When Wayne Minde's client approached him about creating a lighted vanity top for her bathroom, the remodeler stepped up to the challenge. The president of Tri-Lite Builders, Chandler, Ariz., called his Avonite fabricator, and the two set out to make a translucent countertop from the solid surfacing material.
To achieve the opaque appearance, the fabricator did not use the regular hardening ingredient in the countertop. "This means the top is susceptible to scratches, but the countertop can be restored to original appearance by sanding," Minde says.
The project presented two major issues. First, the crew had to figure out how to support the countertop. Wood supports under the translucent top would have been visible when the lights were on. Minde chose to use 4-inch-wide Avonite supports in a pattern to create a decorative look.
The second challenge was creating an even glow under the entire vanity top. "We used two 18-inch and one 24-inch single tube fluorescent lights," Minde says. Two tubes were mounted on a shelf built into the back of the cabinet, directly underneath each sink, and one is in the center.
Remodeler Noah Blumberg also used Avonite solid surfacing to create a glowing vanity top (bottom photo). The owner of Ark Contracting in Washington, D.C., measured the surfaces and architect Rick Harlan Schneider of Inscape Studios ordered the material. The architect also specified the material for the kitchen counter and the cap piece on a newel post.
Blumberg glued down the weighty material using marine adhesive and installed florescent lights under the top portion of the vanity.
