kitchen design ideas black countertops
your new caesarstone benchtop begins at our warehouse where thousands of slabs are stored after arriving by sea from our overseas manufacturing plant. a storeman uses a barcode scanning systemto pin-point the exact location of your slab in the warehouse, including the specific colourand batch number assigned to your order. the slab is then loaded onto a truck usingan overhead gantry crane and tightly secured onto an a-frame for transportation to yourchosen stonemason. a check measure is done to work out the exactdimensions of your kitchen, including the placement of sinks, cooktops and overhangs. at form-rite, the fabrication process beginsby loading the uncut caesarstone slab onto
the production line using a vacuum lift system. an overhead camera captures an image of theslab which is used to plan out the position of the pieces needed to make the benchtop. the slab is then fed into a bridge saw, readyfor cutting. after the main pieces are cut, a vacuum lifton the cutting head is used to move large pieces before the saw begins to cut the mitre joins. a mitred apron allows you to create the appearance of a thicker edge profile without the added weight and cost of a solid slab. a constant flow of water keeps the blade andstone cool during the cutting process which
is later recycled and reused. once the cutting process is complete, the slabs are ejected from the machine and any offcuts are removed before a worker marks each matching side ready for gluing. special clamps are positioned along the edgeof the stone and colour matched glue is applied to the join before the pieces are alignedand the clamps are tightened. form-rite uses a special foam substrate which is glued down to reinforce the join and provide more surface area to help with installation. once the glue has dried, the caesarstone isflipped over and any excess glue is carefully
removed with a razor blade and the join isinspected. the caesarstone then moves onto the next stationwhere the edge will be cut and polished to the desired profile – in this case an arisedge design. a stonemason carries out this part of theprocess by hand over several stages using a wet edge polisher. computer software is used to program the cnccontouring machine to make the necessary cutouts for the sink, tap and cooktop. a plumb bob indicates where suction cups shouldbe placed then the vacuum lines are connected and the stone is lowered into place.
the machine selects the appropriate tool andstarts by making several shallow plug holes around the perimeter of the cut out whichwill later be used to attach the undermount sink. two holes are then cut into the stone – onefor the tap and another pilot hole which will be the starting point for the sink cut out. since the edge of the stone will be visiblewith an undermount sink, several polishing stages are then required to create a smooth,highly-polished finish which is then ready for installation. it takes three workers to lift the finishedbenchtop into place, ready for the installation of the undermount sink.
the sink is thoroughly cleaned and a beadof silicone is applied to the outer edge before being carefully aligned onto the undersideof the caesarstone benchtop. the sink is secured using mechanical fixingswhich are screwed into threaded plugs glued into the holes created earlier on the cncmachine. with the sink in place, the benchtop is flippedover and any excess silicone is removed. at this point, a plumber can install the tapthen a bead of adhesive is applied to the top of the kitchen cupboards before the caesarstonebenchtop is aligned into its final position. any small gaps are filled with colour-matched silicone and after a thorough clean the installation is complete.