What type of corbels are needed to support a granite counter top

granitekitchen-counters

I am having a new granite counter top installed and the counter installer has said that I need to install new corbels on the knee-wall to support the weight of the granite counter top. The current and the new counter top extend about 12 inches beyond the knee-wall and the current brackets that are there right now (see picture below) will not hold the weight of the granite.

I agree with the installer that new brackets need to be installed but I am having difficulty finding corbels that would work. I have tried both Lowes and Home Depot and depending on who I talk to either they have no idea what a corbel is (I didn't either up until now) or they point me to decorative corbels which are not made to support weight, let alone the weight of a granite counter top.

Any ideas what type and where I could find corbels that would be strong enough to support a granite counter?

enter image description here

Best Answer

Well Jeff, the term corbel is new to me also. I always thought corbel was a champagne. But as far as supporting the granite:

I think those corbels are quite ugly and rather than replace them with more ugly corbels, I'd be inclined to build a support structure around the top of the knee wall and trim it out. If you were to add a perimeter of 2×4's dressed out with 3/4" pine on that wall, you would increase the load bearing area from about 4 1/2" (3 1/2" stud plus 2 × 1/2" drywall sides) to 9 inches. 9 inches should be plenty to support the new 12" top. Add a little decorative molding to hide any exposed 2×4 on the bottom and a little Scotia or 1/4 round along the top under the counter and you got a nice finished look.