DIY Countertops Under $60! 

Counter top looks great , awesome job Jack of all trades Stefani. Thank you for the video.

With the glue between boards it was not necessary to use pocket screws. However what you could have done was use your 2 caul clamps to align the boards, add the pocket screws either side of the clamp then move the clamp down to the next pocket screw location. This would align the boards better and the pocket screws would hold them that way. I built a desk for my office using laminated 2x material. I started with 2x6, cut off the edges then ripped each one in half. I glued them up with half the boards flipped upside down to reduce any problems if my saw was not set perfectly 90 degrees. I tried staining with gel stain but it did not come out even enough so I sanded it all off and use clear poly.

I was skeptical but the white washing was a great touch. Looks good!

WOW, what a MAJOR undertaking - very impressive outcome!!

Clever, inexpensive solution. Looks great.

It's looking great ❤, can't wait to see when it's almost done. You guys are really making the place look amazing. Can't wait to see more Stefani!🎉

I would be afraid to build anything in there its so nice!

Great, economical and as always a well thought out project made to look easy by you. Thanks and keep them coming.

Hi Stefani, I love your workmanship and the passion you put into your work.

Stefani you make it look so easy, I complain at the start every time watching saying to myself that is impossible for the normal Joe soap of a DIY'er but when I watch the whole way through I am pleasantly surprised how easy you make it look. I do love how you explain what us non carpenters can use when we don't have the big tools. The workshop looks amazing by the way. Plus just to add maybe it is an American thing, but ye dress your outdoor shops/garages like we do indoor houses in Europe. Here in Ireland we have 4 walls, a roof, lighting & electricity for our garages & that is it, we have untreated concrete floors, no insulation etc nothing like ye do.

Beautiful work!

Outstanding job looks stunning 😊

Devin’s skills as a human paperweight are amazing! 😆

Shop worktops need to be durable and inexpensive whenever possible; you checked off both boxes to create a great surface that is lovely in appearance. Great job! Blessings!

if I could add one suggestion. On the bottom side of the counter top, I recommend adding cross pieces to at each end and about every other 4' apart (two screws in each board across). This will help avoid "cupping" and "twisting".

This turned out great. I think I'll do the same. The only difference is that I'll probably use biscuits to align the tops during glue-up to avoid having to sand top too much after the glue-up.

Excellent work love it

You did an amazing job, and your countertop which looks exceptionally beautiful! Excellent Craftsmanship, too! Well done!

I love all your work!

Turned out really nice!

Super, that came out looking great!

This is my favourite method of building counter tops. For future reference, the pocket screws were not necessary. Glue and clamps are all I use and it turns out great! I also use 2x4s instead of wider boards to reduce warping over time. Biscuits, dowels or splines can also be used to assist alignment during the glue up to make things easier. 🙂

Great job!!

Fab tute! I have plans to build a wall unit similar to this in a few months and needed a countertop. I LOVE this inexpensive solution!

She is an excellent host, enjoyable to watch. She is very attractive, and seems very tall. Please keep the videos coming.

wow great timing I'll be making a coutnertop from scrap wood we found in our basement for a DIY dog kennel this week! Don't have a planer so there will be a ton of sanding, but I'm excited!

I love it. Great affordable option

That is a great idea!! And you did an outstanding job!! ❤

Your joints turned out beautiful!

Lovely job

Nice work!

Great look.

Lumber companies will make cuts for you, so you could have bought the 16s or 14s an had them cut to 13 for hauling. I don't have all those tools, so I always get my cuts done at the lumber co. Looks nice.

It looks so good!!!

The reason you and your channel are so addictive...beautiful products and you make it look so easy. Seriously, Stefani, the way you produce the beautiful renovations or projects is mind-boggling. Loved the choice of the butcher block counter. Although, I had to snicker at Devin standing on the counter while you attached it. 😊 Thanks for sharing, and I am totally looking forward to all the new projects you are going to produce in that shop. ❤❤

Great job 👏🏼👍🏼

You could pour epoxy on top. Super hard finish instead of the soft pine.

Love to see you building stuff like this. There are so many opportunities to build much cheaper, but nice looking things with a few simple tools and some know how. I'm a bit older than you all and I bit of advice I'd pass down is to buy the best tools you can afford. Milwaukee and Dewalt are generally good bets. They will produce better work and be more pleasurable to work with. This is especially true for larger stationary tools.

You soo inspire me! Just gorgeous!!!

Your so talented!!!

I saw your Tuff Shed commercial. Very nice.

When you put it through the planer it has to be leveled with another board underneath it and some shims. Looks great. I was surprised with little drying these boards did not bend more.

Looks great and it gives me ideas for future products. My only concern is will the pine start to get spotty/splotchy and turn more yellow with time,,,,or will whitewashing seal it enough? I know you need to use a pre-stain treatment before staining prime to prevent splotching? But whitewashing is a diluted paint. I know if you just paint pine, the resin in the knots will eventually bleed through. Perhaps a painting expert can answer this question.

Excellent build! Those cabinet door/hinge swings can definitely make you go to plan B sometimes.

I loved it ❤ thank you

great video, thanks for sharing!

BEAUTIFUL

Nice work. Using biscuit joints would have negated the use of screws.

+1.. Super project.. As they say; "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery".. We'll follow suit! Thanks.. Vail, CO.. (subscribed)

It looks great. And a lot of cost savings...

I love the projects. I would invest in clamps. You can't have too many clamps. I use the Jorgensen clamps. Big med and small for all different projects. The only 2 things I don't like and you have no way of controlling these unless you go with a different wood is the knots and the seemless look. It looks great, though. Great job on all of it.

+1.. Nice touch the shed ceiling! .. Its the details,,,, Cheers, M/S

Your attention to detail is amazing. The countertop is beautiful. I’d love to have a wood counter so I could pull things out of the oven and not have to ensure I protected the countertop. The work you have done thus far is incredible. Send Devon out to my house for a kitchen redo.

Amazing

So it should SAY "how to make a $60 Countertop with a $300 planner?????? nice job. You projects are very well explained.

I wish I had your skills. Love your channel

The warping is because you're buying wet wood from Lowe's or Home Depot. that's about the lowest quality wood you can get. To alleviate some of the warping use a circular saw and run relief cuts under it as needed it won't be noticeable but it'll allow the wood to flex back down flat without too much resistance.

ita really great.

Yeap. That looks great.

Good job! And good idea keeping your hair tied up when using power tools.

Beautiful, but a lot of hard work. Planing, ripping, joining, flattening some more, sanding and not to mention lifting the big piece for finishing and installation. Did you consider a torsion box construction? I use it for workbenches, counters and shelves whenever I can. They are strong, flat and light. The only tools you need is a hand saw and maybe a block plane to smooth edges left by the saw. Maybe a finishing sander for smoothing the whole thing when it's done. They don't even require clamps, but I just use weights (like cinder blocks or plates from the weight bench) for glue up. I don't mean to troll the work you did because it looks great, but I just want to throw the torsion box option out there for a DIYer who might not have access to a big planer, Kreg jig, table saw, clamps, a partner or other tools. Nice job! Nice editing for the video!

Pawn shops and market place you can buy most everything she has here for like 3-500 bucks. I got my table saw for 100 bucks a few years back, and it’s not one of the new junky aluminum ones.

Awesome Job!!! (you make it look so easy😅👍🏻)

Don’t think I didn’t notice the outlet cover screws head slots nicely aligned! It’s the details that matter.

It’s the fanciest workshop I’ve ever seen.

Have they cupped at all? If not 100% kiln dried I could see cupping being a huge problem.

You didn't leave room for wood expansion with all those screws to secure the counter top.

The gaps and bowing is an artifact of using pocket screws before clamp Up. Simply put, they were not necessary and actually caused the problems. Would have been better and more time efficient to prepare and execute a perfect glue up without the screws.

6:13 I’ve never used them, but would “biscuits” have lined up the boards more consistently?

In the Netherlands it would cost 4 times as much. Polyurethane: E22. White wash: E24. Sandpaper at least E10. Screws: E10. Tape: 2E. Handsome paperweight guy: free. Douglas wood: E10 per meter * 20cm, so at least E150.

Awesome video. What kind of paint did you use for the white wash?

Planing the boards after you joined the boards to 16 feet long may have created a better result.

أحب عملك ❤

Looks great! Apologies ahead of time if this is a dumb question. When joining the two boards in the length direction, I believe you used 1 @ 8 feet & 1 @ 4 feet, did you encounter challenges with the board warping or not aligning after screwing them together? Is that a common challenge given the long length of this particular countertop? Any suggestions? Thank you, Rohit

should have sealed boath sides before installing

Looks great!! What are the dimensions of your cabinets & countertops?

How did you make your rip cut straight on the 2x10s? I can't get a straight cut...any advice?

Tap and caulk the edge

Love that project! Addictive right?! Lol

What are the dimensions of the building?

What is the paint colour of the exterior wall please?

A rubber doormat would keep the planer from sliding.

Do you think this type of counter would work in a kitchen?

It looks amazing. Actually, anyone doing a kitchen on a budget, could use this instead of butcher block, same look for a lot less. Question - I thought wood counters tops needed to be sealed on both sides?

No stain. How about its resistance to water?

Nice job, Steph… When I saw you planing, I noticed the Ridgid was drifting a bit. Got me worried a little. BTW, this is the first I’ve seen pocket screws joining the planks together. Whatever works right? So there’s hope for people without biscuit joiner! Thanks for the hack! Of course, it helps to have a dutiful partner to step on and secure the boards while you screw.

Should have bought a biscuit joiner to keep you boards even.

With the poly - since you did it in long strips, did you find that the overlap area was tacky? How did you work around that? Or is that just an AZ problem I have due to low humidity? 😅

why it looks so light?

I initially cringed at the idea of soft pine as a countertop in a shop. But at $56, you can replace it every 5 years, which you can't do with a more durable countertop. And lets face it: any shop countertop (if used) will experience wear and tear.

Very nice!!! $60.00 countertop but $20,000 to buy tools. 😀

Looks great but pine is very soft and not the best choice for a countertop it will mar easily…i know form experience

tools you used to prepaid counter cost over $2000 😂

Did you work with Andrew Kai? He used your video

13:58 Aah…to be young and able to so easily crawl into base cabinets.

Where Can you Buy 2 x 10 ' Boards for under 60 Dollars ? Pocket hole Screws must have been the 60 Dollars mentioned...

Looks cool but anything other than really hardwood is not going to look good after a while of real usage

I just have to say- butcher block for $500 doesn't sound so bad went you think of all the work these two did. They already have equipment, a team of two and with experience. How long did this job take? If these two were charging for their work - how much would it have cost? So title is misleading. I would have just paid the $500 or gotten a cheaper type of counter top for a workshop.

💪👌❤

You should have used biscuits