[blondelle]

I seem to remember that for some reason IKEA cabinets required 3cm slabs for the counters. Can 2cm marble slabs work for for countertops or would they require additiional support underneath? Thanks!

[Harpy]

Ikea cabinets are no different than any others in this respect. Generally, no matter what cabs you have you'll want underlayment for 2cm stone. Remember that with frameless cabinets (like Ikea) you may want to raise the countertop a tad to allow clearance for the doors, depending on your edge treatment.

[dalbrough]

I would suggest you to do what we did with the last kitchen install we did - you can use strips or solid sheets of wood over the cabinets for the marble to sit on.

We did that for extra support for the granite we did in the last kitchen and also currently have the same in my own kitchen reno.

Just like Harpy said you will want it raised so it will clear all the doors and drawers and provide extra support for the stone of choice.

[Emmie9999]

I concur with all above. You should use an underlayment when using a 2 cm stone countertop, regardless of cabinet brand.

2 cm countertops are only about 3/4 of an inch, and need the extra support. 3 cm material is just a smidge over and inch, and at that thickness it is strong enough to not need underlayment. (You should check with your fabricator about how different stones work, in case some need a support even at the thicker size.) Plus, the underlayment lifts the slimmer stone up enough to make sure it does not interfere with teh doors/drawers opening.

My counters are soapstone. They are 1 1/4 inches, or 3.175 centimeters. No plywood underlay, and they are perfect. The cabients are in great shape after 9 months, and they are handling the weight just fine.

[yankeelawyer]

I have white marble counters; they are 3 cm thick. I had one countertop installer out who freaked me out about instaling marble -- even at 3cm thick -- over IKEA cabs, because according to him, they tended to be less stable than other cabs and if not installed 100% perfectly, would vary more in terms of level, etc., which would stress the stone. Well, that *stressed* me, so I asked for opinions here and got lots of helpful feedback and reassurance, and did further research. We also ended up hiring a contractor with more experience installing marble generally and IKEA cabs in particular (he has them in his own very chic loft : )).

With the 3cm marble, at least, as it turns out the only real issue to worry about -- if you are the worrying type -- is the sink cabinet, as the wood piece at center front that spans the cab (and is in front of the sink) will give a bit if you push down on it, and ultimately it has to support that thin piece of stone counter in front of the sink. It is more of a problem with the 36 cab than the 30 inch cab, though. As we have the 36, and I wanted no problems, we solved the issue by reinforcing that one piece of the cab with a metal bar installed horizontally just underneath it. The "bar" we used is available from IKEA, and is ordinarily used as part of the 4-drawer 36" cab to give that cab additional support/stability. Once installed, it completely stabilized that part of the cab and it would no longer bounce when pushed on.

We did not use underlayment for our marble, and they are doing very well. We had no problems with clearance; at least with our cabs, there is a tiny bit of space between the tops of the drawers and the counters, so they clear without any interference. I have had to walk on the counters to finish painting in the kitchen, and my contractor, a big 6'6 guy, has also had to walk on them to put shelves up and stuff -- no problems (though we avoid standing on the sink area or the area over the DW as those are the weaker parts).

That said, with 2cm stone --particularly marble, which is more fragile than granite -- I would be inclined to use a plywood underlayment; you could conceal the edge by painting it to match the stone or perhaps by using edge banding. I really like the look of the thinner counters; I almost regret not having picked that myself. I think it looks more fresh and modern.

[yankeelawyer]

Also, one more thing..

After my initial panic, thanks to contractor #1, about the IKEA cabs, I found that his concerns were for the most part baseless, and not only am I thrilled with the cabs, but I have gotten tons of compliments on the kitchen from friends and other contractors (one of whom phoned me out of the blue recently to say how impressed he was with the cabs and to ask all the details because he was going to recommend them to a client).