Countertops
 

Tell me about your countertops - granite, quartz, solid surface.

What did you go with?
What do you / don't you like about them.
What would you do different?


Go!

I'll be listening to the input too. I'd like to do granite and I also saw somebody say something about "granite veneer" to save on cost? I mean if that is cheaper and looks basically the same what difference would it make?

We've had granite in the kitchen since 2003 and I'd never buy granite again. It's difficult to maintain, there are seams and overall, it's just a bitch.

In 2005, we renovated the master bath and used a brand of quartz. It's seamless, looks great, feels great, doesn't stain and doesn't require any maintenance. Some day soon, we'll re-do the kitchen with quartz.

Good luck!

granite veneer is a thin slice of granite on top of some other(existing) material......it should look feel and perform fairly similarly, i believe..should be cheaper than whole slabs and doing a full treplacement

I'd recommend going into a counter top shop, a higher end one and looking at a bunch of really nice setups just to get an idea of the different products...

they have so many engineered/formica and other options with a crazy amount of colors and patterns

I have concrete counters. They're awesome. But I made them and they're expensive. Not for everybody. If I were a general consumer, I'd buy quartz all day long. If I were a consumer on a budget I'd buy granite. I wouldn't ever do laminate, not even in a rental. Especially not in a rental.

I really want stained concrete...
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spoken like someone who owns zero rental property

I can paint your counters to look like granite..or marble..or limestome...


:doh!:

Yeah, that's probably fair. Renters would probably destroy good counters too. But if I had to install today, the price of granite has fallen far enough that it's affordable even for those who were candidates for laminate.

had a buddy who made his own concrete counter tops, **** they were heavy

i might consider it but i can go to home depot , grab a formica counter top for like a hundred bux off the shelf, throw it in my truck, cut it down to size myself, cut the sink hole out myself with a 30$ jig saw, and install it myself easily and the apartment/house rented tomorrow

all without caring if they wreck it....which is still pretty tough as the new formicas are probably actually harder to **** up than many other options

Granite in the kitchen. Love it. Phobia did my master bath in concrete and it's badass.

i have licked several

i once went down on a chick and got toilet paper in my mouth

lost boner

When Phil did our concrete countertop, he added little river pebbles. Then when he sanded it, it made a multicolored look like granite but more unique. I'd consider it for my kitchen as well

there are some really cool concrete options out there...

i really need new counters in my own house too

I liked how we did your shower seat so well, that's how I did my tops for my kitchen.

WTF?

I know someone who can sell you solid wood butcher block countertops. :)

We went with an engineered stone over granite. It was more expensive, but doesnt require any maint. unlike granite. It was more expensive though....i think its called Silestone?

We have granite and love it. Its easy to clean and is so hard. I love being able to put tools and such on it without worrying about scratches or anything.

What is all this maintenance you guys are speaking of? I am supposed to be feeding and watering it or something?

I thought making concrete countertops was suppose to be inexpensive?

So you're telling me expensive and we all know very heavy? Pass then.

We have some friends who got quartz and seem to like them. I like it also. They told me that they weren't terribly expensive. Think they spend 2-3 G on their whole setup. (naturally this changes depending on the amount you need)

I'm personally a fan of granite and soapstone but I hear they're both very expensive.

Quartz, wouldn't go with granite due to maintenance.

There's maintenance?

Serious?

You have to keep granite sealed, and stains can be really hard to get out.

Concrete isn't really for us. Our kitchen is not modern overall, so I don't think concrete is a good fit. We've had them on a couple of projects, and I've never been pleased with the overall consistency in edge profile, etc.

We're not seeing a big difference in granite vs. quartz pricing for the colors we've like so far, so that's not a factor.

U call it a shower seat? I call it a **** bench. Regardless. It's awesome.

We have laminate. And we will probably always have laminate. In fact we will probably always have same damn laminate we have now because in one area of our kitchen the upper cabinets come all the way down and sit on the countertop and I don't see how they could be replaced without dismantling the cabinets in that area which I don't really want to do. Didn't really think about that when we bought the house.

granite looks cool as hell but it will also break some shit


surprising how different it is when setting a plate down on a granite top

Why? Too much work? Expense of new cabinets?

supposed to put this clear sealant on it every 6 months or so

I have black quartz countertops and love them. My brother has granite and hates the staining and maintenance.

Ironically enough, I just went and looked at a couple of places for granite countertops on Saturday.

I'm going to be in this house for another 3-5 years at most, but it's laminate counters and those just suck so I'll probably have to replace them when I try to sell the thing. As such, I'm just going to put them in now so I can enjoy them before I sell them.

That said - I'm not going to go get the exotic laminate because this isn't my long-term house at this point. So for the guys that have actually done this, is $49 installed for basic granite tops with the 'lifetime' seal (that should last the 5 years I need it to) a decent price? It seems like the going base rate.

Yeah, both of those things on top of the expense of new countertops. I'm sure that particular unit was custom made and would probably not be able to be pulled out intact nor do I know if it could be removed without damaging the cabinets around it. Then trying to match finishes that are over 15 years old can be tricky as well. It's one of those things that would probably escalate into an entire kitchen remodel and there are more pressing issues with the house. Luckily for me I don't hate the laminate we have 'cause we're stuck with it for a while.

aka "Quartz".

You can make rudimentary concrete countertops cheaply if you DIY. But they're rough. Finishing tools for concrete are essentially the same as the tools for Granite and they get expensive. It's also labor intensive. I don't recommend anybody attempt to DIY concrete tops unless they have both carpentry and concrete experience. It's a lot harder than it appears on HGTV. Granite is cheap these days. It's <half price of 10 years ago.

You can do better than that price at somewhere other than Home Depot but it's not a horrible price.

quartz ftw.

If I knew then what I know now, I'd have heated the **** bench too. I still love your bathroom. When you're old and start wintering in Florida, I want to house-sit for you. That's one helluva master suite.

Our new home has granite and quartz. Our previous home had quartz (Cambria). I like the quartz best of the 2. I like how the quartz is more uniform and requires zero maintenance. We have some beautiful granite in the new home, but the quartz in my bar area (Zodiac in this case) is my favorite in the house.

One thing to check on is to try and find the actual importer/fabricator in your area and see if they have a "boneyard" of remnants from previous jobs. Here in Atlanta we used Oldcastle and got everything in our house (except the kitchen) out of the boneyard for only $32/sqare foot. This included some quartz that is $64 and the granite in our master was almost $95. At that price we put granite everywhere (including our guest baths) for not much more than what cultured costs. Best of all we don't have the exact same stuff everywhere in our house.

DT

Thanks; I'd like to throw some business your way, but A) I'm a few hours away and B) You seem to do higher end work than I care to worry about with this house. Sorry.

Always get at least three bids when doing any renovations or home improvements. If there's a local granite supplier/installer, be sure to contact them as well.

Lowe's and Home Depot are great because of the insurance they carry. It's been pretty well documented over the years but I've done a ridiculous amount of renovations to my home over the past ten years. I had a bad situation with Lowe's but because of their insurance, it was resolved to my satisfaction.

In July 2003, we hired Lowe's to install our kitchen cabinets. We had torn out a wall in order to expand the kitchen by 12 feet and I basically designed the room myself. Lowe's came out, took measurements, then put them into their computer incorrectly and had to come out again. The cabinets were ordered (the same exact cabinets at a local business cost $5k more) and they sent our their installers.

I had several crews working that day and was managing everyone. One of the Lowe's guys smelled like he had been drinking, which wasn't good. Anyway, they installed the cabinets and they looked great. Then came the time to install the pulls (handles). Well, the drunk guy did them and on every single cabinet and drawer, they were crooked! Every stinkin' one. So I called Lowe's and they sent out their head contractor.

He checked everything out and agreed they were a mess. So, Lowe's ordered all new doors and drawer fronts, which took another month. So by October, my kitchen wasn't complete. Finally, the cabinet and drawer faces came in November and another crew was sent out in which they were "mostly" put on correctly. So more faces were ordered and I finally had the manager out to my home to check everything out. He agreed that the work was shoddy and offered to refund my entire installation fee, which was $2500 dollars. I agreed and we've had a fully intact kitchen since late December 2003.

I've had some absolutely terrible experiences with contractors, where they don't finish the job or do it so poorly that the work has had to be re-done. But thanks to Lowe's and their insurance, the job was finally done correctly.

Good luck!

Yep, it's a pain in the butt. I'll never purchase granite again.

I have copper countertops in my kitchen. They look great but are kind of a pain in the ass. I don't know if I would do them again. But they look really cool

So what will happen to my granite if I don't care for it? What exactly am I supposed to be doing?

apply clear sealer on it every 6 months

Soapstone FTW!!!!

This crap drives me nuts. I mean, I've done pulls maybe 2 times and I bought a $7 plastic jig that makes it full-proof. How someone who supposedly does this for a living doesn't have the tools to make it idiot-proof (especially considering what drawer & cabinet faces cost) just boggles my mind.

And for anyone with 1/2 a brain you can make one right on site that would at least insure you mounted them all the same...

DT

Thanks man. Of course you did all the work. We love it.

Interesting.
I threw up a flag a while back because I'm building a house and looking for counter tops, flooring, tile and a few other items/services and crickets.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with counter tops right now. It seems like place to trim now to something cheaper to keep the house in budget and then upgrade at a later date with what I really want...when I figure out what that is. If I had my way, I'd probably go with concrete counter tops with some in-set fossils.

Make sure the framing in the floor will support you going from something light like laminate to something heavy like granite or concrete

Whoops...I haven't applied anything but polish to my shit and I've had it for 6 years. What about marble? I have a ton of italian marble tables and I don't want to get them worn down.

Think you have to get a sealer on the marble too.

I have marble in my bathroom and we have to spray seal it.

Stained concrete or quartz.

Formica 180FX laminate. Looks like huge slabs of granite.

The reason you've had so many troubles is because Lowes and Home Depot pay their contractors about 1/3rd of what I need to make on a job. I couldn't survive if I had to live off their labor wages. So, guess who you get working on those jobs? I'm not saying every one of my guys pisses clean but I make sure they aren't using crap on my job site.

Appreciate it. A couple hours doesn't bother me if you have an interesting project with decent margins but I really don't make much on granite. We do low end, high end, and everything in the middle. In fact, we just did about a week's worth of repair to Brando's house in Waldo last week and it sold to the first person who looked at the thing on Saturday morning.

I'll certainly give you a ring when I build the 'grownup' homestead. I'll certainly be doing more than just 40 sq. feet of pretty standard countertop then.

Like I said; this is the $3k job I'm looking to do just to spruce up the kitchen for sale in a few years.

You're doing it right, at least. I always advise my clients to fix up their homes a little at a time so they can enjoy it while they live there. So many people just dump a few grand into the house getting it ready for sale when they could have enjoyed better facilities all along.

I had to enlist my in-laws to finally convince my wife.

We've been there for 4 years already and every single time I try to improve something "well we're just going to move...."

Dammit, woman. We have to live here in the interim. And you burnt a !@#$ing hole in the bar with a stupid candle.

Her dad just dropped about 30K remodeling his kitchen so I got him to convince her how great the new countertops were so she'd finally listen. I just have to shake my head sometimes at that particular breed...

It was just the one job but I'm glad that I used them because my experience with other contractors at the time was far worse. It's much different out here, especially at that time, when everyone was looking to flip houses, than in your area.

I've known plenty of people that have used Lowe's and Home Depot's contractors without a hitch. And I've known tons of people that have been royally ****ed over by their "legitimate" contractors.

After all of that, I've had the same contractor since 2004 and he's addressed any issues that we may have had after the work had been completed.

I've sure gotten ****ed by a contractor on my siding lol
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i'm jealous


I spend my days remodelling for others yet my own house is stuck in the 80's


:deevee::drool::deevee:

The best goldenrod formica that 1942 money could buy.

I love the soapstone but that's fairly native to your neck of the woods. It gets more expensive in other areas of the country. What is the orange part of your backsplash? The copper farmer's basin is special too. I wouldn't even want to see that invoice.

It's a tough business. Very tough. I wish I could find something equally rewarding to pay my bills. But I think the housing market is finally coming back around here and my prices will fall more in line with what they used to be so I can finally buy a new truck after 8 years of driving the same rig.

I absolutely love those sinks.

I like them white though. My kitchen is next
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Good thing you like it white. You just saved yourself like $2k.

I know. I have great taste lol.

That copper seems like it would be a total pain in the ass too.

But I really like the crisp white look
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Ive used Lowes a few times with no problems.......but yea, its the nature of your line of work. Its not exactly a profession that draws "high character" guys. No offense. Ill bet its tough finding dependable, hard working guys.

Going to replace the countertops in our new place. We went and looked at top end granite/quartz counter top places last week. Went to Ikea. You can't get granite down here for $49 with installation. Unless its remnant or plain. Most are $59-$89. Quartz is $100.

We here negatives about every option.

Even the good ones I want to keep around have their fair share of issues. I mean, I do too but I'm not a drunk, druggy, felon, single-parent, no transportation, kind of guy. Every single laborer/carpenter/painter/drywaller/mason in this business has some kind of red-flag issue that makes them difficult to employ. It's brutal.

There are 2 negatives about Quartz:
1. That market is controlled by one family. Even though there are several brands available, it all comes from the same source. That means they control the price.
2. If you have an accident, it's not something that can be repaired easily. But that's the case with all except solid surface which can be sanded and worked like wood to fix nicks and scratches.

Just re-did mine last August. Granite these days only needs to be sealed every 15 years, so we went with that. It wasn't a ton cheaper than Quartz but I didn't feel it necessary to spend the extra money. There's plenty of different flavors of granite as well.

Here's my album of my renovation if anyone is curious to see them: https://plus.google.com/photos/11645...39197625522753

Good job RyFo.

Do it yourself
 

I went through the countertop arguement as well. Granite and Quartz were pricey and needed sealing. Laminate looks good for a short time but can stain and is hard to work with if the walls are not exactly square. I decided to attempt a countertop myself using tile. Here's how it came out. Easy to maintain, heat does not bother it. And the best part, a third of the cost.

Your tile looks better than 99% of the DIY efforts out there, though. You must be very meticulous. Quartz doesn't need sealing.