Redoing my kitchen - What countertops should I get?

Wait till the OP tells us he used tile. I know I'll be pissed. lol

I went with Cambria 3CM Sheffield Quartz in my kitchen. I never really liked the looks of 2 CM edge banding and wanted the cleanest lines possible. 3cm was the perfect solution for that.

 

I like Quartz and will probably use it when we remodel the kitchen.

We currently have tan speckled Corian, the only bad thing is the white sink made into it. Shows all kinds of stains and marks from pots and pans, coffee, spaghetti, etc.

So if you go with Corian, get the stainless undermount sink, farmhouse sink or some other option besides the white Corian sink.

 

Geesh! I’m surprised no one is championing formica.

 

If he uses tile, I’m blocking him

 

I'll try and find some photo's of my old kitchen later. Not only did they use tile. They used 6x6 tiles with 1/8 grout lines. Over 1968 style MDF. In yellow.

You can't make this shit up man. lol

 

Hahahahhaha those seem to be the houses I buy!!

OK OK one house had pink Formica and one had Avocado green Formica. This one started as off white Formica.

Comment on quartz: Seems to be chip resistant. None so far. We did the 3cm lip. Looks fine to me. The only thing I didn't think through was the backsplash, we just did standard 4" - which really is fine (did white subway tile on the walls) - but under the window sill is 5" to countertop. If I had done 5" backsplash my life would have been much easier trimming the window out.

 

Nice match with the hickory cabinets. Smart, functional, timeless, beautiful.

 

Here is a later pic with tile:

 

The outer trim is plastic, especially don't have to worry about the piece running along the top of the backsplash rotting as my wife is queen of water everywhere. Water half way up the shades at times!

 

Actually, the OP is a woman; She is not using tile (I don't know if you meant for the counter or the floor; She is definitely not going with tile counters), and I also talked her out of using butcher block as well...

If you look at the pictures of my friend's kitchen, you will notice that the pantry is a small closet on one side, and the fridge is on the other. The plan is to put the fridge where the pantry is, and then build a cabinet pantry where the fridge currently is; All of the appliances with the exception of the microwave have been replaced in the last five years, so those will all be retained. The range/oven is a really nice model, not only self-cleaning but with a convection oven! I tried to convince my friend to get a gas stove, but she has an irrational fear of gas stoves and refuses to buy one; On top of that, the house has no public gas (the central heat is oil) and installing a gas stove would require the added expense of installing a propane tank.

 

Hey Gwyn, you know you've done something right when the mods are giving you advice...

TW unwritten rule #1...

Every member must contribute at least one worthwhile off-topic thread!

 

This isn't your house? I was gonna ask what you thought of Bosch dishwashers...

 

Just redid my kitchen with granite and mahogany floors (to match the rest of the house). Before and after pics... Please excuse the mess

 

Yes it's my house. Longest we have owned, going to be 16 years............before that it was 2 years, 4 years, 8 years, 5 years, etc.....

Bosch DW's are GREAT. I mean seriously good value. NOT killer expensive, but last a good while so far. The original DW lasted like a year here, got the replacement and it lasted under 5 years and was NOISY as heck!! Bosch are so quiet. It's a bit louder than brand new, but still can sometimes not tell if running.

Drawbacks of our Bosch: 1) No soft food disposal built in. Not a huge deal, and you'll know when the trap thing is full, which is pretty infrequent as we don't put pork chop bones and corn cobs in. 2) No heating element for drying. Just relies on a very hot water final rinse. This does OK but plastics remain wet. Sometimes this is a PITA to me. Doesn't bug my wife.

 

About the noisiest dishwasher I’ve ever heard was the Roper installed in my Grandma’s second lake house up in Maine, in 2000. We had a growing family, so she bought the house next door to her first house; The kitchen had high-end but ancient appliances and hideous red tile counters; These appliances included a smooth electric cooktop with a separate oven below it. I remember when they dismantled the kitchen, they tore the island out in one piece, cooktop and all.

Since this was essentially a guesthouse that only got used a few months out of the year, my grandma cheaped out on the kitchen; white Roper appliances included an electric coil stove and the aforementioned noisy dishwasher, and gray laminate countertops. These were still here when my grandma sold the place in 2011 or 2012.

The appliances never gave us any trouble, but my aunt once absentmindedly filled the dishwasher with liquid dish detergent and flooded the whole kitchen with soap suds!

 

coming from someone who put butcher block in their kitchen, DO NOT PUT BUTCHER BLOCK in. It may look great, and be a cheaper alternative that you can purchase and install without a countertop manufacturer, but unless you are real anal about keeping it dry and clean, its going to look terrible in a week. I have since sold this house, and would guarantee that its been replaced with something that is lower maintenance at this point

 

Around the sink?

That will be a disaster. It would rot in short order.

 

The house my parents rented in Oak Harbor from 2000 to 2002 while my dad was stationed at NAS Whidbey Island had a butcher block island. The house was built in 1988 and the kitchen with the possible exception of the microwave and dishwasher was original; I believe the island counter was original. The island was mint when we moved in, and it took us (mostly me, an 11-year old middle schooler at the time, who carelessly placed many a glass of water or soda on the counter) a few months to destroy it...

Amazingly enough, we were not charged for repair/replacement!

 

we had it for 3 years and it never had an issue. All cuts were sealed with epoxy, and I oiled it monthly. It looked like new when we sold it, but anyone not willing to do the maintenance can ruin it in a week.