Crazy Kitchen Countertops

We often weigh countertop material choices on their cost, durability, looks. The countertops shown here, however, add one more thing to the list of criteria: wow factor.

These countertops range in cost from what must be stratospheric (image 4, in particular) to DIY-on-a-budget (image 5).

• 1 From Caroline's In/Animate Collections, sliced agate was submerged in resin and framed in stainless steel to form this countertop.
• 2 Here's an innovative use of a common material: Corian is backlit with a computer screen to seamlessly integrate the computer with cooking. Via Unplggd.
• 3 A thick glass countertop with a beautiful crystaline pattern in it by ThinkGlass.
• 4 This is probably more Las Vegas than home kitchen, but check out this color-changing laminated glass countertop by John Blazy Designs.
• 5 A back-painted glass design by Designamour.

Comments (18)

I like the idea of thinking outside the box. I don't think I could be that risky though. It's great that their risk paid off :)

I looooove the glass counters. How gorgeous can you get!?!

Ugh -- a rounded-edge countertop is SO hard to clean. It's really hard to clean crumbs off of without half the crumbs winding up on the floor.

The glass is pretty, and the agate is fabulous!

my god I don't thing Ive seen anything uglier in my life than that agate.. it looks like a giant block of moldy head cheese or something... irregularity makes me TWITCH.

the agate countertop looks disgusting.

The agate makes me die a little inside every time I look at it, but the others are really beautiful, especially the glass.

I love the agate, but I love stone in general . . . just imagine what it would look like lit from below!

Love the agate. I wonder why so many have a visceral reaction to it?

the agate looks kind of like a bed of cooked clams and mussels.

hard to imagine living with any of those for a prolonged period (although the back-painted glass is kind of cool). also, the sounds of dishes/utensils clanking on them would make me bonkers. i already have a hard time with my in-laws' glass table top...

the agate reminded me of head cheese, lol.
a friend of mine did a mosaic tile treatment on her existing countertops. she put small childhood mementos from her kids and grandkids in it, toys and scrabble pieces, etc. it's pretty awesome. xo

I really really liked the agate, at least in principle, until everybody pointed out the moldy cheese thing. Yeah, i can see that, yuk. I'm kind of a geology nerd, though..... I'd do a mosaic with other stones, agates, or found objects.

I think the agate is gorgeous! I think you would probably see something new every time you looked at it.

I like the agate and the glass the best! I have a bit of obsession with rocks! Beautiful!

I like the glass. Everything else not so much. The agate is especially ugly.

LCD is great until you lose a pixel...it'll happen eventually.

There are some awesome counters made from plain old concrete. The trick is in the aggregate - filler. National Building Museum did an exhibit a few years ago, and I fell in love with a concrete counter filled with recycled green glass and polished to a high gloss.

Maybe when I win the lotto.