Wow! That's just beautiful!!!

Wow wow! And HOW did you do that edge? Name of stain? How many layers of waterlox? Details, please! This is gorgeous.

can you post pictures of your sink also?

Wow! That's gorgeous! Thanks for posting.

Holy Smokes! God, I wish my husband would let me put in wood countertops. Seriously. Rather have that than granite anyday.

Wow, I wasn't expecting any response! The countertop is Ikea beach and I stained it with a stain that my cabinet maker came up with to match my floors. I streaked it with a rag when I applied it so it was uneven. Sorry, no name or formula. I treated the counters with one coat of Benite sealer prior to staining, three coats of Waterlox original and three coats of Waterlox satin. I had a problem with the satin and finally got it to look right by using a lambswool applicator. The sink countertop will be installed tomorrow. I'll post more photos for those that are interested. My husband did the edge with a router bit and did the sink hole with the same bit. In my opinion, it looks amazing.

Wow, is that beautiful! I wish you knew something about what kind of stain it is, though. I'd never guess that was BB under there--it looks like hardwood all the way.

Stunning! I was just dreaming of a wood surface for my island at a reasonable price. Can't wait to see the sink side once that install is done. You and DH are talented.

How did you get the color so even? It looks beautiful. I thought beech was difficult to stain because it gets blotchy. I could be mistaken it for maple or something else though.

I love it! You just gave me a preview of what our island/peninsula/thingee might look like, as we are doing the same thing, basically, including the routered edge!

If ours looks even *almost* as yummy as yours, I will be thrilled! It is SCRUMPTIOUS!

Do you think that a handyman or contractor could do that beautiful router edge or only an experienced carpenter? Do you need a special table as well as a router to create that edge? Where to buy a router bit like yours? I can't wait to see pictures of your sink, I think this is one I am going to copy. Imagine this on an island! If you can find out anything about the stain, that would be greatly appreciated (oil or water based, manufacturer of the "base").

One more question- how are you handling the seams, if you have any?

That is STUNNING! Very nice job.

Absolutely gorgeous!!!! What a fantastic job. Can't wait to see some additional photos!

Thank you again for the compliments! I just checked the can and the stain is by ML Campbell, Woodsong II. The stain is oil based. The color is a custom mix my cabinet maker and I came up with for my cabinets. It's basically cherry stain with a lot of brown mixed in, which we now call "Browner Cherry" because I kept asking him to add more brown.

My husband is an experienced wood worker and a great finish carpenter, but doesn't do it for a living. He told me he used a 1/2" round over bit on the first pass on the edge and then an Ogee router bit for the second pass. I can get the model number of the bits if anyone needs them after he gets home from work. The sink hole was harder and took some time to get right.
To finish the countertops I first sealed them with Benite. Then I applied two coats of stain, the first with a brush that turned out all blotchy and then I flooded the surface with stain and hand wiped with a rag. I attempted to "streak" the surface so the wood would look more like the higher end wood countertops I've seen. I sort of faux finished them, I guess.

Then I did three coats of Waterlox original with a foam brush. They looked amazing, just way too shiny for my taste. I lightly sanded in between coats.

Then the nightmare began. I did a coat of Waterlox Satin with a foam brush. The countertop was splotchy and there were bumps in it. I posted on GW about my troubles. I finally got the surface right after another two coats of Satin, another coat of Original and then a two more coats of Satin. The final two coats were applied with a lambswood applicator. So there are a grand total of 10 coats of Waterlox on the counters. They feel great and don't look plastic-y close up.

Here are some photos of the sink hole (before and after) and another photo of the countertop that is installed.

As for seams, each countertop is 6 feet long which a stock size Numerar, so there aren't any seams. I have these countertops for my laundry room also that form an "L". I'm not sure how my husband will handle the seam in there, probably biscuit join and glue them so the seam will be tight.

Thanks again for the nice responses!

Reshal, thanks for the information! THose pictures are amazing. Tell your husband that he does great work! How long do you have to wait between each coat of waterlox, how long total did the process take you? Would you repeat the same process?

Thanks for the additional info and pictures, reshal. I still can't get over what a beautiful job you did!

oh my GOD. that is insanely GORGEOUS! would it be really silly to use that in a laundry room??

reshal: i just read the above and you wrote you have this in your laundry. will you post back and let us know how it's holding up in there? does the waterlox protect against detergents and bleach? and one more ?, if you don't mind: would you share a pic of the laundry room as well? thanks so much for sharing such great info!

Those are some of the most gorgeous counters I've ever seen anywhere, and there's been a lot of photos just on GW alone. You and your DH should be patting yourselves on the back for such an amazing end result!

Thank you again everyone. I just forwarded a link to this page to my DH so he can read all your kind comments. It will make his day as there were several four letter words that came out of his mouth while doing that sink hole! :)

scrappy25: I waited 24 hours between each coat. I would do the same process again with the exception of only 3 coats of Waterlox Original with a foam brush, then 2 coats of Satin applied with a lambswool applicator. I had to do so many coats on these counters because I had to keep trying different ways of applying the Waterlox until I got it right. I tried a foam brush, natural bristle paintbrush, hand wiping, and the lambswool. The total process took some time due to my trial and error of application, so I worked on them about 2 weeks.

kateskouros: I will post photos of the laundry room counters when they are done. I'm not going to stain them dark like the ones for the kitchen, probably keep them natural and do the same Waterlox process. I have a sample piece that I did for the kitchen counters that I can do a bleach and liquid laundry soap test on for you and post back the results.

One more thing, I just realized I overstated the price. They weren't $215 each as I originally estimated. The counters were $129 each, less my 10% off coupon, so we paid $252 for both with tax. One quart can of Waterlox Original and one quart of the Satin was $69 with shipping. The applicators were $10. Grand total was approx $331 or $165 for each 6' countertop. A great deal!

Have a great day everyone!

I have to add my compliments as well. We too were thinking of going this route, but I didnÂt know IKEA could look that good!

Most of your photos are showing pretty dark  but one shows a lot lighter and more red. IÂm guessing this is closer to the true color?

I like both your floors and your counters. What are the floors??? Are you going to mix more color or do you already have enough? Maybe you can start to sell this to us? We can call it ReshalÂs Browner Cherry. IÂll be your first client! :-)

Jeri

Jeri: The color is a medium to dark brown/red. My camera is the worst for showing true color, but if I had to pick a photo that is the truest it would have to be the one that shows the sink hole and the whole countertop. The floors and the counters look dark brown at night like the darker photos, even with all the lights on. The one photo that is a lot lighter is actually lighter than the stain, I was trying to show the streaking.

The floors are great! They are by MWF (Max Windsor), Alexander Hand Scraped, Cafe Latte. I live in Washington and I shopped floors for a long time. When I finally decided on the Max Windsors I shopped the price. The best price I could find was $5.99 a foot. I buy all my interior finishes at wholesale, and even the wholesale price was above $5.99. Then I found them at floorone.com for $4.99 a foot. I was worried about ordering wood from an online dealer that I didn't have any experience with, but they have been great and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a great price and great customer service. If you contact them they will send you a sample. Here is a photo from their website that is close to the true color of the floors. The counters are darker.

As for the stain, I used the last of it on the handrails for our front staircase. Actually I was scraping the bottom of the can! If I have more made, I'll let you know and offer to mail you a sample!

Here is a link that might be useful: MWF Cafe Latte Hardwoods

That is drop-dead-gorgeous! You MUST enter that in the "IKEA makeover" thread GW called for.

Thanks Reshal for the flooring info  I book marked it. 7" wide! I love that! How were yours installed? I have to either float or glue.

Jeri: My floors were nailed over wood subfloor, but you can float, glue or nail these floors. My next door neighbors bought the same flooring in a different color and installed it over radiant heat floors with a bead of wood glue in the tongue and groove.

Just curious...is there a reason you went with the beech instead of the birch? Also, any reason to sand the counters before you start applying anything?

Thanks!

These are gorgeous!

Mahlgold: I did not sand the countertops prior to applying anything. The first coat was Benite, which is a wood sealer that raises some of the grain. I sanded after the Benite. Between the coats of Waterlox I sanded if I had particles that landed on the surface during drying time.

I chose beech because I was told it's harder than birch. The beech took my stain really well also, I'm not sure the birch would do the same.

Annie.zz: Thank you!

Hi reshal --

I bookmarked your stunning and generous-hearted explanation of how to transform Ikea beech, and now -- nearly a year later -- I am ready to try to replicate your success.

The search function on the Kitchen Forum is not working so I cannot tell whether you have posted any updates. I would be most grateful to hear and/or see how your counters are holding up. Many thanks.

Reshal: It has been years since you installed your butcher block counters and I was wondering how they were holding up? Water spots? Scratches...etc.....I'm in love with your treatment of these counters. I love how expensive they look considering how inexpensive they are. If I had unlimited funds and was in our "forever home" I would love to have a kitchen exactly like yours white kitchen, marble, soapstone, butcher block all my favorite things. But we are in our starter home which will be our next 5-10 years home so I dont want or have the ability to spend the money on marble or soapstone so Ikea butcher block will be it. BUT I still want to have an expensive looking kitchen. I am hoping to get our butcher block soon and I want to try your treatment. This Benite sealer? Where did you get it? Why did you use it prior to staining? Do you think that helped you achieve the "faux" finish you were going for? In your opinion would that be a must do for me to attempt to copy your results? Any advice you have would be great! Love your kitchen! Thanks for posting! :) PS: What did you end up going with for your backsplash?

I know this is an old post but I hope you still respond. I love your counter tops! We just purchased the Ikea butcher block counter tops as well and would love to create that same look you did. I am having a hard time figuring out the size etc of the router bits as there are so many. Can you please ask your husband which ones he used. Size model# etc would be a huge help. It is such an important part of the look I do not want to mess it up! It would be great if he could give some instructions on the process. Thanks for your time!

kperki:

He used an ogee bit to create that profile. You're going to want a router that will accept a bit with a 1/2" shank diameter.

Make several passes and go a little deeper each time for best results. Test the depth of the final pass on a scrap. Remember, the bearing just follows the cut-out, so your final result will show any whoop-dees. Get the cut-out perfect before profiling.

I've bought bits from these guys for years. You'll want the 230-415:

Here is a link that might be useful: Ogee

This post was edited by Trebruchet on Sun, Mar 23, 14 at 16:46

Thank you Trebruchet,
This will be my first routing project so I will practice first! She said that he used a 1/2 round over first pass. So since I am new to this router business I want to make sure I am understanding this correctly. I do the first round over pass and that gives me that nice curved edge. Then I make several passes with the 230-415 and that doesn't touch the curved edge already made it works on the wood below it so you get that double curved edge? I have been scouring the Internet to figure this out but it is a little confusing to me using the two bits..I prefer the edge to be curved at the top and not have that little flat square edge before the curve and then if possible another curve if that makes sense! Thank You again!

The only thing a 1/2" roundover on a first pass is going to do is make it a little easier to cut the profile. It really isn't necessary to buy another bit; the 230-415 will cut that profile by itself.

Practice adjusting the bit on scrap. You'll do fine.

Thank you so much!!