I believe plywood for all granite tops is essential but
this is not the norm. I am picky about my kitchen and
wanted extra support. My DH made plywood tops. Well
the big reason for this was it took me forever to choose
a granite and at least had plywood counters while
we waited for the right stone. The plywood adds support
but what you need is something like this.

Do you have an installer you are working with? Or
is this a DIY install? No worries, do as much research
as you can because the stone really needs support.

Steel Support for the overhang

See the brackets under the counter. Maybe something like
this could work for you.

This is called a Federal Brace I think you can get
these much smaller.

Or maybe something with moulding.

Steel support like this is ideal. You can do a search
for Honeyb on GW and might find some clippings of this.

John Bridge Builders

This last image is also part of the link I posted for you. That will answer some questions from Granite experts.
And here in this same image you can see steel on top of plywood. This is not going to crack or move!

Here is a link that might be useful: Granite overhang how to?

Hi, Boxerpups gave some great visuals and advice but I'll add mine anyway. We have plywood under our granite, it's supported on one side with cabinets and then goes into a 15 1/2" overhang. We made a support ledge on peninsula wall side and then added three 12" x 8" counter brackets. Husband & I did not want fancy bulky corbels to cover brackets, we wanted something shallow so we hollowed out/routed some standard moulding from HD to mimic spice cab doors and painted to match upper cabinets. The first few pictures were taken from the floor. The last picture is what it looks like if you are sitting or standing.

http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/kitchen%20progress%20pictures/?action=viewät=countersupportsandboyspicture002.jpg"; target="_blank">

Sorry if the picture shows large I have resized but it does not show that on my preview.

Boxerpups,

First of all, thank you for your answers (and pictures too)! This is DIY project, except the granite installation part. Granite installer supposed to come on Monday, so I have 3 days to prepare underlays.

I should have named this topic as "table support", rather than "bar support" to avoid confusions - this is what actually it is.

I like the idea from the last picture - this is probably what I want to use for enforcement. How thick these steel bars are ? Are the sold at Home Depot or Lowes ?

jterrilynn,

Thank you for the feedback ! Did you get 12" x 8" counter brackets from HD as well or they were custom-made ?

I got a hunk of steel. It's not all that pricey from a metal shop... See thread below.

Your granite fabricator should advise you on the support needed. My GC, fabricator, DH and I all met and discussed the support.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on granite support

marcydc: thanks for pics - they are pretty helpful. 3/4" steel plate must weigh a lot, though. I am going to meet my granite installer on Monday, but would prefer to have everything in place before he comes (the rest of it is DIY project).

Meanwhile, my wife found a great solution in IKEA today, looks like exactly what I need:

This is a metal frame (47" x 15"), normally used for desks. Two 1x1 square pipes (1/16" thick), with welded cross-bars. Feels pretty sturdy, I couldn't twist it even with a full hand force.

Going to drill holes and attach it to the wall studs from one side (probably, will put couple of 90-degree brackets underneath for an additional support). 2 adjustable legs at corners through the wooden board on the other side.

Most likely will shorten 60" side down to 53", to keep 6" overhang on the edge.

For anyone, who might be interested in results, I've ended up having the following support:

I purchased and a piece of 3/4" fine-finished plywood, cut it with a shape of my granite island, but 3" less on each side, then trimmed and softened edges and corners. Then put a metal support frame (see above) and 2x3" stud side-by-side, attached them to each other and to the plywood (using 1/4" machine screws/nuts).

Then cut a piece of 1x6" oak board for another side (had to do some custom cuts to fit) and attached 2 adjustable legs through it to the metal frame (again, with 1/4" machine screws/nuts).

Drilled two holes in 2x3" and attached it to the wall with 4" wood screws, leveled it up with cabinets, then adjusted legs. My granite installer seems to be completely ok with it, granite top there will be installed in 2 days.

In a future I might be adding a metal corner underneath of 2x3" for an additional support (not sure if it's necessary, though) and painting visible wooden pieces from the bottom.

Any suggestions before it goes live ?

The underside support is fine. But I am not sure why you need two legs on one end. Using just one leg should give it a cleaner look... Just my opinion.

Replying to the old post. Probably two legs were overkill, but I wanted to have an additional support against the twisted force, if someone decides to sit on the side.

Here is the final look:

Already used this construction for three years, without any problem. Under my wife's request, added flexible LED strips from IKEA to the inner side of the metal frame, which became our glowing red night light (and looks great BTW).