Thread: Kitchen servery bench fixing methods

A couple of decent diameter dowels fitted into the sill and drill the underside of the bench to match, glue the sill surface and the protruding dowels and drop the bench on. The less the number of dowels the easier to line up the top.

If you want it really secure (small kids around, perhaps?) the 1/4" plate method would be simple enough.

Turn the bench upside-down, lay the plate(s) in position to trace around and then router out (at 1/4" depth) inside the marks so the plates will recess flush into the bottom of the slab. Temporarily fit screws so you can dry-fit the bench in position. (I'm assuming you've pre-drilled holes in the plate, of course!)

Looking underneath, mark the plate(s) positions and overhang so you can reposition them separately at 'mounting time.'

Unscrew the plates from the slab, reposition them on your marks and fit lag screws through the plate and down into the top plate. I'd recommend positioning the plates so the screws could go through the top plate and into the end-grain of the supporting studs.

If you're using hex-headed lag bolts instead of one's slotted for a screw-driver or similar you'll probably need to rout/drill clearance holes for where the heads sit between the 1/4" plate and bench-top.

eg. while the plates are temporarily fitted under the bench-top, mark through the screw holes so you can remove the plates & use a spade bit or similar to get the clearance. Be very careful to not go so deep that the spur breaks through the top surface of the bench! I guess you could use an angle-grinder to make the bolt heads a bit thinner, but I'd recommend against it. Better still to just buy the right size of lag screws in the first place.


Anyways, once the 1/4" plates are screwed to the top plate, you should be able to just drop the bench-top on top and have everything fall into place. This depends on just how careful you were with your positioning and marking... Finally, fit a couple of short screws up through the 1/4" plates into the bench-top to lock it in place.

Et voila! Bob's yer auntie's other half.

Hopefully the above waffle is not too confusing?

You could also use a Kreg jig and screw it from underneath.
Rgds,
Crocy.

Thanks folks. Had to re-read some of that to make it sink in but I've got it now. Thanks very much for the assistance. Pretty sure one of these methods will do the trick nicely.