When we are frustrated, my friend Pete and I always joke that we're going to quit construction and open a yogurt stand. A couple of guys in Ann Arbor, MI, beat us to it. Fortunately, they called me to design and build their countertop.

I was referred to these guys through www.servicemagic, so I didn't really know what I was getting into. They are in their late twenties/early thirties, one owns another business and the other works white-collar at General Motors and (ding! ding! ding! warning! warning!) they are acting as their own General Contractors. After our first meeting, looking at the prints, I pointed out that the architect they hired had only drawn a half wall where the top should be and no clue or other details existed. "We want it to look like Pinkberry (yogurt chain on the coasts)!" they said excitedly. They emailed me some Pinkberry links, where I saw beautiful shop-built refrigeration and service counter units. These guys have purchased portable refrigeration units to park behind the wall and want a top to cover them. I explain this can be done, but to span the 48" machines, we will need a custom steel frame:



That's 16 gauge 1" square tube steel with the welds ground flat and powder coated. The top frame has male cleats welded at the legs, so the top of the legs can be cut to exact height. The tab on the bottom has a hole for a Tap Con into the floor.



The lower top at the wall is for the cash register, then the yogurt machine cut-out then fifteen cutouts for toppings. The large opening is a parking space for the gelatto machine, peeking out in the left of the picture. This is all White Meganite. 



A smaller frame holds the cash register top, supported by the wall, the half wall and the leg. It's at 35 1/2" high, the main top is 37". I cross cut the Meganite at 44" on the main top to make my seams. You're seaming through a cut-out on this job, no matter how you slice it.

I offered these guys a 1/4" Plexiglas sneeze guard several weeks ago and they turned up their noses. Now they want me to drill my top and install one they purchased on the internet. I explained that we can't screw into the top directly, expecially with the temperature extremes of this job. We'll figure something out and it's going to cost extra.

The customer side edge cantilevers the wall and the apron covers the blocking. They are talking about installing lights to illuminate the half wall, but are already over budget.

I know we can't talk about our prices here, but I can talk about the other bid they got which was $6,700.00. He was lower than me, but couldn't do it in time.

Opening a yogurt stand in this ecomomy would normally be suicide, but the rich kids at the University of Michigan don't have to phone home for permission to make a purchase. Brilliant.

Joe

"and install one they purchased on the internet. I explained that we can't screw into the top directly"

Joe,
you can screw directly into the suface if you use some of these Squirrel fixin's which were invented and patented by Kevin Hoy of Cutting Edge an English CORIAN Fabricator -
http://www.squirrels-uk.com/
Try them - you'll find them indispensible - we do. (drop me a line with your box no. or address and I'll send you a few to try).

Patrick

Patrick:

Thanks for the link, I forwarded same to my clients.

Joe

Hey Joe, did you make the square cutouts an inch thick? Looks like a lot of work. Also, was that a separate apron attached to the front, customer side.

Posted By Andy on 16 Apr 2009 12:27 AM
Hey Joe, did you make the square cutouts an inch thick? Looks like a lot of work. Also, was that a separate apron attached to the front, customer side.

Andy:

Every cutout on this job got a 1/2" x 1" drop edge. I didn't want the steel "exposed" and the edges make for a very rigid top, especially considering the 48" spans on this job.



This is how I made the edges for the topping cutouts. I glued together a box then cross-cut it into fifteen 1/2" x 1" square sets of edges. I glued the squares into place, roughed out the opening with a jig saw, and finished with a bearing cutter. Yea, it was a lot of work.

The front edge detail is (2) 1/2" x 1" rips glued together and stacked vertically with a 5" apron behind. All have a 1/4" radius edge.

Joe

I assume they put those little trays in the holes that have to fit pretty tight. How in the world did you get the holes to line up and look straight. I hope you charged enough for it.

Posted By Andy on 17 Apr 2009 12:44 PM
I assume they put those little trays in the holes that have to fit pretty tight. How in the world did you get the holes to line up and look straight. I hope you charged enough for it.

Andy:

I made a luan replication of my steel frame so I couldn't screw up the cut-out placement, then hot melted luan to hold the squares in place for gluing. I did all right on this one.

Joe

I know how hard it is to line up those square holes and get them looking right. Doesn't seem to hard after it's done but you get one square a little crooked and the whole top looks like crap.

I had a challenging job between Christmas and New Years.  A Dairy Queen remodel.  They only wanted to be closed down for 4 days.  That meant that I didn't have the luxury of templating after tear out and then start building. 

I worked closely with the cab shop and they furnished a drawing of the anticipated finished top.  Ultimately it was not going to be resting on any cabinet at all.  It will be setting approximately 6" above a 7" wide cinder block wall.

We decided that a steel support frame would be in order.  The support frame would get bolted to legs that were bolted to the cinder block wall.

As Joe did in the yogurt stand, I made a luan template to build the frame to so that I would be sure that it matched the top correctly.

The only given reference points I could build the top around was the two ends of the "L" in relation to the inside corner of the block wall and the squareness of the block wall.

There is a non supporting filler that the cab shop put in to fill between the top of the existing block wall and the bottom of the frame.


Section three is a lowered area for ADA



Got my frame and counters in, in two days (many delays in working with the other trades that needed access) and they were open on the 5th day.

Really glad this one is done.

Johnny C
 

Johnny:

 

Great job.

 

These time-limit jobs can really throw the price-shoppers into a tizzy. Should they go with a proven guy at a fair price and meet the deadline or should they try out an unproven newbie who promises the same at a discount?

 

I let 'em squirm.

 

Joe 

How did it all fit together?

Posted By Andy on 13 Jan 2010 03:23 PM
How did it all fit together?

As well as I had hoped.  The large deck has a site seam between the "L" corner and the first register well.  The ADA counter simply sits in the steel frame cradle and the large top rests on top and the edge overlaps it.  I made end panels for the ADA section to conceal the metal frame.

Johnny C

Both of these jobs really show what can be done with SS. Great jobs !

Johnny,
Your detail with notation and pictures on your posts, weather it be this one or your repair jobs is by far better then any fabrication manual in publication that I have read.

Posted By Gene McDonald on 13 Jan 2010 06:39 PM

Great work..love how you explain right on the freaking pics...cool work!!!!!

If you want to add text to picture with arrows and the like, try this program www.Snagit.com

Works like a charm and it is simple to use.

When I did that marble repair today, it was right down the street from the yogurt stand I did two years ago. Thought I'd see what it looked like completed:






That's what $3.18 cents will get you. They misdrilled the sneeze guard and filled the holes with white silicone, now contaminated. That's a napkin, not a crack in the top.

Joe

Still looks nice. That yogurt looks delicious.