Plumbing Blog

hello, my name is matt, i’m the assistant manager for hannapel home center. I get this question alot. Just un screw the screws from the underside inside the cabinets. i wouldn’t remove the tile from the top, just leave it on. if it is tiled to the wall, then you will have to break the seam that runs the wall. but i’d just get some strong people around and unscrew the top and take it all out at once tile and all.

I think that if you remove the screws first, you should be able to lift the counter top right off the cabinets in one piece. Usually, they are just attached with screws from the inside of the cabinets going into the underside of the countertop. Use a chisel to break up and of the grout gluing the tiles to the wall.

You will first need to remove the tile so that you can get the weight of the countertop down so that you can handle it when you get ready to remove the rest of the countertop.

You can get a “Flat Bar” or wide chisel and a hammer and just start at an edge of the countertop and start prying the tile up. And using the chisel and a hammer it will come up pretty quick since it has laminate under the tile.

To remove the sink you will need pipe wrenches and a regular screw driver. Turn off the water valves, Loosen the supply lines going to the faucet and make sure they are not leaking. Then remove the drain lines. IF you have a garbage disposal you might not have to disconnect the electrical line if it is long enough to remove the disposal and set on the bottom of the cabinet.
You can then remove the small clamps around the bottom side of the sink and then lift the sink out.

After that you can remove the countertop laminate. But be ready for a very long and slow process. The laminate will want to break into a million pieces! and it is very sharp so becarefull it WILL cut you.

The best way to get past this is to remove THE whole counter top DECK (The Plywood top) it comes off pretty easier and the laminate will remain on it. By far the easiest way and will cause a lot less mess and take 1/10th of the time.

Just Carefully pry up the countertop deck and work it off the top of the cabinet. It may have been installed in several pieces so it should be easy to manage.