Granite countertops for workbench?

[fiataccompli]

I put an APB out on my neighborhood Facebook page for anyone re-doing their kitchen & throwing out cabinets. Turns out I have a neighbor who has what look like very nice kitchen cabinets with granite countertops and they want to get rid of everything. Curious if anyone here has used granite for a workbench. One of the cabinet sections is a 8’ish long section of floor cabinets with a solid granite countertop. It is tempting for that to look like something to mount on wheels and make a great rolling workbench.

In a related development the cabinets are reasonably deep and taller than the recycled kitchen cabinets I have now but the upper ones also have glass front doors. Not sure how these would work in my new garage, but if they do I’d probably take care of all my non-shelf wall storage at once & even have spares.

I would love to hear experience that any of you have with using kitchen cabinets and countertops like these in a workshop. Cost is not an issue because they’re free for the effort of moving them.

Thanks in advance


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[b-boy]

granite will chick and crack pretty easily. I can't see it being used as a workbench.

 

[Stuart in MN]

For free, I'd go for it. Granite will chip if you pound on it, but as long as you don't it should hold up.

 

[1redTA]

granite is nice for a very flat work surface, I imagine granite being like tile for a garage floor as long as the subsurface is stout it will hold up fine

 

[fiataccompli]

I guess gluing some sandpaper to it makes a good carburetor base cleaning surface.

I wouldn’t waste the bandwidth on the topic if I were buying it (because I wouldn’t pay money for it), but to make it easy & nice for the person donating the cabinets I told her that I would take everything not just what I was planning on using so I’ll have it anyway.

Years ago I had a shop space next door to a local kitchen cabinet shop, so we had (and I still have, though they’re stained, burned, etc) nice Formica countertop workbenches everywhere. Keeping with the kitchen theme I also have two stainless steel prep tables in the garage.


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[Gummee]

I inherited an 8' 1 1/8" granite countertop with a bullnose

Worked great! Easy to keep clean. Durable. Looked great too!

Moved away from SoCal when the housing market tanked and gave it to a buddy.

Not something you can hammer on, but how often do you really do that?

Pay for it? No. Free? Sure! Go for it!

M

 

[ard]

I'd use it for fine assembly work...clean work...electronics. If you have multiple benches, one in granite would work.

 

[SGKent]

match the countertop to what you will be doing on the workbench. Stainless is great for working on engines and oily things but it dents and scratches. It is also conductive if you are working on electrical things. Granite is non-conductive usually. It chips and breaks if something heavy is dropped on it. It is slippery, and it can be hard to see greyish colored small objects like washers etc.. But in your case it is free. I will also bet that it gets broken moving it.

 

[curiousB]

Just be aware Granite is very brittle. Much like glass. If you strike it with a hammer or pound it with something solid it will crack.

I have (had) the sink cut out piece from my kitchen remodel. I intentionally dropped it from 4' onto my concrete driveway. It shattered into a 1000 pieces. I wasn;t sure if it would break, I never expected it to shatter like it did.

 

[MScott]

Nice flat surface. You can cover it with a sheet of plywood or hardboard if you need to hammer (not pound) on it.

 

[fiataccompli]

That’s probably a pretty good bet that it will break.

What will probably happen is two days for I’ve arranged to pick the stuff up someone will offer me a complete free white metal cabinet set...That’s usually how these things and up turning out for me. The other aspect is these cabinets are a cherry wood which is probably really nice and some kitchens bud I’m trying to keep surgical brightness in my garage workshop.

Thanks everyone for the response and thoughts. It sounds like my thinking was about on par with the group here. It’s hard to turn down free and if nothing else I could probably pass these on to a friend.


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[drivesitfar]

Flat: moving it and installing it might be the hardest part of the deal. I agree it's not steel so hopefully you'll have another bench another place to do your hammering if you need to.

cherry wood could be nice in a garage especially if it's got great lighting.

I agree with others that it wouldn't be my first choice especially if I was paying for it, but for free and also getting to know a neighbor might be a good fit.

good luck

 

[LS6 Tommy]

If it hasn't already been sealed, seal it with a good oleophobic sealer. It will help reduce oil and water stains.

Tommy

 

[b-boy]

Also, granite is porous so you'll need to keep it sealed. It will soak up oils and greases if it's not sealed.

 

[Jackfre]

I can't see using granite for a workbench top. On a workbench if I have to beat the hell out of something I don't want to stop and go, oh, I can't do that here. I'll move over there...

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: it all depends on the size of the garage and the needs. I have a 9x15 portion of our 2 car garage and I've got 3 benches in it. one is wood for light duty work and 2 are steel for pounding or whatever.

some members have rolling welding cart they can pull up next to them if they might be doing some pounding or dirty work. we don't all need a workbench we have to beat to ****.

 

[wanderer]

Not granite but I use some old chemistry lab tables and I LOVE them! Easy to clean and impossible to damage. The top must weigh 300#.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I can't see using granite for a workbench top. On a workbench if I have to beat the hell out of something I don't want to stop and go, oh, I can't do that here. I'll move over there...

Many people can go a lifetime without having to beat the hell out of something on top of a workbench - what may not work for you may work just fine for someone else.

 

[smokeysevin]

Not granite but I use some old chemistry lab tables and I LOVE them! Easy to clean and impossible to damage. The top must weigh 300#.

Same, my college was throwing them out a few years ago and I swooped in and grabbed them. I only regret not taking more.

Sean

 

[Jeepster04]

Its rock... Treat it as so...

 

[NUTTSGT]

Depends what you do in your shop. Flat detail work, building models, photography, or other small detail stuff, it'd probably be nice for.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Not granite but I use some old chemistry lab tables and I LOVE them! Easy to clean and impossible to damage. The top must weigh 300#.

That's exactly what I have. I used to try to keep them shiny, but that stopped pretty quickly. I did manage to chip and edge of one.

Tommy

 

[cdestuck]

Be nice if your workbench is for sewing

 

[Jackfre]

Many people can go a lifetime without having to beat the hell out of something on top of a workbench - what may not work for you may work just fine for someone else.

Granted, I am a sledgehammer mechanic, and my knees prevent me from doing a lot of work on the floor. I guess it is a terminology issue. I would call those places tables or work stations. I wouldn't mind a granite topped sharpening bench.

 

[ddawg16]

I have granite in my garage......

 

[toolmiser]

For a while it was a trend to use it on tool tops such as a table saw. Don't have any personal experience though.

 

[yhprum]

Would be good for a glue up table for wood working.

 

[engineer2]

The chemistry labs you guys mentioned used a granite called "absolute black" with a honed finish. Very fine-grained and durable. It's commonly available. I have it for my basement mini-bar. It was free.

 

[nadogail]

I have see a granite surface plate that was used for a "Hammer & Bang" bench top, it almost brought me to tears. But, I had no investment into it and so just charged it off to general stupidity.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The chemistry labs you guys mentioned used a granite called "absolute black" with a honed finish. Very fine-grained and durable. It's commonly available. I have it for my basement mini-bar. It was free.

Some lab counter tops are slate or soapstone. Some are a composite material that also contains asbestos - a friend of mine was a property manager at a local university, and got me a bunch of heavy duty base cabinets for free from a chemistry lab they were renovating. Unfortunately, because the tops contained asbestos I wasn't able to get them.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

The chemistry labs you guys mentioned used a granite called "absolute black" with a honed finish. Very fine-grained and durable. It's commonly available. I have it for my basement mini-bar. It was free.

Granite is not used in true chemistry labs because it will react with acidic or alkaline chemicals. It's mostly used for kitchen, cooking areas or occasionally general science areas because of it's resistance to bacteria and heat. Real chemical lab tops are epoxy resin based material. The old ones can contain some asbestos, so be careful if you plan on cutting one.



Tommy

 

[fiataccompli]

Well, for the heck of it, I guess, I’ll follow up with the near conclusion. After a lot of life-generated delays, I picked up the cabinets. I have a 105” slab of countertop & a few shorter pieces, plus a series of 8’ tall & bottom cabinets most of which I won’t be using in the garage. I have a nice array of well built top cabinets I need to paint & figure out a layout for. And I had a friend help and it sounds like he may have a use for some of the bottom cabinets & countertops for a rental house he is renovating. What I simply can’t use/reformat/give away will likely be firewood.









And after plenty more thought, considering comments here, and especially dealing with the stuff moving it yesterday I cannot really think of any good use for this countertop material in a workshop except possibly as ballast to weigh something down.

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[cdestuck]

No sweat on the glass doors. The glass might be help in w quarter round and would make it easy to remove and replace with wood. Maybe paint these panels with that caulk board paint to make notes on.

If the glass was installed as the door was glued up, just break out the glass and use a router and bit to open up the groove from the backside then place the new wood panel. Or even a coupe you could put in sheet metal. Magnetic to hold paper notes.

 

[bczygan]

Can you use a granite countertop for a surface plate?

Bill

 

[fiataccompli]

Surface plate?

At the moment, i plan to leave the glass in. That plan may change. It’s a silly design, it seems like it’s only glued, not routed & not held in by any clips or trim. Despite what I expected the cabinets & the doors feel well made and strong.


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[930dreamer]

A ton of it two shops down from me, all looking for a home.