Among the many advantages that solid surface materials offer to countertop fabricators is the
relative ease of creating a wide variety of decorative edge details. In this regard, solid surface
materials are more versatile than other countertop materials, with the possibilities limited only by
the imagination of the designer, fabricator or homeowner. However, a few "favorite themes"
have emerged as the industry has matured. Recently, I randomly selected 100 solid surface
countertops with fabricated decorative edges that I've inspected in the past year, and compiled
a list of all of the different edge details involved. This column describes a representative sample
of northern California installations completed by dozens of fabricators.
It's no surprise that the most common edge detail I observed was also among the easiest to
fabricate, and the one commonly sold by fabricators at no extra charge. I'm referring to a simple
rectangular apron edge, fabricated out of the same color solid surface material as the rest of the
countertop, and usually measuring 1-1/4" or 1-1/2" thick. This edge occurred in nearly one third
(32 percent) of the installations I inspected. The edge detail is finished off with a routed
roundover on the top and sometimes the bottom, and the radius of this roundover varies from a
barely perceptible 1/16", for a visually square appearance, to as much as 1/2", for a much
softer, more rounded appearance.
One variation that occurred in three percent of the installations was a 45° bevel on the top edge
rather than a radiused roundover. This edge creates extra visual interest, as the bevel travels
along radiused inside and outside corners. Occasionally, a fabricator will bevel the outside
corners in two dimensions, creating a distinctive faceted effect. The edge called either the full
bullnose or the 180° radius occurred 16 percent of the time. Most fabricators charge extra for
this, because it usually requires more labor to cut and glue up, more precise router work and
more extensive sanding than a simple rectangular apron. Routed Roman ogee or standard ogee
edges occurred 19 percent of the time. Use of these routed profiles adds visual interest and a
more classical look, but I've had a number of customers comment that this type of edge is more
difficult to keep clean, because kitchen grime tends to accumulate in the recesses of these
profiles.
A simple way to add dramatic visual interest to a countertop is to build up a decorative edge
with three stacked layers of solid surface material, with the middle layer made of a contrasting
color or pattern. This technique was used in 14 percent of the installations. Often, the accent
color was selected to match or complement other design elements in the kitchen - paint or
wallpaper, cabinet pulls or plumbing fixtures. One benefit to the fabricator is that the color shift
tends to conceal an occasional minor imperfection in the seam between the layers that make up
the edge.
In 16 percent of the countertops, a decorative wood accent to match the cabinets was
incorporated into the edge detail. Most of the time, the species was red oak, although I saw
both maple and cherry, as well. I also observed one installation where a polished brass inlay
was used and another where brightly colored acrylic was used. For reasons of structural
integrity, a wood accent should be in the form of an inlay into the front of a thick edge, built up
ahead of time out of solid surface material, rather than a piece of solid wood sandwiched
between two separate pieces of solid surface material. Because wood expands and contracts
significantly with changes in moisture (whereas solid surface materials expand and contract with
changes in temperature), a sandwiched assembly may well be an unstable one. This is critical,
since a kitchen countertop must withstand dramatic changes in moisture and temperature. In
one case, a serious problem developed when a fabricator combined an oak inlay with a large
routed Roman ogee profile. The routed ogee pattern left a very narrow and sharp fin of solid
surface material sitting just above the oak. The look was nice, but in service in a working
kitchen, the shortcoming quickly emerged. Any glancing impact chipped the edge right where
the thin piece of solid surface material met the wood.
The most notable statistic I gleaned from this survey is that almost two thirds of these
installations (66 percent)were fabricated out of a single pattern or color of solid surface
material. The remaining third included two or more colors of solid surface material, or
incorporated other materials such as wood, metal or acrylic into the edge detail. I've long
observed that people tend to be pretty conservative when making kitchen design decisions. An
overly flamboyant shirt can be retired to the closet, but most people only have one kitchen, and
they expect it to serve them for years or even decades. In my view, special congratulations are
in order for the three percent of customers who select a decorative edge that is knock-your-
socks-off distinctive.
