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amy_kappeler

Countertops into a bay window without plywood?

Amy K
2 years ago

We have a bay window behind our kitchen sink. The bottom of it is just plywood with loose tiles on top, so the plywood is rotted from years of dish water dripping down around the tiles.


We are getting new quartz countertops, and we have our hearts set on having the quartz run smoothly from the countertop area out into the window.


The problem is, it turns out this plywood is the only thing at the bottom of the window, and it's the same width as our current countertops. It's just a 3/4" piece of plywood that, when removed, leaves a hole to the outside. And our current countertops are 3/4" as well. So if we replaced the rotted wood with anything else, it would leave that area too high to have the countertops go out that way at the same level.


What are our options? If we pulled out the rotted plywood, could the countertop just go out into the open hole and form the new base of the window by itself? Like, if you went outside and looked at the bottom of the window, you'd be looking at the bottom of the quartz? It's about 15 inches out, so it might be fine with no extra support, but we don't mind adding support on the outside of the house if needed. Or if we got a thin piece of new plywood into the window, can quartz be cut thinner in just that part of it, so it'll sit on a higher surface but be level on the top? Is there another solution I'm not thinking of?


The new countertops will be 3cm, so we don't want to add plywood everywhere and make it an even higher surface. We also don't want the countertops to step up higher around the window, leaving an edge that will be annoying to clean.


We're waiting to hear back from our chosen fabricator about their ideas, but I'd love to know my options so I can advocate for what we want, or find a fabricator / contractor who can make it happen.


Thank you!



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