We are planning to replace our kitchen counter tops (laminate) with solid surface. The question is, what kind?

I have looked at granite (stone) and Corian (plus LG/Formica/etc) mostly. Those seem to be the frontrunners.

What are your experiences with either or both? What should I look out for? What do you wish you had known before you bought one or the other?

The cost as quoted is just a few hundred dollars different, so they are really the same AFAIAC.

Radiation in Granite Countertops

Corian does not have any radiation concerns, just something else to consider, if you have small children.

We had a Corian Counter Island for 7 years and liked it, but it kept cracking from the heat of the cooktop. Each repair of the crack was invisible. But after 4 times of the countertop guy coming back (of which I only knew about 3 of them) we replaced the Island with Granite, as well as all the bathroom Countertops. Due to cost and the fact the admiral likes here Molded in sink the Kitchen countertops apart from the Island were not replaced.
I like the granite much better.

For resale the Granite will be better.

We have a crack in our corian - doesn't make me very happy. Granite seems to be more popular these days which could benefit resale if that is a concern. Have also seen poured concrete countertops that look just like granite - not sure what the advantages are?

We went with quartz counter top for our kitchen. The manufacturer is Cambria and the color or pattern is Nottingham. We have the Ogee edge treatment which was an upgrade and for the cost of the upgrade, we probably could have lived with a standard profile as the WOW factor is just a wow.



The sink is an undermount apron farm sink and the faucet is a bridge style faucet. We felt the farm sink and faucet best matched the style of our house as we live in the original farm house, circa 1897, in our newer McMansion development

We did Silestone. It is basically compressed quartz. We were told this type of countertop is the strongest and most durable as there is no natural voids. It is very consistent with the coloring so it doesn't have that natural look of granite really, but it doesn't need to be sealed either. We like it a lot, just don't drop any crystal wine glasses as there is no give...

We just finished (well, 98% finished, still have to paint) installing counter, sink, tile.

Man! The choices are endless. We have a DIL who sells countertops and installation. Her recommendation to us for price, durability, and minus the "drawbacks" of granite, was Quartz. We have not had it but a few months, but are quite satisfied. As I understand it, this is real quartz, ground and set in an epoxy-like (my word) base. It is at least as hard as granite, very easy to clean, no maintenance, and promises to be extremely durable.

We saved 33% by using "remnants", which is 2 pieces cemented, vs one single piece. The joint is 1/16" and colored to match the material. It is not a decision I regret in the least, as the joint is only visible to those looking for it.

A few asides: Get an undercounter sink. It is our first, and they are terrific. We particularly like this style with the low center divider - very practical. The little button left of the faucet is an "air switch". I had never heard of this. It's an on/off for the disposal, completely non-electric, and VERY convenient.






Wow -- 3 Quartz recommendations in a row, didn't expect that.

i'm thinking of buying up old watches and using the quartz from them in a mosaic pattern. what do you guys think? actually, this is a timely topic as countertops is something we're considering as well.

phil - never heard of a disposal like that. how does it work if it's not electric?

http://www.insinkerator.com/product/accessory.php?id=32&template=hhd

It has a little air hose from the switch to the box that opens and closes a set of contacts to turn on the disposer

It's also a nice way to add a disposer if you don't have a wall switch, and you don't want a batch feed disposer.

BTW, awesome looking kitchens, all.

I didn't expect Quartz to be so popular either. It is one of the choices we looked at, but haven't investigated it much.

I didn't realize that Corian tops were prone to cracking. Is that why some of them are going to the "full-depth" material?

We are getting an under-mount sink too. (If it is not a molded-in one in Corian)

Resale is a big deal. We will probably sell in the next few years.

Another question, where did you get your granite tops from? I have looked at Lowes and such, as well as a company called "Rock Tops" out of Michigan.

Nice counters, everybody. Thanks for the pictures. Keep the comments coming.

Nothing to do with the disposal Bruce, it's just a pressure switch I had mounted into the counter. Works off air pressure. Found at Lowe's wandering around the plumbing looking for ideas.

I did not have the typical wall-mounted power switch for our disposal, and hated reaching underneath where the switch was located. Cool little gadget.

http://www.faucetline.com/item_description.asp?prodcat=Kitchen&prodid=18608

Suppose we need to clean the kitchen, take a picture and post it up of our 8 y.o. remodel with the black galaxy granite?

The granite has held up very well thus far, except for the chip in it at the undermount sink from dropping a large pot on it and striking the corner.

Neither had I, Woody. But since the DIL is in the 'biz, and she said it's the best all-'round, especially for the price, I took her word for it.

I think I have the same countertop as Phil.
We priced ours through some friends who build, and it was $3200. A different store in town was $7400 for exact same thing. So make sure you get a couple of bids.

I'm not sure I'd go with Lowes or such since they just contract out their work to someone locally.
Better bet is the local Slab yard. Don't be afraid to ask for remnants, as you may save a few bucks. Just remember most of the cost is in the labor to cut and install.
I had my local yard measure and cut everything, then install the Island and Master bath tops. Since the Island is so big it took about 15 guys to carry it in while the Master Bath is L-shaped and required a seam.
The rest of the baths I did myself and you can't tell the difference in the installation.

Kitchen Before:


Kitchen After: Notice the Countertop with the sink remains the same as before.


Den Bath:


I'd show pictures of the MasterBath, but the admiral would kill me since the only picture I have has her side of the L with the typical Female junk loaded bathroom. My side is clean.

What do you guys use to clean and seal the Granite?

Yup, go to the yard or several and get a few quotes.

I had my sister, who is in the business, give me a price that included the family discount. I ended getting my counters from a local countertop business who I deal with at work as I received a better discount.

This is one of the two seams in our top. It is placed behind the sink so the seam is less than 6" long.

I went with the Home Depot brand (Stonemark) granite. We are very pleased, this stonemark is pre sealed and has a 15 year stain warrenty...

I will try to get some pics up of my project that is not done yet......

Here is the web site...

www.stonemark.com

Here is a shot of my never ending project.... I still need to install the tile back splash, it was cheaper for me to do it instead of the basic granite back splash..

If you stick with the basic edge, granite is price competive, if you go for a rounded edge, the cost goes way up!

looks great

Looks good, I really like the black sink
Go with the cream tile on the right as the backsplash.

Thanks! That is our choice too, the right cream tile is actually a travertine natural tile. Since we have real hardwood floors and now granite natural countertop, we might as well go a natural tile....... No man made materials for me!

A coworker is redoing their kitchen, he is going with concrete and will be making it himself. I thought about concrete before we got our quartz. The web pages I saw had concrete at X dollars per SF. The guy ended up doing it for much less than X however since doing it himself, he wouldn't mind pay someone else X dollars.

As Denver Boater pointed out, I would stick with a standard edge treatment to keep costs down. We got an ogee edge which was an upgrade, it looks nice but it didn't give us as big of a WOW factor as the price of the upgrade did.

Has you considered concrete countertops?
They can be stained/polished to give a variety of many different looks.
Very classy looking

We were told that our granite in the bathroom was sealed and we should use the "vinegar Windex" to clean it. Any other Granite cleaner was fine too. Sealing was done at the granite shop.

Steer clear of Lowes and Home Deopt, we tried 3 times for a countertop from them and they contract the cutting out.
All three times the slab cam in scrathed very badly. 2-3 weeks everytime it gets returned.