Home Improvement - Kitchen Countertops

[Jimmy Higgins]

So I've been around the block a few times and now have absolutely no idea what I want to do with the counter tops in my kitchen. My most arduous of cooking is croissants, which requires rolling directly on the surface. Stone seemed like a good idea, but they all require sealing, and it doesn't seem apparent how often different stones need to be sealed due to it being based on the nature of the stone itself. It seems silly to pay a good deal of money for countertops that need to be babied. Stone is colder, which makes working with butter easier, but I'm not sold that it is that great of a selling point seeing I've been cooking on older Formica for nearly 20 years.

There looks to be some really nice looking laminate out there. I was wondering if there are any cooks out there that have experience with the latest in laminates or stone as a working surface and keeping whatever looking brilliant.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

So I've been around the block a few times and now have absolutely no idea what I want to do with the counter tops in my kitchen. My most arduous of cooking is croissants, which requires rolling directly on the surface. Stone seemed like a good idea, but they all require sealing, and it doesn't seem apparent how often different stones need to be sealed due to it being based on the nature of the stone itself. It seems silly to pay a good deal of money for countertops that need to be babied. Stone is colder, which makes working with butter easier, but I'm not sold that it is that great of a selling point seeing I've been cooking on older Formica for nearly 20 years.

There looks to be some really nice looking laminate out there. I was wondering if there are any cooks out there that have experience with the latest in laminates or stone as a working surface and keeping whatever looking brilliant.

When we redid our kitchen we used quartz counter tops. It's called quartz but it's a man made component that comes in lots of colors and patterns. We got ours at Lowes. Get a light color and it doesn't show fingerprints and smudges. Do not get a dark color, you have been warned! It never needs sealed and I use it for bread making. Works super. Ours are basically white with a small radius on all the edges, flecked with bits of off white to black bits, all polished off like stone. It looks like stone.

 

[Rhea]

We recently re-did our kitchen (what a joy that is!) and we looked at all those things and decided on... Solid Surface
(aka Corian-but-not-that-brand).

I love it. I do a lot of cooking and baking, including rolling out crescent rolls on the counter. Cleans up nice, easy to care for, moderate price, and, importantly for us, the ability to have a built-in backsplash and seamless corner. We always use a hot-pad or board of some kind if we are putting hot stuff down. It says it can take pretty high temps, but we don’t need to push it, so we use the pads.

I did not care for the quartz and stone because of the increased risk of breakage from things falling only a few inches. Drop a glass over the Solid Surface, it might spill. Drop it on the stone - it breaks, yanno?

And yeah, light colors. We got plain white. I like it a lot.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

We have Corian which is very good but a bit soft so care must be taken about scratches. When we bought this place (direct from the builder, we got to pick options) quartz (as a countertop, of course the mineral did) did not exist. Quartz is similar to Corian but much more durable--these days it would be a no-brainer decision for us to go quartz. Note that Corian is a brand name, there are now other such products. Beware that neither is cheap.

 

[Toni]

I have soapstone counter tops with butcher block on the island. The soapstone does not necessarily require oiling but we chose to in order to get the darker color. Living in an old house, soapstone suited the age of the house. We are not bright and shiny people so that wasn't even a consideration. I love the warmth of the butcher block but that DOES need oiling. It's not a big deal: just clear off the counter top, clean it and spread some food grade mineral oil in a thin layer and leave on over night. Wipe up excess and you're good to go. Probably 2-3 times a year. It's not that arduous or fussy. I do the soapstone on the same schedule, using food grade mineral oil. Easy to find and cheap.

I will say that soapstone is wonderful for putting hot or cold items on, directly from the oven or stove top. Being black, it is easy to lose things on the counter tops so word to the wise: put your keys on a bright key fob if you ever want to see them again. They do not stain! they are non-reactive. I have a prettier version, but soapstone is still used in labs for these qualities.

I have rolled out pie crust on them and cookie dough and it was great--although I generally also use parchment under the dough--force of habit probably more than anything else. With kiddos all grown up, I don't do as much baking so....Hubby makes pizza dough and loves them and/or the butcher block for working that kind of dough.

If I have placed a hot pot of soup on the counter top, I've noticed it retains the heat for a while (undefined a while) after. So, don't roll out the dough where you've just placed your tea kettle or a hot sheet. Contractor is always trying to get me to spend less money and tried to talk me into laminate to save money but honestly, the first day out my husband would have placed a hot pan on the laminate and marked it all up. So: no. I don't think I'd like jail much.

I haven't tried my hand at croissants and greatly admire you for doing so. If you are in need of a taste tester, please let me know. I'm happy to oblige.

We are remodeling our bathroom and will be putting in Cambria counter tops that look (kinda) like marble but without the maintenance. It's not the same kind of issues you would have in the kitchen but honestly, if I were putting in a new kitchen again or in a newer house, I'd look at cambria or caesarstone for maintenance free use. I would NOT use Corian as it is not as durable. Do a little checking around--some finishes show marks from knives much more than others and must be refinished by the factory. One of the reasons I went with soapstone is that I was ok with the showing of wear and tear. We're not bright and shiny brand new kind of people. We use our kitchen every single day and we don't have it for show--although it really is beautiful. I have found it pretty much impossible to get a price comparison online.

The point that dark countertops show smudges and crumbs should be taken. It does depend on what your ultimate goal is and how important a certain look is to you.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Appreciate the feedback. Money isn’t as big an issue because we don’t have a lot of countertop to replace. In fact this is all happening because I need a new stove (down to two burners... have been for a while) and the cut isn’t compatible with existing stove sizes. So I wanted to get something that, excluding exotic pricing, would look, perform great and avoid any oops. My wife can be a bit thoughtless when cleaning (or over cleaning).

My one concern with laminate is age. I’m sure it looks awesome initially and in a few years, but after that? And I almost never put hot things on the countertop. Probably because I don’t have enough of it to have a hot countertop parasite taking up space.

 

[Toni]

Appreciate the feedback. Money isn’t as big an issue because we don’t have a lot of countertop to replace. In fact this is all happening because I need a new stove (down to two burners... have been for a while) and the cut isn’t compatible with existing stove sizes. So I wanted to get something that, excluding exotic pricing, would look, perform great and avoid any oops. My wife can be a bit thoughtless when cleaning (or over cleaning).

My one concern with laminate is age. I’m sure it looks awesome initially and in a few years, but after that? And I almost never put hot things on the countertop. Probably because I don’t have enough of it to have a hot countertop parasite taking up space.

One thing you could consider is putting in just a small marble area or having a small marble top island or cart for making your pastries. I have a certain area of a counter top that was created just for my use in rolling out dough. My contractor thought I was crazy but it gets a lot of positive feedback from other people who see the practicality. But even if everyone else in the world hated it, I'm glad I did it. It really works well for me. The fact that others see the utility means I'm not totally bonkers.

They make laminates that are much more attractive than they used to be, but they will not hold up to any abuse the way that quartz or stone will. Laminate will show scratches and knife cuts as well as burn marks and if you drink red wine or make tomato sauce: stain.

 

[Treedbear]

Appreciate the feedback. Money isn’t as big an issue because we don’t have a lot of countertop to replace. In fact this is all happening because I need a new stove (down to two burners... have been for a while) and the cut isn’t compatible with existing stove sizes. So I wanted to get something that, excluding exotic pricing, would look, perform great and avoid any oops. My wife can be a bit thoughtless when cleaning (or over cleaning).

My one concern with laminate is age. I’m sure it looks awesome initially and in a few years, but after that? And I almost never put hot things on the countertop. Probably because I don’t have enough of it to have a hot countertop parasite taking up space.

My formica countertops were installed in 1956 and look pretty much like new, except for one small area about 12 x 6 inches that probably gets more frequent scrubbing due to being frequently damp and picking up stains. The backing behind the stovetop is also formica and still looks great and cleans up really easily. Formica isn't elegant but it's very practical.

 

[gmbteach]

So I've been around the block a few times and now have absolutely no idea what I want to do with the counter tops in my kitchen. My most arduous of cooking is croissants, which requires rolling directly on the surface. Stone seemed like a good idea, but they all require sealing, and it doesn't seem apparent how often different stones need to be sealed due to it being based on the nature of the stone itself. It seems silly to pay a good deal of money for countertops that need to be babied. Stone is colder, which makes working with butter easier, but I'm not sold that it is that great of a selling point seeing I've been cooking on older Formica for nearly 20 years.

There looks to be some really nice looking laminate out there. I was wondering if there are any cooks out there that have experience with the latest in laminates or stone as a working surface and keeping whatever looking brilliant.

When we redid our kitchen we used quartz counter tops. It's called quartz but it's a man made component that comes in lots of colors and patterns. We got ours at Lowes. Get a light color and it doesn't show fingerprints and smudges. Do not get a dark color, you have been warned! It never needs sealed and I use it for bread making. Works super. Ours are basically white with a small radius on all the edges, flecked with bits of off white to black bits, all polished off like stone. It looks like stone.

What he said. We also have a granite/quartz countertop. We were sensible and got white, mainly because our glass splashback is dark blue (surprise,) It has not needed to be resealed in 6 years and still looks new. We got the sink cut out made into a chopping board as well. Maybe that is an option as the granite places can create an off cut into a reasonable cutting board for a fraction of the cost of a whole countertop.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

What he said. We also have a granite/quartz countertop. We were sensible and got white, mainly because our glass splashback is dark blue (surprise,) It has not needed to be resealed in 6 years and still looks new. We got the sink cut out made into a chopping board as well. Maybe that is an option as the granite places can create an off cut into a reasonable cutting board for a fraction of the cost of a whole countertop.

Quartz doesn't need sealing, does it?

I wish we could have gotten the sink cutout but they wouldn't give it to us for some reason. (The stove cutout would also have been nice.) Note that they do not make good chopping boards, though--it's too hard and will dull your knife.

One other thing about Corian and quartz--the material is uniform. With Corian we can buff out surface damage. I don't know what you need to do the same thing with quartz.

Note that a thinner version of Corian also exists for shower enclosures, our builder would not do it, though. We have cultured marble there instead--it's more delicate but held up ok but if it were damaged you can't buff it out.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Appreciate the comments. Gonna go quartz. Oddly enough the warehouse didn't have a granite I really liked. And the quartzite wasn't right either. The good news is the installer is a local outfit, so I avoid the big box thing (granted, their contractors are local too).

 

[HaRaAYaH]

WE did out kitchen 2 years ago. We did Soapstone and have no regrets. Do get the dark color and pick up all of the veining you need to oil it about once a week or every 2 weeks for the first couple of months and then as needed afterwards. We do it about every 2-3 months.

From this:

1950's Steel Cabinets with a Formica Counter top

To This:





Soapstone is indestructible. While it is listed as soft and can be scratched. But it can easily be fixed:

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBPq4wkyEq0[/YOUTUBE]

Our countertops were expensive but they made the entire kitchen

 

[Toni]

WE did out kitchen 2 years ago. We did Soapstone and have no regrets. Do get the dark color and pick up all of the veining you need to oil it about once a week or every 2 weeks for the first couple of months and then as needed afterwards. We do it about every 2-3 months.

From this:
View attachment 24125
1950's Steel Cabinets with a Formica Counter top

To This:
View attachment 24126
View attachment 24127
View attachment 24128
View attachment 24129

Soapstone is indestructible. While it is listed as soft and can be scratched. But it can easily be fixed:

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBPq4wkyEq0[/YOUTUBE]

Our countertops were expensive but they made the entire kitchen

Beautiful kitchen! I love the soapstone and the teal (or it looks teal in the photos) with the white cabinets.

 

[HaRaAYaH]

WE did out kitchen 2 years ago. We did Soapstone and have no regrets. Do get the dark color and pick up all of the veining you need to oil it about once a week or every 2 weeks for the first couple of months and then as needed afterwards. We do it about every 2-3 months.

From this:
View attachment 24125
1950's Steel Cabinets with a Formica Counter top

To This:
View attachment 24126
View attachment 24127
View attachment 24128
View attachment 24129

Soapstone is indestructible. While it is listed as soft and can be scratched. But it can easily be fixed:

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBPq4wkyEq0[/YOUTUBE]

Our countertops were expensive but they made the entire kitchen

Beautiful kitchen! I love the soapstone and the teal (or it looks teal in the photos) with the white cabinets.

An excellent choice by my wife, You can do so much with the soapstone. If you look carefully to the left of the farmhouse sink where the dish drainer would go is it's carved out so the water runs into the sink Also, if you look carefully st the wainscoting and the back splash over the range, the soapstone people made the back splash match the wainscoting

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Nice improvements. I was looking at flooring to use to do the walls behind the counter top and the half wood paneling in the eating area. That'll follow. Trying not to gut as much as I can. Greener that way.

 

[Toni]

Nice improvements. I was looking at flooring to use to do the walls behind the counter top and the half wood paneling in the eating area. That'll follow. Trying not to gut as much as I can. Greener that way.

When we did our kitchen, it hadn't been touched since the early 1960's, except for 1970's wallpaper and linoleum. Matched the rest of the loden green and harvest gold throughout the house. The cabinetry was probably from the 30's or 40's and I would have kept that if I had liked it. But a neighbor loved it so it has a new home with her. I felt like what we had had served its purpose and then some and so, it was time to let it go.

 

[HaRaAYaH]

Nice improvements. I was looking at flooring to use to do the walls behind the counter top and the half wood paneling in the eating area. That'll follow. Trying not to gut as much as I can. Greener that way.

Ours was a total gut job. We tried to use the original floor, but once it was totally exposed we found, due to the age of the house (constructed 1886-1888) there was a giant whole in the floor for a heat vent from when the house was heated by coal and the patch job was not good. So, we went with a variable width hardwood floor. We got the cabinets at Home Depot. They will do the whole design layout for you. They also have the cabinits on sale from time to time. We got 20% off the cabinets and 50% off the painting. Then we signed up for a Home Depot Credit Card and got 24 months interest free financing.
Original floor



New Floor:

 

[Seeker630]

When I redid the condo kitchen, I went with Quartz. No regrets. It's maintenance free and reasonably priced compared to marble or stone. Looks great too.

 

[gmbteach]

What he said. We also have a granite/quartz countertop. We were sensible and got white, mainly because our glass splashback is dark blue (surprise,) It has not needed to be resealed in 6 years and still looks new. We got the sink cut out made into a chopping board as well. Maybe that is an option as the granite places can create an off cut into a reasonable cutting board for a fraction of the cost of a whole countertop.

Quartz doesn't need sealing, does it?

I wish we could have gotten the sink cutout but they wouldn't give it to us for some reason. (The stove cutout would also have been nice.) Note that they do not make good chopping boards, though--it's too hard and will dull your knife.

One other thing about Corian and quartz--the material is uniform. With Corian we can buff out surface damage. I don't know what you need to do the same thing with quartz.

Note that a thinner version of Corian also exists for shower enclosures, our builder would not do it, though. We have cultured marble there instead--it's more delicate but held up ok but if it were damaged you can't buff it out.

I am glad I have it as I know I can put it on the wooden table for me to put hot pots on.

 

[ideologyhunter]

I had the kitchen floor redone with ceramic tile and the countertops with a smaller ceramic tile. Nice unity of design. Every year I get 2 small bottles of grout sealer and squeeze a line of the solution on all the grout -- a job that isn't exciting but forces me to neaten everything up -- so, two birds etc. I like the tile altho' as a writer above noted, no glass or plate survives the fall to the floor when you drop it. I used to have a linoleum floor and that not only looked worn after a few years but had issues with waxing and with wet shoes making the wax melt. Tile beats lino.