How to Put in a Laminate Kitchen Countertop

RON HAZELTON: The turn off of Route 7 in Ponnel, Vermont puts you smack in the middle of some really beautiful country.  For 21 years, the home to Ed and Linda Reits. 

ED REITS: Hi Ron, Ed Reits.

RON HAZELTON: Hi Ed how are you?

ED REITS: My wife, Linda.

RON HAZELTON: Linda, pleasure to meet you.

LINDA REITS: Hi Ron, how are you?

RON HAZELTON: Boy, I feel like we’re in the middle of woods right here.

ED REITS: Doesn’t it.

LINDA REITS: Ah, we are.

RON HAZELTON: I know because of the road I took getting out here.  So show me what’s going on folks.

ED REITS: Sure.

LINDA REITS: Well, Ron, the kids are this close to out of college.  Our kitchen needs a face-lift.

RON HAZELTON: Are we going to start with the countertop?  All right, why don’t we start by clearing off the countertop? 

ED REITS: Great.

RON HAZELTON: Can we put this on the table right here?

LINDA REITS: Fine.

RON HAZELTON: Let’s start by disconnecting our plumbing here.  You got grandchildren?

ED REITS: Not yet, we’re still hoping, though, but.

RON HAZELTON: So, what’s that for?

ED REITS: For our kids when they were small, we put them on, so they’re 21 years old, too.

RON HAZELTON: Okay, so, first thing I want to do is just turn off the water supply here.

ED REITS: All right.

RON HAZELTON: Ed, now these are both shut off.  What I’d like to do, though is just turn on the faucet, if water is still is coming out of here, then I know that that valve is not working properly.  Ed, if you can hold that, I am just going to put this tray in here to catch any water that might come out of this line, our drain lines and we’ll just disconnect the water lines here.  I want to be turning this off over here, like this.  There we go.  We are going to take the P trap off first.  That’s why we want the pan down here. Now usually these countertops are held on with some screws and they are often found at the corners, so let’s pull this drawer out right here, take a look.  Yeah, okay, right up here, you see this block?  There’s a screw going through that block into the countertop.

ED REITS: Oh, yeah.

RON HAZELTON: All together there are about a dozen screws to remove and Ed makes short work of it.  There we go.

ED REITS: That’s the last one.

RON HAZELTON: Okay, great.  All right, everything should be loose, let’s give this a little bit of a test, nope.  Okay, now what happens sometimes is they caulk these backslashes and we could probably tear it off, but I don’t want to damage your wall paper here, so I’ve got a utility knife here, so let me just run this down here and cut at least the top of the caulk.  All right, we are going to try to pry this loose a little bit.  I’ll put the putty knife there to protect the wall?

LINDA REITS: Don’t you have to take the sink out first?

RON HAZELTON: We could, but you know, I find it’s easier to take it out in the countertop because you can reach the clips easier when it’s out. 

LINDA REITS: Oh.

RON HAZELTON: Or in this case, you are putting a new sink in, so.

LINDA REITS: Right.

RON HAZELTON: But while you are here, let’s just, let’s just pull this down, okay, all the way, pull it down, there you go, lift it up.  There you go.  I am going to come out this way and we had to clear the drains down there in the sink. All right folks, let’s just take it right outside, okay?

LINDA REITS: Uh-huh.

RON HAZELTON: Watch the fridge there, it’s kind of close.

LINDA REITS: Oh, Ed this is beautiful.

RON HAZELTON: Now, this countertop came with the sink partially cut out right here.  I have never seen this before.  It’s great, but I want to make sure that this is in fact the right size for our sink.  I cut the template out of the sink’s packing box and placed it over the counter’s cut out.  A good fit.  In order to prevent the cut out from dropping as we saw through we fashion the temporary clamp and two scraps of wood and a screw. We attach at opposite corners.  Excellent.  Congratulations, how was that for you?  Nervous?

LINDA REITS: I was very nervous.  But it is easier than I thought.

RON HAZELTON: You did a great job, excellent job, yeah.  We’ll you’re a certified jigsaw user now.  Here you go, you can let it, got it?

LINDA REITS: Got it.

RON HAZELTON: And, there’s our sink opening. 

ED REITS: All right.

RON HAZELTON: Folks, we’re about to set this in place now, I think I am going to go in first, let me try that.  Okay, are you clear there?

ED REITS: Clear there.

RON HAZELTON: Watch your fingers, everybody watch your fingers.  There we go.

ED REITS: We’re down. 

LINDA REITS: Beautiful color, hurry up guys, I got to go by some curtains to match my new countertop.

RON HAZELTON: Well here’s your new sink, stainless steel.  And we got to have (INAUDIBLE) before we put it in the countertop.  Next, we apply plumber’s putty to the edge of the drain cutout so the new sink baskets will make a watertight seal.  Then we attach as much of the plumbing as possible before installing the new sink.  Finally, we apply a silicone sealant around the sink lip to ensure a watertight bond with the countertop.

ED REITS: So we are ready to put this in place?

RON HAZELTON: We are ready to put this in place, absolutely.  You guys flip it over, I’ll kind of mind the cords here, inspect some of that sealant may squish out, but that’s okay.  You like it?

LINDA REITS: Oh, I love it.

RON HAZELTON: Yeah, it’s going to be such a pleasure to wash dishes in this. 

LINDA REITS: Oh, I think Eddy will really enjoy doing dishes.

ED REITS: I guess so.  I have to end up doing them after all.

RON HAZELTON: You know, sometimes lying down on the job is inevitable.  Well, someone has to tighten the clips that hold the sink to the countertop.  Now after the final connections are made, plumbing works and countertop, I think, looks great.

ED REITS: It does.

RON HAZELTON: Congratulations on the color, by the way.

ED REITS: Thanks.

RON HAZELTON: That was very bold of you.  I like it; it goes beautifully with the cabinets.

ED REITS: You made it easy. 

RON HAZELTON: Yeah, it only took us, you know, a little over half a day to do this.  And you guys were great to work with.  You are such good sports.  I love your sense of humor.  Go team!

ED REITS: Yeah.