Hi guys – welcome back to my workshop! I recently assembled and installed cabinets along the back wall and today I’m going to show you how I DIY’ed a giant countertop for less than $60! Check out the description below for the tools and materials that I used.
TOOLS/MATERIALS
| TOOLS/MATERIAL | LINK |
| Miter Saw | https://bit.ly/3QQ1hZJ |
| Belt Sander | https://bit.ly/3EPSlye |
| Rigid Planer | https://bit.ly/48nPeLf |
| Table Saw | https://bit.ly/3qucE0t |
| Jig Saw | https://bit.ly/3MGSC8C |
| Dewalt Sander | https://bit.ly/3ljgcuS |
| 48″ Clamps | https://www.rockler.com/surefoot-alum… |
| Panel Clamps | https://www.rockler.com/rockler-delux… |
| Kreg Jig | https://bit.ly/46fgKcG |
| 2″ x 10″ Pine Boards |
LUMBER
I looked into butcher block countertops but that would’ve cost over $500. So I decided to make my own out of 2×10 pine boards for a grand total of $56. You can see the knots and the wood grain very clearly. I personally like the unfinished look for the workshop and I like that it matches the pine bead board ceiling, but if you don’t like that look you could always go with a different type of lumber!
PLANING
The first thing that we did was plane all of the boards down to the same thickness. I know this is a tool that not many people have so it’s okay to skip this step – you’re just going to have to do a lot more sanding. If you are looking to add this tool to your workshop I recommend this rigid planer.
RIPPING WITH TABLE SAW
After the boards were all planed down we took them through the table saw. We ripped every board down to 8 1/2” so that the final depth of the countertop with the 3 boards will be 25 1/2”. We made sure to cut off both sides of the board to get that 8 1/2” so that each edge of the board was nice and square.
ARRANGE BOARDS
I cut the boards down with my miter saw to get them to the right length. I made sure to leave them long and will make the final measurement and cut later so I left 6” or so extra on each end.
Our countertop is over 13’ long so we couldn’t just use 12’ boards unfortunately – we had to splice them together to get the full length. With this pattern we used 1 12’ board and 4 8’ boards. We made sure to stagger the seams to make them less noticeable. We could’ve used 16’ boards but had no way to transport them to the house – but this ended up working just fine!
GLUE AND SCREW – LENGTH
Now that I have the boards arranged how I want them with the good face of the board facing down – I marked out all the pocket holes. the outside boards will be screwed into the middle board.
I used my kreg jig to pre drill all the pocket holes. I love this kreg jig – the depth is automatically set.
The pocket holes are drilled and now I’m going to secure the boards lengthwise first.
To do this I used a good amount of wood glue and 2 1/2” pocket screws.
CLAMPS
Now that we have our 3 long boards together we can glue those up.
I have a bunch of clamps that I’m going to use – these panel clamps from Rockler which will force the boards flush and flat. Then I have the 48” clamps to clamp all the boards together. I definitely could’ve used more clamps for this length of countertop but I’m just working with what I have!
GLUE, CLAMP & SCREW – WIDTH
I glued up the edge of the first board. Set it in place and then worked down the line clamping and screwing the boards together.
We came back at the end of the day and added the last board – following the same steps. Definitely not perfect but I’ve got my belt sander ready to fix any imperfections.
The next day we removed the clamps and brought the countertop outside for sanding.
As you can see I’ve got some work to do with the belt sander. I’m going to sand down these high spots and try to get this as flat as possible.
SANDING
I used 60-80 grit for this first round of sanding.
Before sanding I scraped away some of the dried wood glue.
I mentioned before – a planer isn’t necessary but it’ll speed up the process. You will definitely want to invest in a portable belt sander though – this thing was less than $100 I think and it can work magic.
After everything was sanded down flat with the belt sander – I used the orbital sander up to 120 grit to get rid of all the sanding marks and to get the countertop nice and smooth.
FILL SEAMS AND HOLES
After everything was sanded down I used some wood filler to fill any small seams. After that dried I went through with 120 grit once more. Make sure to sand any exposed edges of the countertop as well.
FINAL MEASUREMENT & CUT
The countertop is filled and sanded – now we can cut it down to size. I took exact measurements of the cabinet and left about a 1/4” gap – 1/8” gap on each end. With a countertop this size I wanted to leave plenty of room so that if it’s a little bit out of square it will still fit into place.
I used some scrap wood as a guide and used my circle saw to cut each end of the countertop making sure to avoid any of the pocket screws.
Next, I used my jig saw to notch out the two front corners to fit around the face of the adjacent cabinets.
Last but not least I took my router to round off the front edge of the countertop. You could also use a sander but either way it’s a good idea to soften the corners of any exposed edges.
INSTALL – SECURE TO CABINETS
Devin helped me set the countertop in place. Fortunately it fit on the first try!! I didn’t want to stain and finish the countertop in case I needed to make any final cuts or adjustments so I’m just going to finish it in place.
The countertop is in place – the whole countertop is a little warped so we’re going to need to put some weight on it while we secure it to the cabinets.
Each corner of the cabinet has the corner blocking – so I drilled a small hole in each of the corner blocking and then I will secure a 1 1/4” screw up into the blocking and into the countertop.
I was able to clamp the front edge of the countertop to the cabinets So I secured the front edge first.
And then Devin stood on the back edge of the countertop all the way down so that I could secure the back edge.
The countertop is secured to the cabinets. It’s nice and flat and now we can finish it off!!
FINISH – STAIN / POLY
First I tapped off all the edges.
I decided to go with the same white wash mixture that I did on the ceiling – one part paint and one part water. I brushed on the whitewash and then wiped it off right away with a clean rag.
After the whitewash was dry I applied 3 thick coats of this polyurethane. I sanded in between each coat with 220 grit sandpaper.
There you have a beautiful countertop for only $56!! I hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial and try it out for your next countertop project!
