Worktop Express Information Guides

“Do I have to use legs for breakfast bar support?”

We were recently contacted by Charlie in Thornbury, who wants to know whether legs are required to support a breakfast bar on the side of her kitchen island. Read on to read our reply to the latest ‘Question of the Week’.

QUESTION:

“I’m currently designing our new kitchen island and want to have a breakfast bar, and wondered if you could advise whether I need to use legs for breakfast bar support?”

ANSWER:

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for getting in touch with us regarding your plans for a new kitchen island with breakfast bar. This addition to a kitchen island provides useful space for eating casual meals, entertaining guests, socialising with family or even doing work.

Breakfast bars on kitchen islands can be made along either the entire length of the island, or just on one end – the layout and size of your kitchen will likely dictate which suits you best.

Whichever design you choose, it is important to ensure that the worktop is adequately supported. If you are simply extending the size of the worktop beyond the cabinets to act as a breakfast bar, then ensure that any protrusion of 300mm or more has legs for breakfast bar support.

If you plan on making a breakfast bar that protrudes further than 300mm, we would recommend that one breakfast bar leg is attached for every metre of unsupported worktop. This will ensure that the weight of the worktop and anything on it is evenly distributed and does not put unnecessary strain on the rest of the surface.

We sell both chrome and solid oak breakfast bar legs. Our oak legs for breakfast bar support are available in oiled, sanded or white painted finishes – one of which may already complement your kitchen design, or can be treated or painted if not.

You can learn more about fitting breakfast bar legs by reading our dedicated ‘How to Install breakfast Bar Legs to Kitchen Worksurfaces’ information guide. Alternatively, find out more about choosing and customising wood or laminate surfaces by reading our ‘Laminate Worktops and Wood Work Surfaces for Laid-Back Dining’ guide.

If you have any further queries regarding our worktops or any of the accessories in our collection, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us again via email, live chat or telephone.

Best regards,

Ben @ Worktop Express

“Can I use a Belfast sink with laminate worktops”

We were recently sent in a question via email from Tom in Walsall. He wants to know whether it’s possible to use a Belfast sink with laminate worktops in his new kitchen. Read on for our response to this ‘Question of the Week’.

QUESTION:

“I’m trying to revamp our kitchen and give it a traditional feel, but want to use a low-maintenance laminate worktop rather than wood. Is it possible to use a Belfast sink with laminate worktops?”

ANSWER:

Hi Tom,

Thanks for getting in touch with us regarding your kitchen plans. There are some truly brilliant laminate worktop decors now available from Worktop Express that are perfect for recreating a traditional kitchen feel at an affordable price.

In answer to your question, Belfast sinks are not commonly recommended with laminate worktops. This is because of the way the sinks are positioned as undermounted solutions. In order to accommodate a Belfast sink, you would need to cut out a suitable aperture, then re-finish the exposed chipboard with edging strip. Whilst the edging strip does hide the chipboard core of a laminate worktop, it does not necessarily provide a fully waterproof protection, and so using any undermounted sink – including a Belfast sink – is not recommended.

To give your revamped kitchen a traditional feel whilst incorporating laminate worktops, we would recommend that you consider one of the Reginox Overmounted Ceramic Sinks. These sit on top of the worktop and have a drainer included, meaning that there is no chance for moisture to affect chipboard core exposed around the sink aperture.

These overmounted sinks are available in either a single bowl or 1.5 bowl configuration, and – being ceramic with a white glaze – are still a great choice for creating a kitchen theme with a classic style.

You can learn more about using overmounted sinks in your kitchen by reading our dedicated guide: ‘All about Overmounted Sinks for Solid Wood Worktops’, which features details on the material, design and configuration of this type of sink.

If you have any further questions regarding laminate worktops or sinks, don’t hesitate to contact us again.

Best regards,

Ben @ Worktop Express

“How long are the wooden worktop staves”

Staves are the individual timber pieces that make up each of our wooden worktops. Our latest ‘Question of the Week’ from Charvi in Newark-on-Trent, who wanted to know how long these wooden worktop staves are.

QUESTION:

““I’m interested in either your Deluxe or standard oak, and wanted to know how long the staves are – are they the same, just a different width?”

ANSWER:

Hi Charvi,

Thank you for getting in touch with your query regarding the length of the staves used to construct each of our wood kitchen worktops.

Both the 40mm-wide staves used to construct our standard worktop range and the 9omm-wide staves that make up our Deluxe worktops are varying lengths. The smallest wooden worktop staves on both our standard and Deluxe surfaces tend to be around 200mm, but this makes up only a small proportion of the worktop surface. Our finest wooden worktops feature staves that are up to 400mm in length on average, but on most other surfaces the stave length averages around 300mm.

You may also want to consider whether to choose from oak or Prime Oak worktops. Our Prime Oak option is avaliable in both the 40mm standard and 90mm Deluxe constructions, and features staves specifically chosen for their length and consistent colour, with staves a minimum of 250mm long and averaging around 400mm in length.

If you decide to consider our full stave oak worktops, these feature 90mm-wide staves that run the entire length of the solid wood surface up to 3.5 metres in length. Finding high quality staves of this size is considerably more difficult, which is reflected in the price of these luxurious worktops.

There are more details available about the different types of worktops in our collection in our dedicated information guide: ‘Choose a Kitchen Worktop: Construction Types Explained’.

To find out more details about how our wooden worktop staves are made, please refer to our ‘How are Wood Kitchen worktops Made?’ information guide. If you have any more questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch via social media, telephone, email or live chat.

All the best,

Ben @ Worktop Express