How to Prepare Your Kitchen for New Countertops

Spacious modern kitchen with white cabinets and granite countertops.

The slab price is only part of the bill, and a failed templating visit adds a second round of fabrication and install labor on top of it. Prep for countertops in Wichita, KS has less slack than a laminate job, and the order below is stricter than countertops wichita faith bible online would need to be for laminate, because stone cannot be forced into place once it is cut. Most of the money lost on these jobs is lost before the slab ever leaves the shop.

Level the base cabinets first

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Stone and quartz slabs do not flex. A sheet of laminate will pull down onto a high spot, but a slab bridges it and can crack at the sink cutout. Base cabinets must be level and in plane before anyone templates, and small variations are corrected with shims under the boxes or behind the frames. Check across the tops with a long straightedge, corner to corner, not just along each run.

Older floors move the cabinets

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Older homes, including the ones near Old Town, often have floors that have settled or sloped over time. New cabinets set on that floor can end up out of level even though the boxes themselves are square. Find the high point of the floor, set the cabinets from there, and shim up the rest. Do not assume a new cabinet means a flat top.

Template only when everything is fixed

Templating should happen after the base cabinets are fully installed and secured. Any shift afterward changes the measurements, and the template no longer matches the room. That includes a cabinet that gets bumped, a filler strip added late, or a wall run that gets pushed back to fit an appliance. The template also settles seam placement, overhang, and edge profile, so those choices should be made before the visit. An eased edge, a bullnose, and a waterfall edge each change the cut and the fabrication time.

Have the sink, faucet, and cooktop on site

The sink, faucet, and cooktop models should be chosen and on site at templating, or their cut specifications should be in hand. Cutouts and faucet holes are drilled from those numbers. The sink cannot be picked after the counters are cut, and an undermount bowl changes the reveal and the rail width in ways a guess will not cover.

Demolition, thickness, and the haul in

Old tops must come off and the plumbing must be disconnected before install. Pulling old tile or stone tops can tear the drywall behind the backsplash line, so budget for patching that wall. Thinner 2 cm stone is commonly set over a plywood subtop or with a built up edge, while 3 cm stone typically sits directly on the cabinet frames. Dishwashers usually cannot be screwed into the underside of stone, so they are held with side mounting brackets fastened to the adjacent cabinets. Last, clear a path from the door to the kitchen. Large slabs are carried on edge and need room to turn corners, and a blocked hallway is a reason to leave a slab on the truck.