It's too modern for my 1919 house. We have tile counters right now. They can be difficult to clean, but we don't have new counters in our budget right now. We had soapstone in our last house (built around the same time) and I really liked them. I want to eventually replace the tile with soapstone (probably several years from now, especially if all of our money continues to go to IVF).
The only countertop material that I just could not live with is marble. I LOVE the way it looks, but it is SO delicate and I am not careful when I'm cooking. If soapstone gets dinged up, it just adds to the old character. Marble stains and etches incredibly easily. I would ruin it. My sister has gorgeous marble counters, and the lengths that she goes to to protect them are beyond my patience. I'm not laying kitchen towels down around my cutting board when I slice lemons, which is actually something that she does.
Ditto about marble.
I think this is why granite is here to stay. It can look like anything and really take a beating.
I like it because it's easy. I have to do nothing to care for it, it doesn't stain, and can take heat and cutting.Plus the color patterns hide dirt
But I'm lazy lol.
So much this. I've never done a kitchen remodel so I've never researched what I'd put in, but the granite we have takes all the abuse and looks just as good as when we bought the house 10 years ago. I know other products are also durable, but I'm certainly not ripping out my granite to install them.
What do you guys think of concrete counters? Saw them on HGTV, H thought they were interesting. FTR, we have granite but I don't like the color/pattern--can't tell if it's clean or dirty.
We had marble in our kitchen in KL. Two weeks after moving into the brand new condo a tomato sauce was spilled onto the countertop. Even though the mess was cleaned up within thirty seconds that spot was forever pink. I cannot deal with that.
I wouldn't kick it out of bed. I had it in a rental. It's also not a renewable resource, which bothers me, so no way would I rip it out casually.
BUT when I re-do my own kitchen, I'm going with either butcher block or soapstone, both of which I think would be period-appropriate for my 1920s house, in addition to being not granite.
I do also like quartz, recycled materials, and even concrete in the right house.
I adore butcher block. That's in my dream kitchen.
mine is a gazillion shades of brown so I can't tell if it's dirty
I hate that I have to squat down & get eye level with it to make sure all crumbs have been cleared. Or when the sunlight hits at a certain angle, & I see a water spot I never knew existed I know there are worse problems but this gets super annoying.
We have granite. It's fine. It needs to be sealed and I still haven't done it. Oh well. I don't hate them by any means. I would love Quartz but at the time the price tag was way too high.
We had marble in our kitchen in KL. Two weeks after moving into the brand new condo a tomato sauce was spilled onto the countertop. Even though the mess was cleaned up within thirty seconds that spot was forever pink. I cannot deal with that.
We had marble in our kitchen in KL. Two weeks after moving into the brand new condo a tomato sauce was spilled onto the countertop. Even though the mess was cleaned up within thirty seconds that spot was forever pink. I cannot deal with that.
I would be forced to spread tomato sauce all over all the countertops and then just live with pink countertops. This would drive me absolutely nuts.
I've always had whatever the hell the rental I'm in has. Right now, that's granite.
That's pretty much me, except I don't even have real granite, just formica that looks like granite. It's a huge step up from what i had before, but I'd be thrilled with real granite. Oh well.
Post by mominatrix on Sept 7, 2015 14:55:21 GMT -5
We're putting concrete over our laminate as a DIY short term thing. We did the bathroom and we're half done with the kitchen.
So for that process... It's cheap. It looks great. It's far more easily stained than the laminate, but it makes it develop a patina, kind of like old wood or leather. It's not for people who like perfect.
When we do the full on renovation, I'm pretty sure we won't do concrete. I mean, I like it, but I'm not in love with it.
We're putting concrete over our laminate as a DIY short term thing. We did the bathroom and we're half done with the kitchen.
So for that process... It's cheap. It looks great. It's far more easily stained than the laminate, but it makes it develop a patina, kind of like old wood or leather. It's not for people who like perfect.
When we do the full on renovation, I'm pretty sure we won't do concrete. I mean, I like it, but I'm not in love with it.
We have granite in our kitchen but I hate, hate the color and texture. It's brownish orange with lots of mustard yellow. I can never tell if it's dirty. We plan to replace it, but not sure with what yet. I love the granite in my master:
Also love the super white quartz in the basement:
I think I want to do something a little more environment friendly than a non-renewable stone. It's a few years off though.
Laminate 4 lyfe. Or at least until we move out of this house. The neighborhood isn't nice enough for granite countertops, or even real hardwood floors. We went with high end engineered wood floors and saved thousands. Hopefully our future renters will enjoy them!
We have granite in our kitchen but I hate, hate the color and texture. It's brownish orange with lots of mustard yellow. I can never tell if it's dirty. We plan to replace it, but not sure with what yet. I love the granite in my master:
Also love the super white quartz in the basement:
I think I want to do something a little more environment friendly than a non-renewable stone. It's a few years off though.
We have tile, and I pretty much hate it. We are also disgusting pigs, so we need super low maintenance and not ruinable. Butcher block is right out.
Soapstone is top of my list currently, but I may decide laminate is a more practical choice by the time we get there.
Currently I'm waiting for my bank account to recover and my children to grow older (we've been missing a cabinet door for two years because, Gronk boys), so we've got some time.
They are expensive! I'm looking into recycled glass, and thankfully there are other potions.
Tell me more...
We are buying a house in SoCal that is being gutted before we even move in. We want low maintenance, interesting looking countertops; sustainable is a huge bonus too. What have you been finding?
My house was built in 1963 and still has the original cabinets, hardware and counters. I am in deep deep love with the cabinets (beautifully finished, solid wood with rounded corners on the insides and the original "sprayed on" plastic interior that makes them completely waterproof). Absolutely lovely! And the counters are envied by many retro enthusiasts as they are gold glitter white laminate and they happen to be in pretty good shape. Needless to say for a 52 year old house the kitchen is in great shape and looks damn good. As much as I would prefer to have soapstone we aren't buying new countertops any time soon. Laminate for life I guess.