers and many spills and still looked good when we sold the place after 10 years

 

[scsmith42]

I have a quartersawn white oak countertop in the shop bathroom. I used about 9" wide boards for the glue ups, and laminated them to some MDF. It really looks nice. The finish was a first coat of shellac sanding sealer, followed by some gel stain (Poly), followed by five coats of a floor type of poly. No problems in the past year.

 

[ehpoole]

. You know, the thick clear stuff that seems to be ½" thick. George

That would be a 2-part epoxy finish. I've never done an epoxy finish, but it is my understanding that they can be a bit challenging since you only get one shot at it. If things don't go to plan, or you get too many bubbles, then you have a challenging job ahead of you to scrape it all off! But they do look good when done right, and they are quite durable.

 

[Tarhead]

My Daughter's boyfriend built a Maple butcherblock counter top for her and also used the floor polyurethane but didn't build it up a lot. Two years of hard use around the sink and it still looks good much to my surprize.

 

[RobS.]

My kitchen cabinets and tops are made from cherry cut here on the farm. I have a friend who used reclaimed heart pine on his counter tops(his cabinets are white bead board). Both are very pretty and mine are finished with 3 coats of Minwax satin finish poly. Cleans up nicely and so far 2+ years of no trouble. I also have several cutting boards for food prep.

 

[mquan01]

I built mine out of mahogany and finished with 4 coats of Waterlox. No problems in 6 months.

 

[Mike Davis]

When I mentioned wanting hard maple counter tops in the chat room a couple weeks ago they all said I was nuts. They said to get granite.

We have a maple top on our island that is close to ten years old, we cut on it, set hot pans right out of the oven on it and do all kinds of crafts on it. It used to be my work bench before I built a shop, I brought my tools in the kitchen and worked on that same maple top. I have used a card scraper on it once and try to remember to oil it every couple years.

The thing is I could plane it down and refinish it to look like new anytime I want. Can't do that with granite.

 

[kooshball]

When I mentioned wanting hard maple counter tops in the chat room a couple weeks ago they all said I was nuts. They said to get granite.

We have a maple top on our island that is close to ten years old, we cut on it, set hot pans right out of the oven on it and do all kinds of crafts on it. It used to be my work bench before I built a shop, I brought my tools in the kitchen and worked on that same maple top. I have used a card scraper on it once and try to remember to oil it every couple years.

The thing is I could plane it down and refinish it to look like new anytime I want. Can't do that with granite.

I have been doing some research on the web and I keep coming back to wood as the ideal material.

http://www.craft-art.com/DurabitlityFoodSafetyHeatMoistureCare.aspx

These guys obviously have a vested interest but the fact that they can get $100 / sqft, are being featured in national magazines and make some very logical arguments regarding wood's properties keep me coming back looking for more info. Also, I can make wood countertops in my spare time for a fraction of the $100 / sqft; granite I can not work with on my own.

 

[zapdafish]

I plan on using red oak for my countertops but plan to make some small test pieces to see if I like the look.

 

[Mike Davis]

I think you will be happier with white oak. It is a little harder and has closed cells which make it more water resistant. You can dye or stain it any color.

 

[Jeff]

+1 on Waterlox Original Sealer/Finish in general although I have no personal experience with it for countertops. I like the "wipe on" option rather than brushing, but more coats are needed and no sanding is needed between coats. BTW a light sanding at 220g or higher gives a nice final finish (3M pads are good too for a little burnishing). The link has lots of useful information for your application.

http://www.waterlox.com/project-help/guides/Countertops.aspx

Check out their countertop gallery for some good pics. I saw that many of the countertops were finished with "Original" (a bit high on the sheen scale) and then the final finish was their "Satin" product to reduce the sheen (scratches, etc. will be less noticeable). :icon_cheers

Good luck.

 

[Dean Maiorano]

Hmmm,

Yet again I run into a post that discusses something I'd love to do. I guess all woodworkers are alike on some level - one being that they see wood being able to serve any purpose (let's not forget that the first cars used wood frames!).

I did some research since seeing this thread and thought I'd share a couple things:

- this URL is from a wood top manufacturer and it discusses their finishes of choice (Waterlox is one of them):
http://antiquewoodworks.com/wood-countertop-finishes.shtml

- sink areas can be constructed with a more water tolerant species or material. If working with a home shop machinable material you can run some slots into the top that descend into the sink, helping to avoid the water pooling issue. Heck, you could even machine a whole region around the sink to taper into it so that water won't be an issue. In my own ideation I've considered finding a suitably sized antique porcelain sink with integral side washboards, to lay on top of the wood. Metal sheeting and concrete are other ideas for around the sink (or stove). I would also think you could use a plastic film finish like epoxy or polyurethane, just around the sink, in order to give it that additional protection, if so desired.

- stainless steel (or possibly aluminum) strips, grids or plates can be embedded into the wood surface to create 'hot plate' spots. They can be permanently installed or be removable. Copper and bronze may (will?) stain the wood they're attached to.

- I would think it might help to fill pores, in a VERY open grained wood like oak, using an epoxy or acrylic filler, prior to top coat?

- IKEA apparently sells wood counter tops (red oak)

- I like this FAQ page: http://www.craft-art.com/faq.aspx

- granite is probably less 'food safe' as it is not NSF or FDA approved for professional food handling. Certain wood species with certain finishes do receive NSF certification.

Dean

 

[Russ Denz]

We remodeled our kitchen (+ most of the rest of the house also) about 4 years ago and built glue-up maple countertops for a good portion of it, including around the recessed sink and extending the top 18" into the new family room like a breakfast bar. We finished it with 3 coats of Waterlox sealer/finish followed by 2 of Waterlox satin finish and have had no problems at all. No problems, although I do sometimes obsess about leaving water drops on the counter, especially around the sink (end-grain), so they get wiped up quickly. We pretty much "live" between the kitchen and family room so the countertop sees heavy use every day.

We chose Waterlox for one primary reason, aside from the fact that we like an oil-finish look; that reason was maintenance/finish repair. Since Waterlox is not a built-up coating (like urethane), if any repair is needed to the finish, it is much easier to redo only the problem area as it will blend it in with the rest. To the best of my knowledge this is not something you can do with urethanes, where refinishing means a complete strip job first. And according to Waterlox it is a food-safe surface when cured, but it is a non-issue to me since we don't eat directly off the counter anymore; our daughter bought us a few plates for Christmas last year. :rotflm:

Bottom line is we like the maple countertop finished with Waterlox and would do it again:thumbs_up - IF we thought we could survive another major remodel.