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DIY: PCShutters Home Renovation Projects

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Deal Expert
May 30, 2005
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bubuski wrote:

I prefer the thicker 4cm lip too but how it is achieved is based on manufacturer. The company that I visited for Canadian Hanstone meters the lip while the company I look at for Chinese MSI doubles it.

For the cabinet, mine was built lower but raised like this to accomodate the lip

Image
Thanks, just thought of something else, we went with a chamfered edge as opposed to a sharp edge, I wonder if that would have impacted my company's decision to double up or mitre. I would imagine mitering would be more work, for sure.

And yeah, I'm sure he wouldn't' have a problem with the thicker lip since he will build the cabinets to accomodate for that. I didn't know better at the time, otherwise I could have added some wood in there myself.
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Silver Coins and Numismatics | Heatware
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Nov 23, 2011
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I have white quartz in my kitchen and went with 2cm and edging done.

If you do go this route with the white counters, make sure you ask the company to do a mitered edge as opposed to stacking a piece underneath around the edges, or you will definitely see the seam with it being white!

When I was shopping around, I saw lots of poor reviews on the Lucent quartz, apparently very cheap quality.

Good luck, looking forward to seeing the outcome!
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Nov 17, 2012
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3cm for sure - while you don't see it everywhere, you will at the sink cutout assuming undermount.

Also, a doubled-up edge will always have a visible seam, which may become 'more' visible as time goes on especially with a lighter quartz.

I prefer a single slab with simple edge. We have thinner marble at home with a doubled up edge but it's a decorative profile and the seam falls at a strategic place in the profile so you don't notice it. They also did a nice job with the veining. The thinner profile at the undermount sink is less 'luxe' than it could be.

For a basement vanity top with an undermount sink and polished nickle console legs, I had a 3cm slab of calacatta marble cut as it was only 20" x 20" in size and they had a scrap.

At the cottage we did Caesarstone quartz in a matte, concrete grey finish and went with a 3cm slab and minimal radius on the edge.

Honestly I think 4cm at the edge makes it look like you're trying too hard to impress. A simple 3cm solid slab with simple utilitarian profiles in a luxurious material is I think the best balance of form and function.
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Jan 15, 2013
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I have a mitre cut in my 3cm lip and have had that a few times so it’s definitely possible. Some installers may charge a premium.
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PCShutters wrote:
Finally, I get to the cabinets. I spent 2 days reading all of the appliance manuals and planned out my kitchen layout. I am getting rid of the breakfast area and make the entire room a kitchen so I have approximately 170sq to work with. I started the planning on a piece of paper and transferred it onto the wall to get a better visual on the actual sizes of the cabinets.
Are you doing a full depth fridge or counter depth?

I would strongly recommend a standard depth fridge. We've been living with a counter depth fridge for 10 years and are not fans. Like you we have custom gable walls surrounding the fridge and a full depth cabinet above.

When it comes time to replace our fridge, I'm probably going to have the gable panels replaced, crown molding replaced etc. to accommodate a 'normal' fridge.
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...it also looks like you're going to the ceiling with the wall cabinets, working around the bulkhead for the duct run, based on the tape on the side wall. Are you?

Above the fridge, vertical storage for trays is fantastic and looks like you could accomodate if that cabinet was built full height around the bulkhead. Are you adding another small storage cabinet above each of the wall cabinets?
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May 30, 2005
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torontotim wrote: Are you doing a full depth fridge or counter depth?

I would strongly recommend a standard depth fridge. We've been living with a counter depth fridge for 10 years and are not fans. Like you we have custom gable walls surrounding the fridge and a full depth cabinet above.

When it comes time to replace our fridge, I'm probably going to have the gable panels replaced, crown molding replaced etc. to accommodate a 'normal' fridge.
What's wrong with your counter depth fridge? I love ours and I don't think I would go back to a full-depth one. Sure there's less capacity, but it helps us pace ourselves with groceries since we buy groceries at least once a week anyways. Counter-depth fridges should have been the standard to begin with.
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Silver Coins and Numismatics | Heatware
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Feb 26, 2019
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Ottawa
PCShutters wrote: Nope, I am renting a house next door during this renovation.
That’s handy. Are you renting out for the whole project, or just the kitchen phase? I did a reno (lived in the house through it) and found that the stage without a kitchen sink was the toughest part to live through.
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pardnme wrote: i recently renoed with IKEA - they only do 3cm

lots of shops i visited independently said there isn't much difference besides the front lip (based on the type of bevel/edge I chose)

will a 1cm difference really affect the whole kitchen? I don't think it will have any affect

I would build based on the fact you are doing 2cm...and then even if you get 3...it doesn't really matter

but if you built based on 3cm...but then decided 2cm...the kitchen might look/feel lower...not sure
1cm difference normally doesn't really show but if you have it next to an appliance that is 36" tall, that 1cm difference in height will stick out like a sore thumb.
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Jon Lai wrote: This is my experience replacing an existing countertop with double lip, though it may not be relevant because you are redoing the cabinets, it may give you something to think about.

I also picked a white-ish quartz for my countertop. There are areas where I can see the seam if I look closely, but in general it looks fine (they doubled up, instead of mitering it - does anyone mitre the lip or did I get screwed?) What bothers me still is that some of my doors/drawers scratch the bottom of the countertop lip every so slightly such that it doesn't close unless I push it to close. However, when comparing to the look of 3cm without lip that some of my friends have, I do prefer the thicker 4cm look. Another reason I'm glad I went with the lip is the sink. We went with deep 10" undermount sink with a 3" high bucket at the bottom for collecting waste, and we barely had enough vertical drop for proper drainage as it was. The additional 1cm would have made it worse.
That is exactly what I am trying to avoid. I don't want to see glue joints...
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May 30, 2005
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PCShutters wrote: That is exactly what I am trying to avoid. I don't want to see glue joints...
I have the same sense of perfection, but to be honest, given the right craftsmanship, the glue joints should be noticeable only to yourself and anyone in the trades. From a practical standpoint, even if you don't do double up, you will still have joints somewhere on your countertop as Quartz panels usually come in 8ft lengths only, which means any L-shaped kitchen will have a joint in the corner. U-shaped kitchens will have (!) two joints.
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Silver Coins and Numismatics | Heatware
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May 23, 2009
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Jon Lai wrote: What's wrong with your counter depth fridge? I love ours and I don't think I would go back to a full-depth one. Sure there's less capacity, but it helps us pace ourselves with groceries since we buy groceries at least once a week anyways. Counter-depth fridges should have been the standard to begin with.
Same here, we love our counter depth fridge which is only 33" width and 18 cu ft capacity, although we have a separate stand alone freezer in the basement but who doesn'tFace With Stuck-out Tongue And Tightly-closed Eyes.
We've had it for 9 yrs and the only upgrade we've been craving is a built-in water dispenser unit and more functional adjustable shelves to fit taller products. Our new kitchen is spec'd for 36" refrigerator since there are more brand options in this size but we will still be sticking to counter depth.
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Sep 5, 2011
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bubuski wrote: I like your counter top choice, without the flooring it's close to your colour scheme which looks great. Not my kitchen but I posted this image in another thread a few days ago.

Image





I prefer the thicker 4cm lip too but how it is achieved is based on manufacturer. The company that I visited for Canadian Hanstone meters the lip while the company I look at for Chinese MSI doubles it.

For the cabinet, mine was built lower but raised like this to accomodate the lip

Image
That is a beautiful kitchen. I can only hope my kitchen will come out half as nice.

Because my house is so small, I want to go with a lighter colours but I think i might have went a little too far with the white tiles, white countertop, white cabinets and white/greyish wall colours...That's why I am thinking of bringing some warmer colour wood in for the base just so it doesn't like like CAMH.

The countertop place I looked at only double up the lips. No mitre joint or anything.

I don't want to lose any vertical heights so I will just build it to the height I need. I don't want to put in filler strips.
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Sep 5, 2011
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mickman wrote: I have white quartz in my kitchen and went with 2cm and edging done.

If you do go this route with the white counters, make sure you ask the company to do a mitered edge as opposed to stacking a piece underneath around the edges, or you will definitely see the seam with it being white!

When I was shopping around, I saw lots of poor reviews on the Lucent quartz, apparently very cheap quality.

Good luck, looking forward to seeing the outcome!
Thanks for the heads up. I will avoid Lucent quartz. Which brand would you recommend?
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Sep 5, 2011
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torontotim wrote: 3cm for sure - while you don't see it everywhere, you will at the sink cutout assuming undermount.

Also, a doubled-up edge will always have a visible seam, which may become 'more' visible as time goes on especially with a lighter quartz.

I prefer a single slab with simple edge. We have thinner marble at home with a doubled up edge but it's a decorative profile and the seam falls at a strategic place in the profile so you don't notice it. They also did a nice job with the veining. The thinner profile at the undermount sink is less 'luxe' than it could be.

For a basement vanity top with an undermount sink and polished nickle console legs, I had a 3cm slab of calacatta marble cut as it was only 20" x 20" in size and they had a scrap.

At the cottage we did Caesarstone quartz in a matte, concrete grey finish and went with a 3cm slab and minimal radius on the edge.

Honestly I think 4cm at the edge makes it look like you're trying too hard to impress. A simple 3cm solid slab with simple utilitarian profiles in a luxurious material is I think the best balance of form and function.
Good point. The undermount sink is the main reason why I wanted the 3cm quart. I will be using the farmhouse style sink so the glue line will be very visible. Thank you. I will go with 3cm.
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Sep 5, 2011
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zsj495 wrote: I have a mitre cut in my 3cm lip and have had that a few times so it’s definitely possible. Some installers may charge a premium.
I think that would be way too thick. 3cm is good enough.
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Nov 23, 2011
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PCShutters wrote: Thanks for the heads up. I will avoid Lucent quartz. Which brand would you recommend?
There are a lot of well-reviewed brands. I believe Cesarstone, Cambria, Silestone, MSI, etc. We were willing to pay a bit of a premium to have one of the better brands, but still wanted a good bang for our buck.

We ended up with MSI in "Snow white" which looks completely white at a quick glance, but has specs/character when you look closely.

Image
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Sep 5, 2011
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torontotim wrote: Are you doing a full depth fridge or counter depth?

I would strongly recommend a standard depth fridge. We've been living with a counter depth fridge for 10 years and are not fans. Like you we have custom gable walls surrounding the fridge and a full depth cabinet above.

When it comes time to replace our fridge, I'm probably going to have the gable panels replaced, crown molding replaced etc. to accommodate a 'normal' fridge.
I am going with the built in fridges so the depth is even less than counter depths but it should be fine because I am going with 48" wide fridge instead of the usual 36". I don't like the "standard" depth fridges because it will stick out way too much and I have a "gallery" style kitchen with not much room to spare.
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Sep 5, 2011
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torontotim wrote: ...it also looks like you're going to the ceiling with the wall cabinets, working around the bulkhead for the duct run, based on the tape on the side wall. Are you?

Above the fridge, vertical storage for trays is fantastic and looks like you could accomodate if that cabinet was built full height around the bulkhead. Are you adding another small storage cabinet above each of the wall cabinets?
My wall cabinets only go as far as the the bulkhead. The rest will be covered with crown moulding. We are "physically height challenged" so super tall wall cabinets doesn't work for us.
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Sep 5, 2011
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dottawat wrote: That’s handy. Are you renting out for the whole project, or just the kitchen phase? I did a reno (lived in the house through it) and found that the stage without a kitchen sink was the toughest part to live through.
We have been renting for the last 3.5 years. Hopefully we can move back in this year.

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