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One feature that’s being discussed more frequently among home buyers is the home bar area. These days there’s a heightened focus on an in-home place to have people gather and entertain.
We’ve all seen these countertops in restaurants, bars, and reception desks. Images come to mind of heavy counters, lifted at an angle and hopefully laid back down quietly, despite the load, or even the location of fingers. Many opt for this counter option both in-home and in professional industries to expand design, add convenience, and counter space, or even enhance speed of service in the bar and restaurant setting.
A key point to note, however, is how heavy those countertops get and how concerns for safety could become an issue. The good news is that there are solutions to combat this weight and change the way we interact with our counters. More importantly, safety and convenience can be provided by finding solutions that help us say goodbye to pinched fingers.
Manufacturers keen to this issue have developed hardware that provides lift assistance to make light of the counter’s weight, as well as soft-close to prevent slamming and enhance user safety.
The key tradeoff of having a countertop that lifts is that it provides for substantially more space than other solutions.
The careful selection of hardware can be the difference between a smooth soft-close and clunkier and heavier alternatives.
Sugatsune has specific hardware that helps make the home bar (or commercial bar if that’s your setting) more functional and safer. Their line-up has been field-tested in professional settings, providing convenience and peace of mind in bars and restaurants for years. The company, known worldwide for its high-quality hardware solutions has created a heavy-duty state-of-the-art flip-up countertop hardware system that features the company’s Lapcon soft-close damper system and Lift-Assist technology, an ideal solution for lift bar counters and user safety.
Let’s explore the specific hardware solution designed just for this challenge.
Sugatsune’s Lift Assist Damper (with angle stopper), LAD-ST, is an ideal solution for bar and countertop with its angle stopper designed to hold open at 95° and damper equipped for soft closing. Additionally, you’ll want to order brackets, spacers and mounting plate accessories to go along with your applications.
Sugatsune’s LADH (Heavy Duty) was designed to support larger, heavier countertops and like the LAD-ST, is designed to be surface mounted so it can be retrofitted or easily designed into new projects. Offered in 2 versions depending on the application’s torque needs, both systems provide adjustable soft-closing and Lift-Assist systems that come with a stainless steel piano hinge () at no extra charge for added installation convenience.
It’s important to note that the piano hinge is designed for use on wood. Hole positioning on wood should be done by aligning the actual hinge. It is not suitable for sheet metal or installations with hole pitch limitations unless special preparations are made.
When installing to sheet metal, be sure to perform thread relief processing (chamfering) on the mounting surface side to ensure that the screw head will not protrude when the hinge is fixed.
But, as Matt Risinger, CEO, Risinger Build, points out, it’s a good idea to order your hardware ahead of fabrication, that way whoever you select to produce your countertops can design it into the process or understand the hardware you are using before you begin. It makes for a much smoother process whether you’re in the home or in the workplace.
You can explore Sugatsune’s various lift-assist product options here.
