Glass High Bars with LED’s and Cantilevered Supports.

At Downing Designs, a very popular seller continues to be our Glass High Bars with LED’s. They add an element of distinction to any kitchen while at the same time extending the usable surface area of the kitchen via our custom cantilevered supports.

With just two supports we have successfully mounted many large glass high bars that are over 115″ long. The transformation of the kitchen is amazing and can be seen in the following photographs of kitchens designed to accommodate our high bars with bar stools.

A few distinguishing elements of note as you are looking at our installation photos and videos:

1. We minimize the LED wiring by first hiding it inside the stainless cover, and then threading it through a hole drilled into the back of the support and down through the countertop to the cabinet below. Sleek.
2. We use a slim 1/2″ x 1/4″ brushed stainless LED cover tailored to fit your glass top. The beauty of this is that on a 1.5″ thick glass countertop, you still get to see through 1.0″  or 2/3 of the polished glass. This is important as during the day, the glass edges can glow with any moderate ambient lighting, and is simply, naturally beautiful. Big cover plates are not for us…they simply hide the gorgeous hand-polished edge.
3. Simple, strong, elegant support design. Each is securely mounted with 3/8″ bolts that can handle 600 lbs each. Minimalist design but very robust.
4. Cool design to emulate the bow of a clipper ship, and, avoid your knees. Tampa is a cruise ship city and we get a lot of insights from the beautiful naval architecture that passes through here…specifically the bows of ships, which thrust out in a beautifully arced design. 
5. The glass is attached to the cantilevering brackets with silicone. This eliminates the need for mounting caps and is just as strong. More minimalism for you who want to slide your drinks from one end of the bar top to the other…or just plain sleeker.

If considering a glass countertop for your home, please consider these:

1. Do you have sufficient clearance from the faucet on the lower surface?
2. Do you have sufficient access to attach our support brackets for the high bar?
3. Is your lower countertop sufficiently strong to support the weight of a 300lb high bar?

 

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Interactive Design of Glass Countertops at Downing Designs

We always learn new things from our clients. Always.

When clients approach us with their ideas about their custom glass countertop, we first discuss with them how their space “flows”, and their ideas. We always want to know how a person will enter the kitchen or bath, as this angle is critical to our design. From there we present a series of countertop sketches where the texture seamlessly flows with the room. This is how we go about our signature design technique, and in our experience, it does two things: It “greets” people with an inviting  linear texture that “pulls” you further inside the glass work. Second, it elongates the room, enhancing its looks and value. This takes skill to thoughtfully execute correctly, while at the same time creating an original work. This is where the participation of our clients infuses our designs with fresh new ideas.

We create our textures right in front of the client, first lightly sketching in our sand bed, then deepening our kiln carving to create their centerpiece.

Opening our studio to clients is a great way to get a free preview of the work, and the client-artist interaction is assured to give the best result we can offer…and is very important to most of our clients. The experience is highly interactive…as we become immersed in the design of the overall form that our glass will take. This gives them the opportunity to tell us just how they feel about their piece in terms of: curvaceousness, open space vs textured, Cat 1 or Cat 5 hurricane, etc, etc. All of our hurricanes are finished by the client “signing” the piece with their finger to create the eye of the hurricane…and then is forever named after them. Its great fun, and a memorable experience in the creation of their masterpiece.

The textured glass countertop that results is hand-crafted, thick, piece that is a sensational look in any kitchen or bath space.

When looking into your next kitchen design, dont overlook the opportunity to co-author your commission…its one of the few areas where you will have ultimate control over the exacting look you seek.

Jeff Downing,  DowningDesigns.com

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Thermoformed, Tempered, Annealed, and Fused Glass Countertops.

Often, we receive questions about our glass countertops about whether they are Tempered, Annealed, Fused or Thermoformed. Here, we hope to quickly delineate these processes for you as they primarily relate to our custom textured glass countertops. 

Thermoforming is a process where glass (sheets or pieces) are placed atop a mold inside a kiln which is gradually heated to its melting point to allow it to take the form of the mold. The amount of detail possible in thermoforming is amazing and this technique allows glass to be crafted into many beautiful shapes and sizes, including our countertops. Our textures are created by hand in a bed of technical sand in our large kilns to impart the exact look that our clientele desires.

Thermoforming involves fusing several layers of glass sheets above 1400 F and then cooling and annealing them after it is thermoformed to impart some additional strength to the now thick unit of glass (typically 1” to 1.5” thick). Annealing takes time. On large, thick pieces it can take from 5-10 days. The upside is the glass piece emerges as one, and is able to be cut and polished afterwards.

Our textured glass is both fused and thermoformed. It is interesting to see several layers of glass act as one thick piece as evidenced when we take remnants and smash them…they fracture as one clean, solid piece.

Annealing is a process where glass is cooled slowly after it has been thermoformed. Its goal is to relieve the internal stress. Glass must be cooled so that its center, and its edges are typically within 5 F of one another as it cools from 1400 F…hence the time-consuming nature of annealing, especially with large and thick slabs. Thick, annealed glass is very strong, typically breaking above ~6000 lbs per sq inch which is more than adequate for countertop usage.

Tempering is a process which imparts strength to glass products that enable it to be utilized in situations where it would be too dangerous without tempering e.g shower doors, side windows in cars. When broken, tempered glass breaks smaller, relatively safe pieces. The process is as follows:

1. Cut and polish glass to size.
2. Heat glass to about 1140 F and then rapidly “quench” or cool the glass. Cooling the outer surfaces of the glass much more quickly than the center causes the center to contract from the outer surfaces. The center remains in tension, as the outer surfaces compress. This effect is what imparts strength to tempered glass.

While this makes tempered glass 2-4x stronger than annealed glass it CANNOT be cut or polished afterwards. Also, because of the high surface tension created in the glass tempering process, you CANNOT temper deeply textured glass without a high risk of it shattering during the tempering process.

All of this to say that our typically 1.5” thick glass countertops are thermoformed, fused, and highly annealed, but not tempered. They are crafted by a highly technical process that imparts beautiful textures that will last for a lifetime with proper care.

Jeff Downing

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