Cutting kitchen worktop in situ

Inky Pete · Post by **Inky Pete** » Tue May 29, 2007 3:52 pm

A friend of mine has recently moved her first house which has an absolutely tiny built in kitchen. There's a place in the kitchen for a free standing fridge to sit under the worktop between the end of the run of units and the kitchen end wall.

Since there are no wall units above this area, my friend would quite like the worktop cut away so that she could put a tall fridge freezer there. I say quite like, she's gone and bought the fridge freezer.

Doesn't sound too difficult, I could jigsaw, circ saw or even router cut it almost all of the way to the back - but then what do I do when I hit the back wall? The blade of whatever I'm using will still be some distance from the wall, and what about the 10mm or so of worktop which is actually under the tiled splashback?

Anyone got any hints on how to acheive this neatly?

skiking · Post by **skiking** » Tue May 29, 2007 4:51 pm

I've investigated this before but I concluded that the only way to leave it looking good was to remove the worktop then cut - something that I can't do so I've left mine.

You really need to cut from underneath to prevent the surface from chipping. I think some jigsaws can cut in a different direction (up rather than down or is it the other way round

) but then you'll have problems cutting up to the wall - which is why it is best to remove the worktop.

Inky Pete · Post by **Inky Pete** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:23 pm

Unfortunately, the gas hob is installed in the same length so it'd be a ball-ache to take out the oven, access the gas pipes and get them disconnected then reconnected when the worktop's back in.

Wood Magnet · Post by **Wood Magnet** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:34 pm

Use a skirting saw blade in a jigsaw, use tape on top of the worktop to stop it chipping.

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:45 pm

sacraficial bit of 12mm mdf screwed to the waste side jigsaw and finnish with a hand saw or use a worktop edge blade these only work in jigsaws where the blade wont rotate when tightening

http://www.toolstation.com/search.html?searchstr=46298

you can get them a bit cheaper at d x m i think

Inky Pete · Post by **Inky Pete** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:46 pm

Sorry pitbull, skirting saw blade? Google's not doing much with that. I'm sort of picturing a wide jigsaw blade which comes forward to the front of the shoe, enabling me to get close to the wall?

Any links I can look at?

Inky Pete · Post by **Inky Pete** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:50 pm

Cheers big-all, that's pretty much what I was picturing. And of course I would have to provide myself with some sort of guide to keep the jigsaw straight. MDF screwed into the waste sounds as good a way as any.

Wood Magnet · Post by **Wood Magnet** » Tue May 29, 2007 6:09 pm

Sorry Pete, it's called a flush cutting blade, like this.

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Tue May 29, 2007 6:19 pm

you must be 100% shure your jigsaw cuts strait to use a strait edge
if it starts to wonder off line you cant correct it with out removing the strait edge

i would use a brand new blade full pendulum and very slow progress retracting every 3 or 4 inches incase its wondering

perhaps a circular saw for the first bit and jigsaw for the last bit or normal jigsaw blade then the edging blade for the last bit because of the cost

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Tue May 29, 2007 6:21 pm

pitbull wrote:Sorry Pete, it's called a flush cutting blade, like this.

where do you get yours from pitbull !!!

i have seen them for £8 somthing as opposed to over £10 in toolstation

Wood Magnet · Post by **Wood Magnet** » Tue May 29, 2007 6:27 pm

I got one given a couple of years ago of a mate but i've never bought any big-all, it's not something i would really use except as a one off.

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Tue May 29, 2007 6:28 pm

ok cheers i have seen them somwhere grouped as a "odd bits " set but cant find them at the min