Garage Work Shop Storage – Counter Tops!

Saturday I tackled some solid wood edging on the base cabinets and today focused on getting some counter tops on the cabinets.  I wanted some smooth, that was replaceable if damaged, and cheap.  Now this counter is pretty impractical in its use of materials, but I was looking to add height and use up some materials.

I started with a 2×4 frame, this would give some thickness I needed as well as stiffen up the cabinets.  No frills here, just some biscuits, glue and clamping.

The completed frame below really stiffened up the cabinets after it was screwed down to them.

I had some left over 3/4” particleboard that I used as the sub top.  I really wanted something to add some wait to this assembly and 3/4” thick particleboard was the answer.  I installed the first piece flush to the outside edge and overhang the front and the left side on purpose.  I came along after and the particle board was screwed down and hit it with a flush trimming router bit.

Below is a good shot of the counter top assembly showing the 2×4 frame, the 3/4” particle board, and the 1/4” hardboard top.  Once again, I screwed down the hardboard leaving it to overhang the particle board so I could come along after with my flush cut bit in my router.

Now my garage floor was so out of level in this area that I ended up shimming the cabinets a lot more than I would have thought to get my cabinets level.  as a result I needed a little more height on my chop saw.  I insert a couple of plywood strips and fine tuned the adjustment with these handy metal shims I picked up at Harbor Freight Last year when I was leveling my evaporator.

This was probably the best $5-$10 bucks I have spent at Harbor Freight and I probably got 20% off too!  I have used these quite a bit since I found them.

The whole assembly leveled and in place, next up some drawer boxes for the cabinets, followed by some finished poplar drawer fronts and doors.