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Evening folks

We are about to start our kitchen extension which will include a straight run of worktop- about 4.5m in length.

We are going for black American walnut from work top Express in the cheaper 40mm staves. Typically the longest length they sell as standard is 4m for £420. They can order a 4.5m length from Europe in 5-10 Weeks for £900! Not only is the delay annoying I would also worry it would turn up damaged and further delay things.

I'm now wondering if two shorter lengths can be successfully joined so that it's barely noticeable? The induction hob will be in the middle of the run so you wouldn't see much of the join.

Is this standard practice and will it look ok or should I take the plunge and order the long piece?

Many thanks

Minibbb wrote:Evening folks

We are about to start our kitchen extension which will include a straight run of worktop- about 4.5m in length.

We are going for black American walnut from work top Express in the cheaper 40mm staves. Typically the longest length they sell as standard is 4m for £420. They can order a 4.5m length from Europe in 5-10 Weeks for £900! Not only is the delay annoying I would also worry it would turn up damaged and further delay things.

I'm now wondering if two shorter lengths can be successfully joined so that it's barely noticeable? The induction hob will be in the middle of the run so you wouldn't see much of the join.

Is this standard practice and will it look ok or should I take the plunge and order the long piece?

Many thanks

It's no big problem joining two lengths to be barely noticeable, but what you have to think of if the join is at the centre of your hob is that the dog bolts holding the two halves together will be cut out again for the hob, and there won't be much meat left at the front and back to fit dog bolts.

You're obviously buying more than one 4.0m length, have you planned all the pieces/joins etc? Will you have a large enough offcut to do half of the hob length?

I join them on centre of hob and biscuit the small piece front and back. You can get a decent screw through top piece of unit at front and use a fish plate at back to hold the join. Plenty silicone to hold the joint is useful. The bolts are redundant tho.

ayjay wrote:

Minibbb wrote:Evening folks

We are about to start our kitchen extension which will include a straight run of worktop- about 4.5m in length.

We are going for black American walnut from work top Express in the cheaper 40mm staves. Typically the longest length they sell as standard is 4m for £420. They can order a 4.5m length from Europe in 5-10 Weeks for £900! Not only is the delay annoying I would also worry it would turn up damaged and further delay things.

I'm now wondering if two shorter lengths can be successfully joined so that it's barely noticeable? The induction hob will be in the middle of the run so you wouldn't see much of the join.

Is this standard practice and will it look ok or should I take the plunge and order the long piece?

Many thanks

It's no big problem joining two lengths to be barely noticeable, but what you have to think of if the join is at the centre of your hob is that the dog bolts holding the two halves together will be cut out again for the hob, and there won't be much meat left at the front and back to fit dog bolts.

You're obviously buying more than one 4.0m length, have you planned all the pieces/joins etc? Will you have a large enough offcut to do half of the hob length?

Thanks for your reply :) ah i see your point re not much meat being left. I was thinking two 3m lengths to cut in half. I could do the join either side of the hob but would worry it would show more.

Otherwise we are just having an island so will only need the three lengths (or two if I stump up for the extra long piece)

just a thought
if you have an "L" shape can you not move the joint so you have 610ishmm on top off the 4m

My thoughts exactly, B-A. I've always avoided end to end jointing of worktops (at least on solid wood and laminate) because I just don't think it ever looks right. I also have doubts about the durability of site-produced butt joints. Just a personal observation. For Corian and concrete it isn't a problem to make the stuff seamlessly whilst folk don't seem to object to resin joints in granite tops.

Thanks gents

It is an L shaped kitchen but the shorter length is made up from tall units so no worktop on that length. There is a corner larder unit to hide the boiler- maybe I should add one more 500mm unit to the straight run to reduce the work top length to 4m or less?

If the join won't look right I would rather not do it as I am.a fussy bugger and it would probably annoy me!

I’d add another unit.