apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i remember seeing a clip about them a few months ago. they explain their process and practices, which are definitely intriguing and intelligently thought-out. glad to see they're getting more exposure and recognition.

here's the video link: http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=240041015

This stuff is gorgeous & GREEN.

Unfortunately, the website is perfectly evasive on the issue of cost. It is likely cost-prohibitive for a small kitchen.

A.T. could really add value for its readers by doing a little investigating when such crucial missing information is missing and then providing it for us.

I'd also like more information on pricing.

I think price depends on dealer and who they are able to get to fabricate it. The website has a dealer locator where you put in your zip code, and find dealers near by. The cost at a dealer close to where I am puts it at 80-120.

Can't wait for green stuff to come down to less than granite/marble alternatives.

Though on the issue of price, in general, wish there was more info. I hate seeing something I would love to have, only to spend time investigating, only to discover it's way, way pricey.

I wanted to use this, but it was $125/sq foot, which is way more expensive than any other option I saw.

We used a similar product in our 2003 kitchen reno that was quite reasonably priced; including shipping (duty and customs brokerage) from Formworks in NC to Canada, our 4' x 7' island top came to only $1500.

we used confetti terrazzo (it is gorgeous!!!! we love it!), but the possibilities are endless...http://www.homestead.com/formworks/color.html

I guess they have now grown, and lots of people make their product...should be some in NY too.

p.s. speaking of green - we used rubber flooring made of recycled tires in our 2003 kitchen reno. Still waiting for AT to catch onto that idea...

monika1, I saw that recycled tire flooring yesterday and liked it a lot as a sort of bastard child born of both cork and terrazzo. When you spill liquids, how hard is it to clean? The stuff I saw had a lot of open space in the material.

When you bought your countertop, 1 USD = 1.35 CAD, approx. Now it's more like 1 USD = 1.05 CAD. That could make Canadian imports significantly more expensive.

My parents are getting ready to renovate their kitchen and I'd love to recommend this to them but I am becoming more aware of the fact so many of these construction goods are shipped from one coast to another. Any chance there is a similar product manufactured west of the Mississippi? or west of the Rockies? We're in southern CA.

kdb - formworks is now a concrete institute (!) or somesuch, and their product is produced by licenced manufacturers across the country. Just check their website. I believe it is the same for icestone.

Good point about the Cdn $ MrGreen!

As for the reztec flooring, we really like it, but beware: we have a mix with some white rubber, whuch we found discolours when exposed to light. Maybe they have fixed the problem, but you should ask first.

Oh -- about spilling -- you put on 2 coats of a sealer to stop your kitchen from smelling like a tire store and protect it from spills. Works great.

You really can't put a cost on the website about countertops. So many variables. How much material is used, perhaps in number of slabs, top mount/under mount sink, cooktop vs. range, edging footage and types, and perhaps their range of colors also have different prices. Also overall complexity, backsplash, other cutouts, seaming, installation issues, these are some of the factors involved. Each job has to be custom quoted. Usually, every detail has a price attached to it.

All I know is I was quoted $125 a square foot, period. It didn't seem to matter about quantity, undermount, etc.

And I have to say that, when I purchased another counter material (Silestone), they only charged about $125 to do things like an undermount sink, which, when you are spending $2k already, isn't really something that makes or breaks a purchase. Silestone was also priced by the foot, and the other details didn't affect the price much.

There are a couple of other companies doing this - I had this material in an apartment in Amsterdam and it's gorgeous. Priced it out for my house here in SoCal and it was absolutely prohibitive price-wise.

www.vetrazzo.com

www.enviroglas.com

My question is, what's the actual cost of putting "more" into the world vs. spending more to use recycled? That's the question I'm wondering about. I know that most people's decisions come down to their bottom line, as would mine likely as well, but does anyone know of any analysis of something like this? I'd LOVE to read something like this.

I tried to get a quote from Icestone, and they were somewhat evasive/not very helpful, even with a personal recommendation. We went with enviroglas.com instead, which allows you to customize your color mixes and gives you prices right up front. They completed our tiles ahead of schedule, to boot. The floor looks amazing and incredible, and the only downside is that it was shipped from Texas to Brooklyn... we would have preferred to work with someone local, but didn't need the attitude and high price.

It really seems to depend on the dealer- I've seen it for $71 sf including shipping online (no idea what site now), but we were quoted $39sf plus fabrication (should get that estimate tomorrow) two weeks ago. Shipping cost could be a big part of it- it obviously is cheaper to ship from NY to the Midwest than to CA.

We had this stuff installed in our kitchen and couldn't be more displeased with the investment. It is INCREDIBLY porous and the sealer that was provided in the factory did nothing to assist in stain prevention. Wish I hadn't made the extra investment and gone "green". Lots of money down the drain. Icestone's informed me it was improperly sealed but they would not respond with the name of an appropriate sealer so that we could rectify the issue. People in DC: Don't buy from EcoGreen Living. Customer service ends as soon as they get your credit card.