will it be strong enough?
Hi all,
I am building a kitchen bench which is 2.2m long x 1.1m wide and 90cm high.
I would call it more a kitchen island than a bench since it is not attached to any walls, studs, etc.
It is a standalone unit.
I have attached a very rough sketch of the unit
The unit has 4 legs which are 80mm x 80mm and the legs are connected with rails and stiles.
Stiles are 16cm wide for the top and 6cm for the bottom.
Rails are 6cm for the bottom and 16 cm for the top although the top rails are not plain rails.
For each rail I use a board in which I cut some openings for the drawers so that I could keep the flow of the grain through the drawers.
On top on the bottom rail, there is a large panel (2.1m x 1m) that sits on the rails, hangs about 1cm out and will be fixed to the rails (don't know yet how).
Also as you can see in the sketch the 2 bottom rails are connected to each other with 2 boards to reinforce the carcasse. For the top rails, same principle is applied although I have 5 boards (3 between the drawers and 2 ones fixed on the inner sides of the cabinet).
also there is a cupboard under the 2 centre drawers. There is nothing under the 2 outer drawers.
I think that's ok for the structure.
My question is related to the top surface that will rest on the 4 legs.
I don't want timber since it will be used to prepare meals and I am planning to used caesar stone.
I went to get some samples and brochures and got some technical data.
The weight for a standard slab (3.06m x 1.44m and 20mm thickness) is 220 kilos (around 53kilo/sqm)
I have calculated that for my top, it would weight 128kilos.
My question is with the current design of the bench in mind, will it be strong enough to support 128 kilos?
if not what reinforcements would you add?
for safety I am planning to add a centre leg under the bottom panel so that the weight is mainly supported by the 4 legs and the small centre leg.
thanks