kitchen counter tops

[r00ster88]

we have had a flood in our kitchen, while repairing it we want to upgrade the countertops. how do I remove the counter tops.
my home is a 1999 model. with the usual cheap cabinets and counter tops. we are planning on painting the cabinets, and putting premade formica tops with the built in back splash (the kind you get from lowes). we can use any help and tips you have. thanks in advance

[Yanita]

Hi,

Look under the cabinets you should see some screws that go up into a ledger board into the cabinets. The problem we ran into was that our counter top had also been glued to the ledger board. If you have a back splash already that may very well be glued as well, hence removal creates smone wall damage that will also need repairing. There are also little clips under the sink that keep that snug to the counter top.

Once you remove your counter top you will find your cabinets are sructurally weak. You may want to re enforce them.

Yanita

[dalepres]

The only problem we had in doing that was that the walls weren't straight, square, or strong enough to make square. We couldn't even use caulking because as we tried to caulk the paneling would give and move. We had to cover the paneling with water resistant dry wall (the green stuff) to get a solid surface on which to attach and seal the backsplashes.