MDF Countertops?

[Davej]

I first came across ' exterior ' grade mdf about 10 years or more ago , a firm i was working for was doing 2 shop fronts in different locations , the one i did was for a chemist very close to the sea, it was an old fashioned style frontage and i used ply and it still looks good to this day , the other joiner did a similar style frontage 4 miles inland and used 'exterior' mdf for all the panels ,after less than 2 years it was absolutely rotten and had to be totally replaced . Needless to say i wouldnt touch it for exterior work but thats just my experience and maybe its better now but i still wouldnt trust it , after all its just glorified compressed cardboard

 

[srzsrz]

I like IKEA wood countertops. In my current apartment, I have a big freestanding IKEA kitchen cabinet. I went to the local IKEA several times over the course of two months, hearing every time that they had run out of the top that went with the cabinet I wanted. At one point, I got fed up. I bought a full sized wood countertop and talked the panel saw dude at the Home Depot across the street into chopping a piece off.

This solution worked, sort of. IKEA wood countertops are amazingly cheap, and they are almost as good as the wood countertops you buy elsewhere. I say almost because the problem comes in if you cut off a piece. IKEA strictly only makes the top and sides look nice. The bottom will have shoddy filling and the internal will have lots of odd sized pieces and voids.

In my case, that was no problem, since one side of the countertop was right up against a wall. But in a situation where you want an IKEA countertop that is shorter than size the panel comes in, and just chopping a bit off would lead to the sawed face being exposed, you'll probably want to take a piece out of the middle and glue the ends back together.

All of this is of course a big tangent and entirely off topic since you are apparently fine with MDF, and IKEA countertops, with or without slightly messy cut faces, are a big step up from there.

 

[Sparktrician]

There are some other options here. 

 

[rmwarren]

I basically dropped the MDF idea a while back. I did look at the countertops available from Lumber Liquidators yesterday, they are nice however there have some filled voids on the "Good" side that turn me off a bit. The filler is pink & looks for all the world like Bondo. I assume it can be tinted and won't really be a big issue, but in some of the online feedback there is mention of interior voids as well.

Grizzly also sells nice maple tops, similar to Global, but in my use I want a medium brown so if I go this route it would be either the beech, cherry or walnut options form Ikea or Lumber Liquidators.

Bottom line is I have not pulled the trigger on this but MDF is off the table.

Thanks for all the input.

RMW

 

[JasonSerpent]

A bit late to the Party,
I could strongly suggest the Valchromat,
We have used the material both as worktop and also as our living-room table.
My other half use it regularly in consumer areas (interior architect)

Several ways can be used to 'close' the material and we have found that a combination of Osmo Top oil with a finish of Osmo hard wax –satin works.
For heavy 'traffic' an Epoxy compound could be used.
We have used Bona varnish just as a test and it works well with a well sanded (>600 gritt paper) board even if the board has been oiled or waxed.

 

[leer]

RMW,

Sounds like you have decided against MDF, but if you might still consider it, I'd avoid water-based anything as a finish.  To seal it I'd use a regular wipe-on poly instead.

I didn't see a mention in the posts of overall size you want, but I bought a birch laminated workbench top at Woodcraft this summer for $100 on sale.  It measures 27" X 60" and is 1-1/2" thick.  Perhaps overkill or more than you want to spend, but something like this would make a really nice top for desk or hobby use, besides being a nice top for a workbench.