apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I love marble and nobody's tale of hazard and regret can deter me!

Love the recycled glass countertops from Vetrazzo, they are fabulous!
http://www.mydesignsecrets.com/2009/01/14/recycled-glass-countertops/

I'm the daughter of a tile and marble magnate :) and have Zimbabwe black granite counters (and custom sink.. my dad made it for me. I cut the counters myself on this enormous saw, the size of a garage, in his shop during Christmas vacation a few years ago. Messy and exciting work. One great side effect of cutting the pieces myself -- I was able to keep the rough edges, and I use them as the backsplash. They are gorgeous). Granite is worth the cost if you are a serious cook. Indestructible; you can put anything down on it, do any project on it, and it cleans off easily. I do not seal the granite and it has faint imperfections here and there but I like the look, and like not having to care for it in a special way.

I've had butcher's block, stainless steel, Corian, laminate, and marble in past homes, but someone had updated the kitchen in our latest historic just before we bought it, so the house came with 2" thick solid-slab granite. While I intended for them to be only temporary because they just weren't my thing style wise, I now could not be happier. (OK, I'm still so-so on the color.) Hot pan? Fine. Roll pastry directly out on the cold stone? You bet. Resistant to scratches, dings, and chips? You could take a hammer to it without incident. Low maintenance? Yep-water based sealer once year. Stain resistant? Stain-proof.

I know there's a ton of granite bashing here on AT-- I understand the reasons and often agree--but it really does well if you cook a lot. We we get around to a kitchen re-do, I'll be looking for something more to my taste, but it will have to measure up to the granite performance wise. Also, I'll first have to find some satisfactory way to reuse or recycle the granite, because I'm not going to throw away some perfectly solid rock.

Wow! What beautiful kitchens! I took a look at the recycled glass and LOVE them! Too bad there is no dealer in Texas. If I get serious about it, maybe I'll go out-of-state! Thanks for sharing.

The last few places I've lived in I've "inherited" laminate countertops, and they've been fine. They're kind of invisible (they weren't any weird colors, luckily), and I'm used to not putting hot things directly on them, or cutting on them. And they clean up well.

I was looking for a durable white countertop and ultimately chose CaesarStone Quartz in blizzard. I've lived with it for over a year and couldn't be happier. It has the look and feel of natural stone but is more environmentally friendly and easier to maintain--well actually there is no maintenance. Highly recommend.

Question: i still love granite. i've heard that they come in budget-friendly slimmer thicknesses. is that true and where to find?

our soon to be home has formica and i really want to replace it.

i hate our butcherblock. i am looking into the most resilient and lowest maintenance counters out there, and i keep reading that it's granite...but i am so not a fan of granite. i want something a solid color, no flecks no swirls no splatters, ick. now i'm looking into silestone type stuff. i dunno.

I love the vetrazzo counters and engineered quartz, but the price of both just kills me.

Right now I have porcelain tile counters that are extremely durable. The only drag is cleaning the grout. I'm considering replacing them with tile counters made from the 24" square rectified porcelain tiles.

That would eliminate much of the grout, keep the durability that I like, and be much less expensive than vetrazzo or quartz.

Used Silestone in our kitchen and master bathroom reno last year ... love it! Don't like the idea of having to seal granite and the problems with chipping, scratching, etc.

@creative*type
Granite countertops can be as thin as 3/4", but usually the edges are built-up as a double thickness to give the counter a visual weight and prevent chipping (though you'd have to give a crazy whack). I find the doubled edge doesn't look great.

creative*type:
There are many thicknesses and types of granite. Look into composite (or pieced) granite, which is thinner solid surface with pieces of rock stacked and seamed together below to bulk up the thickness. It's much more afordable than solid-slab. Also granite comes in tiles that can be used for a counter top. If you're working with a small kitchen, ask the stone shop if they have any remnants that would fit your space -- it will cut the cost in half.

kdkaboom:
we have dark grey honed granite. it is matte and a solid color -it looks a bit like soap stone. i think it's way better looking than most granite.

We inherited laminate when we bought our house. The red is great, but it's chipped in several places and is wearing on the seam. I would not replace with the same.

I have laminate countertops in my rental - they're worn and tired looking, but still very solid: No loose pieces or peeling trim.

I wonder if I could use this as a substrate for new tilework rather than ripping out and replacing w/ new particleboard?

We've always had laminate and it's fine, but doesn't have that visual punch that solid surfaces do.

I love the Vetrazzo and Ice Stone, espcially the many colorful options, but I've heard they're very expensive, so I guess that's my dream countertop.

I'm not a granite hater--some of it is very beautiful--but it is very trendy which means it will probably look dated in a decade or so. Also, not so green.

I've really liked a lot of the silestone and corian countertops I've seen online. They seem to be affordable too.

Bepsf, I think it would depend on how your counter is constructed beneath the laminate. If it's sturdily built, you might be able to tile right over the laminate (though I think the shiny surface might resist the mortar).

We just recently put in Soapstone (December) - and I couldn't be happier with it.

It does scratch a little too easily - but you can repair it yourself with a light sanding and a mineral oil rub-down. Our counters have a lot of veining, so even with a couple of scratches, they're barely noticeable. As long as you don't drag your cast iron pots across it, it's fine.

But it's remarkably heat resistant, and I've been doing some serious cooking on them, and there isn't a stain anywhere - and the lovely matte finish is much more my style than the gloss of granite (or other). We went with Soapstone after hearing about other people having issues with honed granite.

And I love that the only thing you really need to maintain it is a little mineral oil every now and again.

Del
www.delementals.com

I was absolutely in love with the blanco maple silestone we put in our last kitchen - it was indestructible (and we're horrible about red wine) and it almost acted like its own source of light in an otherwise semi-dark apartment. LOVED it. We will probably use it again in our new kitchen.

In our baths, we used a black granite in one and a beautiful brownish granite with huge garnet stones in the other. I hated the black because it showed every imperfection and speck of dust. The more mottled brown granite was gorgeous, but it was noticeably rougher when you wiped it with a cloth.

I too have soapstone and love the look. But a word of caution: it can chip along the edge if you bang something heavy against it (like a cast-iron pan).

We put in stainless in our last house and LOVED them. Once you scratch them up a bit they have a really nice look and talk about indestructable. With the marine edge, spills never went on the floor and we had an integrated sink, which was fantastic for wiping said spills away. Not to mention it's so easy to clean and see the crumbs. (I'm in the "I want it to be really clean" camp not the "I want it to hide the crumbs" camp.)

Currently we have granite and laminate. Hate the way the granite looks but it's there and in perfect shape, so it will stay. When we do a kitchen refresh someday we'll replace the laminate with stainless. And the white ceramic sink, which makes me crazy, as it always looks grungy.

Yikes! Somebody had a sale on periwinkle!

I just wanted to weigh in an provide info on a really cheap option for people looking to get rid of their ugly laminate, tile or other counter tops without spending more than $200.00

When I bought my house it came with, get this, faux marble painted MDF counter tops. Yeah. You can imagine.

Being "thrifty" in the short term but eventually wanting marble or concrete I found a product called Skimstone. It's a concrete bonding agent that covers just about anything and has the strength and durability of concrete. It was developed for commercial applications, specifically floors and driveways. In recent years many contractors discovered it makes for great counter tops. It also comes in several colors and tones and can be mixed with things like Mica powder, gold flakes, etc to give it that "stone" finish. It cost about $150.00 to do my counters and backsplash and 5 years later they are going strong. I used the Oyster color in the two lightest tones and some gold and mica powder which really picks up the light, much like a new sidewalk. It's also super easy to mix and use.

Here is some more info, including photos:
http://www.nappainting.com/skimstone.html
http://www.epaintstore.com/xcart4/home.php?cat=535

Sure, it's not Italian Alabaster and Gray Marble but in this current economic climate, I'm certain people would like to know about some cheap alternatives.

Thank you, Lizzy C--I have a 1980s kitchen in an 1880s building and this would be a wonderful alternative to the Cambria countertops of my pre-recession dreams.

my parents gutted their kitchen about a year ago and after many, many samples and opinions, they went with grey soapstone for most of the counters, with a beautiful marble counter in a separate little nook. I was afraid the grey would look cold and harsh (which would not fit the house at all), but it was absolutely beautiful. the stone had such warmth and a nice, velvety look to it. so far they love it and have had no problems (unlike with the new stove and fridge).

heather77--

Good advice - I figured I'd probably have to sand down the laminate or roll on some primer to help the mortar, etc. adhere...

Lizzy C--

I think you've solved my countertop dilemma as well as my concrete-floor problem. :-)

Our current apartment has stainless steel counters and backsplash, and I love them. They look great, are easy to clean, and can take hot pans. I would definitely conside stainless for my next kitchen, if I have a choice.

Lizzy C:

You just made my week complete. Thanks for introducing the perfect solution I didn't even know existed.

I love my quartz counter top. It was expensive, but my kitchen is so small that I didn't need to purchase much. I ended up going with plain white because my cabinets are yellow. Quartz is resistant to cuts and stains, and I love rolling out bread dough on its surface.

We did stainless counters in half of our kitchen so far, and are saving up to do the other half this summer (fingers crossed).

I love them a little more every time i come home to a dried ring of cranberry/orange/grape/pineapple juice, wine or pasta sauce on the counter. I just wipe it up, and save my nagging energy for things like shoes kicked off in the hallway.

Does anyone have suggestions on/experience with removing the polished seal from granite?

I'm moving into a home I absolutely love, except for the shiny black granite countertops, which make me want to stab my eyes out. Can't afford to replace them just yet, but if they were matte they might not be offensive at all.

I, too, was very interested to hear about Skimstone. Here is a link to a blog I found about the process.
http://theamelia.com/?tag=skimstone

I just installed new granite and love it. I used to have a super-polished, high gloss granite which I hated (Unless it's acrylic, I hate glossy surfaces). I swapped it out for a flat black granite that is a bit rougher than honed granite. basically, they cut my granite and polished it down enough to have an even surface.

My only complaint is that you have to be really careful to clean up any water that splashes on it. Otherwise, you're left with white mineral deposits that can be annoying to clean up.

I also adore poured concrete counter tops, as well as counter tops made from honeycomb panels like Panelite--expensive, but very chic!

oh, and @fifthj: I know you can hone any "shiny" granite. Basically, it gets sandblasted. I don't know how expensive it is though because I imagine someone has to remove the counter tops to do it. But, if you have a left-over sample you could take it somewhere and have it honed to see how it turns out. If it's just what you want, you may want to think about investing in honing your current granite. In the long run you may save quite a bit of money (as opposed to changing it later on)

We put in soapstone counters 8 months ago. I love them. They're dark gray with some veining and some green undertones. I never oil them (I like the gray; they go very black if oiled) and have had no problems with scratches or chips. Our variety -- Beleza -- is quite hard, unlike some soapstones. It doesn't etch or stain and it's matte, not shiny, which was important to us.

Another Silestone owner here who loves her counters!

does anyone have the HD (high-def) laminate by willsonart? if so how is it?

We wanted soapstone when we redid the kitchen but couldn't face the cost (which at the time was higher than granite). Instead we went for a material called fireslate that is used for lab counters. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The cost was low, the material had the look we wanted (matte black) and if it was tough enough for a lab...Well we are sorry. It shows every sort of mark, it is pretty porous. I cannot spend every weekend scrubbing and oiling down the counters. We are now looking into granite even though I hate to be one of those granite people, but the poeple who have it love it. I am thinking back to the wheatboard covered in contact paper that we had as interim counter, worked well, wiprd clean, cost about $10.

i too am a little tired of granite........however, i have had granite counters in the kitchen for 10 years and they look like new....it is for a reason they are popular.......

What are the countertops in the first photo!? kdkaboom - why do you hate your butcherblock? We have to re-do a kitchen in our new house and are on a VERY tight budget so we were thinking of butcherblock... any thoughts?

I have a Zodiaq countertop in cloud white which I love... It looks great and we've had it for about two years. However, there was a flaw in the slab and it developed a crack within three weeks of installation. Dupont refused to honor the warranty because we admitted we discovered the crack after we used a heat source (a griddle intended for countertop use... this is like them refusing to honor something that developed under a toaster.) However, since we purchased the countertop through COSTCO, with a little persistence COSTCO replaced the slab free of charge. (I officially love Costco now.)

That said, we've had no problems since and I still love the countertop. And we're installing some more and using engineered stone as well (However we are going with Caesarstone instead of Zodiaq.)

alisongilb, we went with ikea's butcherblock and it blows! it was a good price and a decent look, but we knew it was going to be crap. now we're hoping to put in something that requires not a single ounce of maintainence.

like, near the sink it's all mildew splattered and the wood has cracked and buckled. it sucks. i even put my dishdrainer on a tray with rubber feet, and use big thirsty bathroom towels when doing the dishes...in the three years we've had it, i've sanded this thing down so many times - once with a belt sander - and STILL the mildew/mold stain is there.

Kdkaboom -

Do you oil your butcherblock counter?

While we were remodeling our kitchen - we used a piece of furniture grade plywood as an interim counter. I was worried about it getting funky, but by the time we got the soapstone installed, I'd really gotten to like it in some ways. What I did to keep it nice was to, about once a week or so, rub it down with some mineral oil.

I also got in to the habit of rinsing dishes in to a plastic tub, and then drying them and putting them away, to avoid water sitting on, under or around the wood. (I liked the clean-counter look that this gave me, that I've kept it up now that I have the soapstone!)

Del
http://www.delementals.com

We have silestone counters in urban cream. If you watch the sales at Home Depot, you can eventually get a really good deal. It looks better than granite, has great color selections, and is anti-microbial. You can't beat that!

Concrete, if you can afford it and are comfortable with its quirks.

Countertop material was easily the most difficult choice of my recent (but pre-economic meltdown) kitchen renovation. Nothing is perfect. I'd always loved the look of concrete but had heard warnings about cracks, etc. that made me fearful, given its price point. I finally settled on quartz but found my favorite choices surprisingly difficult to actually buy--who knew that an engineered product could be difficult to source? And all were expensive--I never found a quartz product under $79 sf and most were considerably more.

End of story: Six months later, I now have gorgeous concrete countertops in my kitchen (atop Ikea cabs, for those who care). They have an organic quality that I adore. They have started to develop a light patina, much as marble does, but it's not a big deal (K T G, if you love marble, do not let anyone deter you!) and functionally they're great. Love, love them.

That said, if I hadn't been ready to spring for concrete or any other expensive countertop, I would not have been unhappy with laminate.

I've had laminate and tile counters and I've had stainless steel and ceramic sinks.

I didn't like the tile counters because all the grout cracks collect crumbs and make it hard to clean. Laminate is so much nicer because it's smooth. Pretty much everything stains my (hideous orange) laminate, but the stains lighten up and disappear after a while. The laminate counters in my house were probably installed in the sixties and they are still in perfect shape. So, I know I'm supposed to hate them but, except for the color, I just don't.

When we build a laundry room so we can get the washer out of the kitchen and when we add a dishwasher, we'll have to re-do the counters anyway. I'd been thinking of black Corian with integrated sink for the ease of cleaning (with red cabinets and black-and-white floor tiles), but it sounds like black has to be spotless to look good. So maybe we'll go with red laminate with a metal edging.

I don't like the ceramic sink (also decades old) because it stains so easily. I didn't like the stainless steel sink I had either, though, because it was very difficult to keep it looking shiny. I had to scrub it clean in one direction only and keep oiling it.