New Countertop and Sink

* This is part of our 2017 Renovation Series

Old Countertop

New CounterTop!

One of the best investments that we have made was to ditch the old countertop and stove for an updated countertop, faucet and sink. This gave us a lot more room to work and more space to store. This is an Ikea faux concrete countertop that was a breeze to install. Keep reading to see the old look, instructions for installing and what we paid.

As you can see from the above picture, there is almost zero useable countertop space. This Airstream / Argosy has a stovetop (no oven) and a double sink. Totally insane to have a double sink in a trailer with only one small counter! This countertop needed to be replaced because the previous owner had a water leak & the laminate counter was crumbling underneath.

New countertop before sink installation.

Read about our previous Countertop adventures!

We tried to order a custom laminate countertop but it was too expensive & the staff at Home Depot kept putting the order off. They make commission and they were too good to order a laminate Countertop for a camper. I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating those employees were. They saw us coming and would take every other customer before helping us. Enough was enough so we decided to buy from IKEA.

The problem with the Airstream / Argosy counters is that a standard size laminate doesn’t fit. A normal size stock countertop is 25 5/8 depth. For an Airstream / Argosy counter, you need 26 1/2 depth. The IKEA laminate countertops are normal stock size. … but we have a plan to adjust our countertop. We added a piece of Barnwood up against the wall to make up for the gap left from the countertop. Stay tuned!

Barnwood from Home Depot

After a lot of discussion, we decided on the faux concrete laminate from IKEA: Ekbacken Concrete Effect Countertop. We thought the faux concrete will give our Airstream / Argosy the right mix of man cave and fish camp.

To follow the 2017 Renovations, read details on each step and the final reveal: 2017 Complete Renovations.

This is also a great time to mention that I am trying to keep everything as original as possible. The countertop was not original and it was deteriorating so it had to go.

Ekbacken Concrete Effect Countertop up close.

We made the decision to remove the stove top & double sinks as well. We will not be replacing the stove top (we never had an oven). We will use an induction burner instead for those times we need a pot on the stove.

Whoa! Lots of construction in the kitchen!

The double sinks are going away as well. We are replacing them with a single circular bar sink. We bought it from Amazon Warehouse for $40 but IKEA also had new ones for the same price: round or square. The double sinks were 25″ width and this circular sink is 16″ wide. I will gain tons of countertop space!

It’s bigger than my head but worked out great!

Since the original sink (pictured above) we bought was way too large, I found a copper sink that our son thinks looks like a golf ball. I ordered it from Amazon & it arrived two days later…. but there is a problem with this sink. It is just too small. It’s going to get installed in our renovated Argosy bathroom instead. Eventually. The big round sink? Well, it’s getting installed after all.

Our new copper “golf ball” sink.

Just a little too small & no mounting hardware.

Buying a new faucet proved to be a pain in the rear as well!!! Who knew that faucets were soooo expensive! I knew I wanted a gooseneck faucet and my husband refuses to buy the Peerless brand (sold at Walmart) so we picked up a new faucet from Home Depot under $100 and more than $50.