Pleseantly Pleased
Posted on December 15th, 2007 – 12:49 AMBy Jason Hammond
Eastvold Custom woodwork installed all of the boxes for our cabinets this week and all of the countertop pieces. Of all these pieces there was one particular piece that I was extremely excited to see — the HDPE countertops. I had found this material at local home improvement center and was interested in using it, partially because of its green factor but largely on it’s really cool tactile nature.
I proposed the idea to Matt Eastvold and he had one of his team put to work determining the best solution for fastening the material together to create a thick finished countertop piece. What arrived was even better than I had expected. A 2″ thick piece of slate gray material that looked more like paperstone or soapstone — it was hard to believe that this thing had any connection at all to it’s former life as pop bottle or milk jug.
Matt Eastvold uses the Festool to cut away laminate countertops where the sink will be placed.
My super cool “Modest Modern” HDPE countertops were made from low cost materials founded at a local home improvement center. Thanks to Eastvold Custom Woodwork for making them come to life.
9 Responses to "Pleseantly Pleased"
HDPE sounds/looks like what I need.But in
checking it on Google couldn’t find anything that seemed specific.
I live in NY -is there any national web site or supplier you can direct me to?
Sorry to take your time - You have been so
helpful and your house is terrific.
Thanks
That is a really cool looking material.
learning-thank you,
I found the material at a Menards Home improvement center but they are a largely Mid-western company so I doubt that you would find one in NY. The company however that makes the material is out of South Carolina called Plastik Lumber and you can contact them via their website at http://plastiklumber.com They should be able to provide you with a list of retailers in your area.
Jason
Can you provide more details on what Eastvold did to make the countertops? I’m from Mpls and would be interested in doing something similar. Also, how did the end cost compare to other counter materials types?
Thanks for the information.
Scott
From what I can see, you seem to be way ahead of the curve on this countertop material. I saw your post on the Live Modern web site asking about it - but it didn’t seem like you got any good answers there. Did you find answers to your questions elsewhere? I think I have some cutting boards at home that are made from HDPE. One disadvantage that I can see is that the material is not all that abrasion resistant, and if it gets scratched it may be very difficult to get it smooth again without using solvents or heat. Scratches afflict lots of countertop materials and can be minimized by using a cutting board, but in a kitchen some abrasion is unavoidable. Is your strategy just “be careful?” Also, I second the question of Scott about the cost. If you are the first to use this, is this going to be an expensive experiment?
Good luck!
Scott and Weathurman.
I asked Matt Eastvold what the cost will be down the road after having done the initial exploration on my countertops and he seemed to think that they would be just a bit more expensive than laminates.
the material actually sands nicely to a matte finish with a fine grit sand paper. We may find that we are going to want to cover it with some type of clear coat finish to protect it but for now we are leaving it in the raw matte form.
Epicurean cutting boards are made out of this material as well as the Loll chairs, two great products.
Jason
I went to a couple of Menards localy here in the Cities to find this counter top. The only thing I found was something they call Corinthian. It was made of a plastic material, but had more of a satin finish vs. Matte.
Is this the product you are talking about.
Very interested in your countertop selection.
Thanks for your help.
J. Jensen
J.Jensen,
The material is not in the countertop section at Menards. Rather it is located in with the finish grade plywood sheeting. It comes it various sizes from 2×4 to 4×8 in 1/2″ thick sheets of gray and or black (actually more charcoal) and doesn’t look like much off the shelf. If you are really interested I would suggest you talk to Eastvold Custom Woodwork out of Northfield. They did a fair amount of thinking behind the construction and played with several gluing options to get multiple sheets together in order to give it that thickness I desired.
Jason
The look is so right for your house. Again, not my choice, but handsome in context.
How does it stand up to heat, do you know?
