Countertops are Glued Down!

[Kelly2001]

We recently purchased new laminate countertops to replace the 12 year old countertops and discovered that they are glued down (hard). How do we take those off without wrecking the existing cubboards? A co-worker had suggested using a sawzall.... Help!

[Joe.Carrick]

This is unusual. Normal procedure is to screw up into the countertops from inside the base cabinets (at front gussets) and to just caulk the back and sides above the backsplash.

Check to see if this is not what was done. Remove any screws you find and cut the caulking with a knife. If the old countertops are in fact glued down then using a saw to carefully cut the tops into smaller sections will make it easier to get them out. Just be careful to not cut into the base cabinets themselves.

You may end up damaging the walls (drywall, etc) but that's easy to patch.