Redoing my kitchen - What countertops should I get?

If you rotted out a butcher block in months two things come to mind.

First very, very poor choice of woods in the block. Second, someone improperly maintained it. I’m on my second butcher block countertops. I did the first when I biught my house and the second just about five years ago.

I bought my house in May of 1979. Yep, that terrible countertop went through several minor remodels over the years. It was only replaced because we did a total gut job in order to rearrange the positioning of major appliances.

 

What wood and what coating is best?

 

Maple is a good wood for a butcher block.

Basic mineral oil is good, essentially baby oil without the scent. Apply, let it soak in for about 10 minutes, wipe off excess.

Don't use veggie oil or animal oil. It will go rancid.

To clean and sanitize, Use basic table salt. Rub it in. Let it sit for a while. Wipe off, then apply the mineral oil.

Only need to do this about 1X/week or so.

 

OK. Seeing your demo. Are you planning on cabinets counter, peninsula/bar from the outside(the best to me, gets rid of kitchen table & adds storage, for the things like that crock pot, etc.) over at the demo wall? If you are still "thinking" about an island & it's tight. You can order 34 1/2" high "vanity" cabinets, they come in 18", & 22"depths(with drawers)even 12"(I made a built in hutch using them). for both the bar & island, to give you a bit more floor space. It is what I used for for my mini island/bar, in a tight floor area. Helpful for layout a tight kitchen. Is to layout like cardboard or big boxes(the best, if you can find some) sizes on floor, & walk around. Not sure where you are, but I used a "group" called Pro Source. You join for like $25. My kitchen & 5 bath cabinets, total price delivered was 12K! I priced just the Kitchen at HD(only one with any line of Euro Cabinets) 24K!! They will ship to anywhere, but should go to a "store" to order. https://www.prosourcewholesale.com/ Another thing helpful is Google SketchUp a FREE powerful CAD 3D drawing software. A hard learning curve to use, But NEAT!!! I did my whole House plans with it(been designing building houses 40+ yrs) & Building inspector let them fly for the whole house permit, no engineer. Floor plan for 1st FL, only 1100 sq ft. Hutch, plans using SketchUp.

 

Someone actually admitting they were wrong on Tacomaworld, damn that is a rarity but refreshing...……...

 

Thank you -thats the way I was raised -- it just took 55 or so years for it to stick.

 

Proposed kitchen layout!

 

Yes, I love that idea and could not agree more. This is just the rough design from Home Depot that I need to tweak and the island is very important to me. Not sure why, but it seems that islands give you that spaced to congregate around to have a quick bite or long coffee talks. Thanks for your input.

 

Eh. I went with the worst material for the kitchen to some, marble.

 

Interesting.....most people said granite....I will have to relook this.

 

I haven't seen it mentioned but install good, bright under cabinet lighting. I did that in my last house and it makes a world of difference when cooking, especially chopping stuff up. Once you flip it on you'll wonder how you never cut off a fingertip before chopping vegetables in the dark like that.

 

Was put off reading all the bad stuff about marble in the kitchen when first looking.
So looked at granite, but didn’t like any. Then thought about soapstone.
Finally when I went to the shop of my installer, he had two slabs of marble on hand. he gave me a good deal on them but warned me again. I said YOLO.
The people who move into this house will probably end up replacing it anyways (I don’t plan to move out).
I went with honed finish. I seal it only once a year. I tell my wife and kids to be careful with the acidic stuff. It’s been about 4 years and everything looks great still.

 

What? You have to maintain “solid” surfaces?

Why to hear folks spout off you only have to maintain butcher block.

 

Not quartz.

 

'quartz' is chemically pure crystalline SiO2 (silicon dioxide).
Quartzite refers to a class of naturally occurring minerals- containing a high percentage of quartz (SiO2).
"Quartz" (tm) (r in a circle) (c in a circle) llc. Inc. is the engineered countertop product made of crushed quartzite+epoxy.

 

That wall next to the fridge, watch out make sure you can open the door all the way

 

We're doing ours right now. We chose quartz over granite. It's a bit more durable, never needs to be sealed, has more colors/patterns available. Granite will eventually crack at the veins. It might take 1, 5, 10, or 50 years, but it will crack.

We chose Cambria quartz and couldn't be happier.