How would I make this particular wooden countertop?

[Nate Miller]

I saw this rolling kitchen cart (see photo) at Target and was thinking I'll make one. But I'm just not sure how to make the top and I'm looking for suggestions from you all.

The top is about 40" x 19" and 1 and 3/8 thick. The small boards making up the top surface are anywhere from 1.5 to 2 inches wide and from 5 to 11" long. I'm thinking they are thin and are glued on top of a large flat board?

Maybe it would be better to just make a solid butcher block top?

[Victor Robinson]

I saw this rolling kitchen cart (see photo) at Target and was thinking I'll make one. But I'm just not sure how to make the top and I'm looking for suggestions from you all.

The top is about 40" x 19" and 1 and 3/8 thick. The small boards making up the top surface are anywhere from 1.5 to 2 inches wide and from 5 to 11" long. I'm thinking they are thin and are glued on top of a large flat board?

Maybe it would be better to just make a solid butcher block top?

You're getting caught up in how "butcher blocks" are produced for consumer furniture - they put together the smallest pieces they can into a top via the use of finger joints in every direction. This cuts material costs by not requiring larger clear boards. Sometimes they even apply thin butcher block veneers over a plywood or mdf core, which this particular item may or may not be.

Just make a solid butcher block top however you'd like - that's what this is trying to be.

[Bill Adamsen]

I can't imagine using small blocks like that approach unless you wanted end-grain showing. Many folks here are very successful with true end-grain boards (see accompanying photo) and if that is what you are looking to do, a search should turn up suggestions on "how to build." If on the other hand you are looking for side grain simply use boards the length of your top and carefully orient for figure and similar expansion/contraction.

[Rich Riddle]

Ikea sells larger slabs than the one in the original poster's picture that could be cut down. It would likely be cheaper than spending the time and energy to make one. You could likely get two or three tops out of one Ikea pre-manufactured top. If memory serves correctly, the Ikea top is made of Beech.

[johnny means]

Those types of butcher blocks are made by machines. They're actually very stable and do make use of otherwise waste material. I can't imagine going through the trouble making something like that by hand.

[Nate Miller]

Thanks you all, that's very helpful.

[Dave Halter]

If you're near a Menards they also carry butcher block counter tops made from birch. The shortest is 4 feet which would work for what you want.

Dave

[Erik Christensen]

grizzly offers a number of butcher block bench tops that you can cut down - when I looked at them for a few tops at work it was not much more than hard maple would have cost much less time to build... the ones we got from them were well made, flat and stable - easy to cut to finish dimension with either a table saw or even better a track saw