All About The Countertop I Built For My Van Conversion

[@nol3231]

You are such an excellent craftsman. Highly skilled and knowledgeable. You explain thing very well, u think about all the small things, and you’re very chill to listen to. You’re probably the best van builder I’ve ever watched on you tube. U should have millions of followers but unfortunately most people won’t appreciate the level of craftsmanship you’re doing. Amazing content. Keep it up.

[@projectofscience]

Thanks! That some kind words!

[@Sustainavore]

The main reason I would never do this is the exposure too nanoplastics, but that's my own personal worry. Love the way you built your kitchen and the exquisite detail you put always put into your builds. We're redoing our van right now and currently have an oak counter top from ikea. We'll probably remove some extra material from underneath like you've done here to shave some of the weight

[@Tesla-Cannon]

Love the countertop extension at 3:54!

[@tradersato]

YES! Thank you for countersinking the stove…….. OMG! That is a true sign of both OCD and attention to details that most “normals” would never think of.

[@FearsomeWarrior]

Corian eats router bits. There is a factory that makes it an hour from me. Many employees take home scraps and make cutting boards out of them. Their price for selling them at craft fairs is solely based on how many router bits they buy. Expensive or cheap, they get burned up quickly. Great stuff, I have a piece I use daily and it doesn’t even have minor surface finish differences. The color choices are amazing too. Fun to have forest green or blue for my taste.

[@joeblow1942]

Laminate is easy if you’re ok with square edges. And yes, I would use definitely plywood instead of particle board for the substrate in a van.

[@Chris-ut6eq]

Thank for posting this. Good discussion and points to consider. The weight reduction you did on the underside makes this much more attractive for marginal weight gain. Counter looks nice as well.

[@TrailerTrashtoTreasure]

Thanks for posting this! My wife is wanting to use this stuff in our '56 Cal-Craft rebuild, and I've never worked with it before, but you've removed the mystery for me!

[@ifell3]

Very fair in your pros and cons!

[@hedleypepper1838]

Simply awsome. I agree countertop is a good place to splurge. After all save weight where you can means you have allowance where you want and need it. Ill be referring back to this video many times 😊

[@stevel1451]

If you really want to save weight use sheet aluminium folded wherever you would use wood, cover with wrap. Your weight reduction will be astroabosutley awesome, oh wrap comes in some very good timber look alike besides colours

[@kevinshaw4493]

Great video and analysis. Solid surface materials are often found in aging kitchen and bathrooms, check your local listings for people scraping out old installs. Also, unlike finished wood, you can buff out a scratch and not have to deal with refinishing the material. You can vary the sheen by the finish grit of the sanding media, lower grit for matte, higher for gloss. I ended up spending more on color match epoxy than the used material itself, your tinting advice is spot on. Anyone who has the tools and experience to make a detailed solid wood top should give it a try if you can find some inexpensive product.

[@bobdebouwer7835]

Maybe use thin 3mm plates and make the sides of the countertop also from 3mm. Just saw a strip. Then there's no need to do that awful router weight saving. Isnt it a thermoplast? So you could try to heat the inserts. Drill a hole and put the heated inster in. The plastic will melt and cool aroundit ?

[@darwiniandude]

Excellent video, thank you... but WOW - that drill guide. I have always imagined and wanted a product exactly like that but didn't know they existed. Just bought the same sort of thing in a different brand, all I could find. Super handy! Anyway, thanks.

[@AM50red]

0:53 thank you for putting it this way.

[@leoturco2634]

Congrats 100 inspiration

[@JKGEmslie]

Looks excellent!

[@vince8723]

nice work. don't be intimidated by laminate. you are very skilled. that stuff is very tough and compare to veneer it is easier to work with and more forgiving. just need to figure out how to hide the black borders.

[@helvettefaensatan]

Do you know how much time you need to spend before it's cheaper to have somebody else CNC the cutouts underneath? - Great work, man. These videos are awesome.

[@Trashhauler]

Great video. Thanks

[@RobertNetzer]

I love the "weight loss program" approach. Do you think this would work for hardwood? eg a 3/4 Walnut top with routered weight loss down to 1/2 or 3/8" in specific areas as you did with your top?

[@angeljia3506]

Thanks for such a detailed video! I was guessing what your countertop material was, and thought it maybe laminate with foam core or something super edgy. As you said, the weight increase is quite small and well worth it for all the added benefits. I am thinking 1 inch poplar plywood covered with black epoxy as my countertop. What do you think? Online reviews are mixed on epoxy countertops in terms of durability… but I thought it’s worth a try.

[@projectofscience]

Well...I don't think anything you are saying is destined to fail but a couple things I might do different: 1. Instead of a 1" plywood core which even with poplar plywood is a bit overkill I'd consider doing 3/4" foam with a plywood skin top and bottom. Or perhaps something like a torsion box design with 1/8" top and bottom, and foam in the voids. This removes the problem of finding a good glue to bond the foam to the wood as it is only being squeezed as a spacer material. And if you layout the "spacers" correctly you can just use screws to hold the countertop down. 2. As for general epoxy it does scratch fairly easily in my opinion. That said, there is the method of using general epoxy as a countertop finish and then there are more like paints with epoxy specifically for this. In general I think these epoxies are worse structurally (so you wouldn't use it as an adhesive) but much better wear and scratch resistant as a top coat. Thanks for the support!

[@angeljia3506]

@@projectofscience thank you so much! I love the idea of using foam core sandwiched by thin ply. Torsion box sounds even batter but beyond my skill level. And you are right, I should buy epoxy specifically designed for application as countertops. They are probably more like hardened paint than glue.

[@EngineerMikeF]

What induction cooktop is that? I'm thinking of converting my motorhome propane stove to induction for the clean counter surface & cooking advantage of the induction temp control.

[@projectofscience]

Its the Furrion FIH2ZEA-BG. Somewhere I read it is designed for mobile applications so I purchased it because it had some vibration mitigation, but I took it apart to disable the beeper and it looked pretty normal. There is a thin gasket where it sits when you drop it in...and perhaps that is it.

[@EngineerMikeF]

@@projectofscience Thanks, Ur a gentleman & a scholar

[@theborednerds]

Does solid surface melt if your cast iron slips off the induction burner?

[@Chris-ut6eq]

good question

[@projectofscience]

I'm not worried. Here is a video from Corian: kzbin.info/www/bejne/poKQY2iko5xqhqc As they say, not a good practice, but the occasional accident should be fine. There are forum posts and stories of bad damage, but I don't know if there is any countertop material that can't be damaged.

[@EngineerMikeF]

Most especially in a van, but really anywhere, before U start cooking U should set up trivet or folded towel landing spots for hot pans. The smaller & tighter the kitchen working area the more critical is the prep. Same w/staging food to cook, plates etc. to serve, etc.

[@yachtsteve]

I guess we're not going to say anything about that backsplash😮

[@HardIsEasy]

But but do you Climb? :)