Our home office is inching closer to completion every day, but ever since our beautiful marble-look-alike Formica (!!!) countertop arrived last week, we’ve been using it daily. Yes it’s laminate and yes, we love it. So I thought today I’ll share a few quick details about it and then as soon as I can decide on hardware for the standing desk, we’ll share the full tutorial on how we made the base from Ikea cabinets and Semihandmade doors.
The standing desk ended up being even taller than we had initially designed, but it’s perfect height for my elbows to rest at 90 degrees while standing. I love the ability to walk right up and answer a quick email, or if I’m going to be working for the long haul, I can have a seat in one of the extra tall barstools we found from AllModern (drool…I love them!) that can tuck completely under the desk for standing sessions. Which, by the way, I was surprised to find that after only an hour of standing, my legs needed a break! I’m working up to longer stretches.
I can’t tell you how overwhelmingly happy we are with the countertop and can barely believe ourselves that it’s laminate! We went with the Calacatta Marble in the Etchings finish from the 180fx collection by Formica. The 180fx collection takes true-to-scale high resolution stone (like marble) and wood patterns and makes them into a laminate product that looks so real for a fraction of the cost.
Normally, laminate’s edging is a dead giveaway. You know, that dark line at the top corner where the laminate top and side pieces meet–everyone knows it’s laminate from across the room. Luckily, Formica’s product has come a long way. After doing some research, I discovered they have a new decorating edging called, IdealEdge, that eliminates the flat edges and brown seams you see traditionally in laminate. We went with the IdealEdge in the Bullnose profile, but it’s also available in an Ogee edge.
The price is also a big selling point to laminate–we’re talking a couple hundred dollars compared to the thousands we would have paid for actual marble. But the price may vary slightly with fabricator in your area. We initially went through our local Lowe’s to purchase the Formica product and they had direct contacts to fabricators in the area. Or you can find a Formica brand retailer near you here.
We’ve had to put the office on the back-burner slightly since starting the One Room Challenge, but I promise a full (daytime!) shot for you as soon as we wrap up a few more details in here. Does this countertop make you a laminate convert or what?!
Ps. Check out how we DIYed the wall treatment in here in this post!
This post is in partnership with Formica. They donated the material and labor in exchange for us sharing our experience with all of you.Â
This is exactly what I want, but the sample they gave me does not have a white background like your’s, it is muted grey. Is your’s definitely a white background?
My mother has this exact counter in her kitchen. It is beautiful and has held up under LOTS of use. Not a scratch or stain on it after several years. The fabricator in our area was a dream to work with too! I love the idea of your tall desk/work station. Looks fab!!!
So sorry if I’m blind but I’m looking for more details (style, dimensions) on the base cabinet you used! Have you posted the final reveal for the office yet and I just missed it!?
We still haven’t shared an after photo, but you can see more about the cabinets here.
I have such a dumb question! I’m thinking about using these countertops for a desk we are building but all I’m finding are the laminate sheets which you stick onto an existing countertop. Is that what you all did? If so, what material was your original countertop?
We went through a local Formica fabricator. He first built the desktop frame out of particle board, then covered it with the Formica.
I’m surprised how prominent and not great the seam still looks with the light color. That corner doesn’t look quite lined up either, with a shadow on the vertical seam.
That being said, I had a light peachy/brown formica in my first house, and it was THE BEST. Couldn’t tell it was not stone, still holding up well to the renters who live there now. One of the smartest decisions the previous owners did to the place.
Agreed – the seams don’t look great. An improvement on the Formica of past decades, but it’s definitely visible.That being said, you do have to expect to make concessions when you’re cutting costs – I could live with the seam if I were doing a low-budget project.