Granite Countertop Bar Tops, Island Overhangs

  

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Granite Countertop Support
By: Rene

If you have a granite countertop installed that has an overhang, most likely you will need some type of reinforcement or support underneath it. This reinforcement will help support your countertop on your cabinet or bar area. A rule of thumb for overhang reinforcement is that a support is needed anytime when you have more than one-third (1/3) of the overall countertop space as an overhang.

There are many different types of supports that can be used, such as wall brackets (which stay hidden) , T-brackets, or corbels.

Many people choose corbals because corbels are designed to be more appealing to the eye and come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors. Corbals are a more decorative option rather than brackets that remain hidden beneath the countertop space.

I recently had a customer that had installed a center island cabinet in their kitchen. When I measured for their countertop, they explained how much they wanted the countertop to extend over the cabinet.

I measured the length, and it turned out that the granite was going to overhang more than 21" over the cabinet (more than 1/3 the overall countertop space). This was the first time I had encountered something like this, so I suggested the use of wall brackets. That was not right. When the granite installers came out, they could not install the wall brackets because there was no wall in the cabinet for the wall brackets to connect to! This is a very common mistake that is made with overhangs -- some people do not even realise they need a support to be installed!

We supported their island with a temporary support before coming back out again to install a T-bracket support.
This was definately a learning expirence for myself and my customers as we discovered why we needed to use a T-Bracket. Our T-Brackets are specifically designed to support longer overhangs. The T-Bracket is 24" long and is mounted to the cabinet and countertop. Its strong material can carry the weight of the granite and support their island properly.

Here is a final photo of their granite countertop island in their kitchen -- supported by a T-bracket:

When you have any kind of overhang, you always need to be sure there is a support underneath. Granite weighs about 18lbs per square foot. It is a very heavy material and if not properly supported, it can cause damage to your home, cabinets, floors, or to anyone near it.

Here are some additional photos of granite bar tops, overhangs, supports and corbels: