Countertop overhang support
Enter the overhang and the material. This says whether it needs corbels or brackets, and how many, with a true-size layout tape below for the bracket spacing.
A starting point — check with your fabricator
Advanced settings24" max between brackets
Needs support
4 brackets
Bracket layout
- Brackets
- 4
- Actual spacingNo more than 24"
- 24.0 in
Layout tape, at true size
One repeating pitch, not the whole run — mark a straight scrap at these two ticks and step it down the cabinet run for every bracket. Print at 100%, check the ruler, then transfer the marks.
Put a tape on the printed ruler. If it does not read exactly 6 inches, the print was scaled — set the print dialog to 100% or “Actual size” and print it again. Do not cut wood from a template that failed this.
Mark a story stick at these two ticks, then step it down the cabinet run for every bracket. Trim on the orange line and butt this piece to the next one — the marks either side of the join have to line up before you drill anything.
Mark a story stick at these two ticks, then step it down the cabinet run for every bracket. Trim on the orange line and butt this piece to the next one — the marks either side of the join have to line up before you drill anything.
Mark a story stick at these two ticks, then step it down the cabinet run for every bracket. Trim on the orange line and butt this piece to the next one — the marks either side of the join have to line up before you drill anything.
Mark a story stick at these two ticks, then step it down the cabinet run for every bracket. Trim on the orange line and butt this piece to the next one — the marks either side of the join have to line up before you drill anything.
Where to buy this
- 4 supportsHome DepotLowe'sAmazon
A bracket has to be deep enough to carry the overhang it is under — check the depth on the product against the overhang above, not just the spacing.
Plain search links, nothing sponsored. Prices and stock are the shop's, and a local lumberyard will usually beat both on solid stock.
Worked example: a 15" overhang
A 15" overhang in Stone, 3cm (1 1/4") is past the 10" usually given as its unsupported maximum, so it needs support.
Along a 72" run with brackets no more than 24" apart, that is 4 brackets, 24.0 in apart.
The maximum is a starting point rather than a rating: the fabricator sizing the slab has the final say, and each bracket has to be deep enough for the overhang above it.
- Overhang
- 15"
- Max unsupported
- 10"
- Brackets
- 4
- Actual spacing
- 24.0 in
These are the figures the calculator above opens on. Change any field and it works the same problem for your numbers.
About supporting an overhang
- Where do these unsupported-overhang numbers come from?
- They are starting points fabricators commonly cite, not a code figure — unlike the stair and rafter calculators' IRC numbers, there is no single authoritative table for this. The actual limit depends on the specific slab's thickness, how it's fastened down, and the fabricator's own experience, so treat the default as a place to start the conversation, not the final word, and both fields are editable for exactly that reason.
- Why does stone tolerate a longer overhang than laminate?
- Mass and stiffness. A 3cm slab of stone resists bending under its own cantilevered weight far better than a laminate or engineered top of similar thickness, so it can reach further before it needs a corbel or a bracket to stop it flexing or cracking at the front edge of the cabinet.
- What actually happens if an overhang goes unsupported?
- Best case, it flexes slightly under weight and feels unstable to lean on. Worse case with stone, a crack propagates from the front edge of the cabinet support — stone is strong in compression and weak in tension, and an unsupported overhang puts the top surface in tension right where the crack starts.
- Do corbels need to match the cabinet spacing?
- No — corbels and brackets are placed for the overhang's own support needs, which is usually a tighter spacing than the cabinets below happen to land at. It's normal for a bracket to not line up with a cabinet seam.
You might also need
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