Question Building a design counter for new store front and wondering what to use????

[Modigity]

I am building some counters at the store fron I am opening and wondering what I should for counter tops? I have design counters in my shop but there I just use solid core doors and they are perfect but not quite as wide as I want and a little more hokey than I would want for a public place. Any suggestion on what you use or where to get em. I thinking finished birch flooring would be nice almost the perfect size in a single sheet but if anyone else had any idea would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Pangolin]

When I bought my shop the previous owner had "standard" cabinets for the bases and carpeted particle board tops. I HATED that stupid carpet. Glitter, his old nasty coffee, and all manner of other things were ground into it, and they looked terrible by the time I had them.

When I moved to my new shop, we made tabletops from Brazilian Cherry hardwood flooring with golden oak edges out of half-round moulding. After several coats of matte finish polyurethane, they hold up well, are very pretty on their own, but also a subtle enough color that the frame samples show up on them when I'm designing. I re-used the cabinet bases, but paited them black so they blend in with the other fixtures I have.

 

[troyveluz]

My design table top is made of 3/4 birch plywood, stained and 3 coats of satin poly. I glued/laminated 2 pine boards, one 3.5inches and one 5.5 inches wide to create a rabbet. Made a frame frame out of the pine boards then slipped the plywood inside, glue and screw from the bottom.

It works well for me the only thing I would change is the color of the stain that I used. If I had to redo the top, I would stain it a more neutral color