Carpentry and Woodworking - How to cut a countertop to fit exactly within a closet?

I have a closet in my home theater that I have been using as a work space. I measured it and bought a desk that would fit within the closet with the doors removed. This has worked OK but I have very little usable space. I was forced to get this desk as it was the only one that would fit.

What I want to do now is to remove this desk and build one in myself. My plan is to nail some 2x4's to the studs at the appropriate height on the left, right and rear walls and then rest a piece of laminate countertop on these studs. The problem is that the interior of the closet is not perfectly rectangular. Where the rear wall meets the left wall there is a 2 part curve, it is not a right angle. As such I cannot simply measure the interior dimensions and cut the countertop.

My question is: how do I cut the laminate countertop to the right shape? I want it to fit snugly within the closet so that it extends to all of the walls. I figured some sort of template might be the answer but how would I do that? Any suggestions? Thank you.

use a piece of cardboard or such, cut it to the shape desired, then lay it on the counter-top and cut accordingly.
also keep in mind that if this is a reasonably small closet, getting the top set in place as one piece might be an issue.

hope this helps, good luck and have a great day

I would use a piece of 1/4" luan or very rigid cardboard. Use a compass to scribe the shape of the back wall onto the luan. Cut to the scribe line and use it as a template.

I agree with the templates. But you could, also, place a mark on the side walls the depth of your countertop, place a framing square against the back wall and test for squareness (right!). At the mark, measure the distance to the wall from your framing square, wherever it is shortest. Flip the framing square and to the other wall. This will give you good measurements to place on your template to see if it fits. It will just save alot of trial and error.

All of the previous replies are on target, judging from my experience. Some combination of the methods described for creating a template ( squaring and measuring error from square, or scribing radius ) should work. In addition, the space available for installation is important to consider. If it won't fit you might just cut it thru at a place least likely to be noticed and install as two pieces ( you'll lose a saw blade's width of dimension ).