Essential Tools for Corian DIY
Corian has long been my dream counter material for the boat. Something about the combination of durability and style has appealed to me ever since I heard about it. When we were first building the galley (back in 1992!) Corian was only available as an installed product - you could not buy sheets of the stuff. So we put in ceramic tile and sailed merrily along for over 2 decades.
When our friends David and Alison redid their kitchen, they graciously offered us their old Corian counters for use in the boat. The switch was on! (If you don’t have friends with a timely kitchen upgrade, you can also find sheets and remnants at a number of places, including Solidsurface.com. You also might try Craigslist or even Facebook marketplace, or talk to a local contractor who does kitchen renos. You might save some Corian from a landfill.)
Finally, we’ve started working on the counters. And as with most projects, having the right tools is key. It took a little bit of trial and error, but we’ve come up with a list of essential tools for the Corian DIYer. (Links may be Amazon links: as an Amazon affiliate, I earn through qualifying purchases.)
Safety gear. Corian cuts pretty easily but the dust amount is ridiculous. Having a really good dust mask is imperative; we keep our COVID masks separate from the masks we use when working on the counters. I’d also highly recommend a set of headphones to cut down on the noise factor. In addition, whoever is doing the actual cutting should very much be wearing eye protection. Those shards can be SHARP.
Missing his ear protection here.
Dust limitation. Having a decent shop vac running (if your saw or router does not have an attachable dust removal hose) means the amount of “snow” left on the floor is reduced. Given how much is left even with the shop vac running at close quarters, I can’t imagine what would be there if we didn’t have it. NOTE: this will NOT be coming with us cruising, but it’s one of those pieces of kit that is so useful to have when doing this amount of work on the boat. Thank goodness we’ve got the OPO garage to stash it in!
Cutting gear. Though we tried a jigsaw successfully on a test cut, later research told us this is a bad idea. The jigsaw works basically by repeatedly bashing a blade into the material, like a jackhammer, risking cracking the Corian. Jeremy used both a router (lowering the blade on each of about 6 successive passes) and a circular saw. Both tools are fabulous. We’ve got both a corded router and a brand new cordless one. The corded one is more powerful but the cordless one is variable speed. The cordless one will be making the “coming aboard” cut.
Special blades/bits. Corian is very hard material, almost stone-like in many ways. It does, though, cut relatively easily - IF you have the right blades. For the circular saw, a finishing blade is ideal. For the router, while you can buy Corian-specific bits, you can also get a set of carbide blade woodworking bits and replace them as needed (this option is far less costly).
Sink cutout, in progress!
A couple things to be aware of with Corian.
It’s really heavy. Yes, these are 1/2 inch counters, and you can definitely get 1/4 inch size which would likely halve the weight. Still. Heavy.
If you’re planning on cutouts (lift-off lids for under counter storage), plan on needing extra material. As you can see from the above photo, it would be almost impossible to use the material you’re removing to form the lid for the opening. Luckily, we’ve got lots of extra on hand. This is not something we’d have thought about, though, if we were ordering material from a store.
Working with this new-to-us material has had a bit of a learning curve, and it takes a lot of time to get it all done carefully and well. Still, we’ve done one test fit and can’t wait to bring it all down for a final install. New counters for the win!
Test fit with only the sink opening cut out.
All cut outs done!