Someone with wood worktops (or any worktop really) come and tell me about your corners...

[SeamusTheElf]

The builders have put in my wooden worktop how the old one was - on the corner (L shape) it's just one butted against the other, whereas I did want (but didn't tell them yet as I didn't realise they were putting it in yet) it put together at an angle. I cannot change it now without buying another 3m which I cannot afford but It looks awful - they say worktops are put in like this but my mums isn't - I think they just copied my old cheap kitchen layout (bad DIY job from last owners). How is your worktop - one against the other or cut at an angle so the grains are like a point in the corner?

Mine are one against the other - but looks beautiful and £££. The 2 sections are glued together. The grain of each piece is at a right angle to the next. Was installed as part of the new kitchen by specialists.

Is the surface cut at a right angle, or at a point? My grain is at a right angle but the join is straight in , rather than into the corner so not at 45 degrees. Ooo this really isn't making sense

Ours is like pooka's, though installed by dh. You probably don't need this word of warning, but if it is around the sink, do be careful to protect it well. We haven't, and ours has gone rather irreversibly black with mould inside the wood.

Been oiling like mad and mopping spills but it seems to stay abit damp after spills - may get a cheap hairdryer for it

Ours in old place was installed like yours and looked fab.

Mine are at a right angle, but I wanted them mitred ( at an angle) which I think looks nicer.
It bugs me every time I look at it so I have covered it with my microwave.

Are the two lengths just put against each other or have they used a router to gouge out a bit of lip from one and slip that into a very slight curve they have cut out of the other? That is how most professional fitters do it.

My kitchen is round so all my joints are at an angle!

I know what you wanted, is called a mitred joint in carpentry. (look at the corner of your door surrounds)

I'm sorry that they have not done what you expected. How much will it bug you? (I speak as a perfectionist here) If you really will be irked longterm, to the point of changing it in the future it would be cheaper to change it now wouldn't it? (as the tiles will go onto the top of the worksurfce and be damaged if changed in the future)

As i know nothing about worktops but my df runs a Joinery and has made and fitted many kitchens, i should probably get him to answer this

The way they have done the worktops sounds right. It is actually easier to mitre the joint, because it is one straight cut, whereas a proper butt joint ( 90 degrees ) requires a router and a special jig. It is not good practice to mitre worktops across their whole width, as you wanted, because when the timber expands or contracts ( which all timber does ) the mitre join will open up, no matter how well glued or fixed together. Mitred architraves do the same thing, but to a much smaller degree.

We've just had worktops fitted in our new (not even finished yet) kitchen. The joint is straight (with the proper joint made with a router and a special jig described by ilovemyflipflops) and I prefer it that way.

thanks for that flip flops. makes me feel better about mmy work tops!

My DP (who does this for a living) has just said yours is correct He occassionally get to make lovely handmade kitchens - we have one and it's gorgeous.

Direct quote from DP..." As the humidity in the room changes the wood expands and contracts across its width which causes the mitre to open up and will never stay tight!"

thankyou so so so much! I hate the look of it and wanted the mitred (?) way but now I know it's technically correct I won't pay for another 3m to change it! The tiles are on top now anyway. Gosh it looks so wrong though!

I hear what Jean's DH says, but ALL the joints in my kitchen are mitred - they have to be as the room is round! There are 7 of them and they have been there 5-6 years. It is a butchers block style wood work surface and I have had no problems with it yet.

We are pretty 'hard' on our kitchen as we do loads of baking and water play - the surfaces have already had to be rubbed down and resealed, but the joins are fine (the rest of the kitchen is trashed, however ). I think they used a biscuit cutter to create a dics that goes between the cut edges to form a solid/good meeting of ends?

Seamus (have you always been thus, or just since the lapland New Forset debacle?) once the kitchen is full of clutter in use you will not noice the worksurfaces so much and it will look fab.