Countertops
 

DH and I have a long list of upgrades we'd like to do to our house. We have an old 1916-ish farmhouse that was moved and totally redone in 1997. The floors, doors, and doorways are all original and have a lot of character. The kitchen and bathroom cabinets all match, and they are white. The countertop is currently forest green/teal dotted laminate in the kitchen, and white with tiny blue/green specks in the bathrooms. They are very 90's lol. I definitely want to update the kitchen counters and I might as well do the bathrooms at the same time.

The cabinets look very classic... I'm not sure how to describe them and I can't find a picture online. They are kind of shaker style with a border, but the inside panel is grooved to look like individual vertical boards. Anyways, all of the cupboards and drawers look like that, except for two sets of cupboards with frosted glass in the middle.

I want to have a darker countertop because I like how it looks with white cupboards, and we are also switching out appliances to stainless steel hopefully when we do the counters (we are hoping to install a new gas cooktop to replace our white electric one).

What do you guys suggest for a countertop??? Granite? Another type of stone? Corian? I actually would have no problem even doing laminate again because I have never had a kitchen without laminate lol... but the issue is we have one u-shaped section and the long middle piece is too long and the seams are VERY noticeable at the ends of the section and right in the middle where the sink is! In fact, the whole counter is starting to swell around the sink from moisture beacuse of the seam. Heat resistance isn't a big deal - I have never put anything hot on my counters and I probably wouldn't if I could, just because of habit!

So what do you have, and what do you like or not like about it?

Oh and we don't have a budget right now but would like to save money wherever possible! I just really want to decide what I want first. I have googled over and over and I just want some more opinions!

I have heard good things about the poured concrete counters. They can be done in just about any color and are all one piece!

Concrete Countertops - Photos and Information for Cement Counter Tops - The Concrete Network Great site. I am thinking of doing these when we have money to redo our yucky kitchen:D

I found some pictures I put on Photobucket at Christmas a couple of years ago :)

So here it is... we are taking out the little bar sink behind the desk area and the extra sink beside the double-bowl sink in front of the window because WHO NEEDS 4 SINKS IN ONE KITCHEN??? Lol. We also want to build up a higher level for eating at the island.

So give me some suggestions please!

We have tossed around the idea of concrete too! DH and I both have training in concrete mix design and it is something we could probably do ourselves if we just built the forms to match the dimensions in the kitchen.

We have an old house too (1912 bungalow) and also have 90's laminate counters. We however have the original kitchen cupboards (which I LOVE!) and hope to eventually get butcher block counters. I love the look of the wood with white cabinets, and butcher block is very inexpensive compared to the other options out there. I also think a subway tile backsplash would be fun, but I guess we will see!

Here are my beautiful :p laminate countertops!

I LOVE your cupbords!!! We have the original "kitchen" upstairs in a bedroom and I have no idea how we will get it out of there. It's a huge wood structure with cupboards and a flour bin and cutting board and drawers. We want to move it eventually but it will not fit down the stairway so we might need to try to disassemble it!

I had thought also about doing some sort of stone for the regular countertops and butcher block for the island. I just can't make up my mind!

At least you were lucky enough to have your laminate in a neutral color lol! I swear our whole house is white and forest green. Our decks have all been painted dark green, our shingles are dark green (white siding) our countertops are dark green, and the tile around our bathtub has some aztek-style green designs on it.

Yeah, I love our cupboards too! The problem with light countertops... they STAIN like crazy!

I think granite and butcher block would look nice. I wish we were at that stage in our renovation :p Jealous!

We are not quite there yet!!! Right now we are ripping out the indoor hot tub that came with the house (you can see it behind the breakfast nook in one of the pictures) and building a laundry room there instead. DH just started chipping off the tiles last night! We are thinking years down the line for all of our renovations but I want to get a good idea and a budget to work towards! Last night we came up with a tentative (overestimating) budget for everything we want to do and we're figuring about $50,000 :eek::eek::eek: so it will take a while lol! That includes finishing our basement from scratch, building the laundry room, upgrading the kitchen and bathrooms, putting up a fence around the yard and other landscaping, and rebuilding the deck. Perhaps when our mortgage is paid off in 20 years, we can have the house we always dreamed of haha.

Hah. We have put at least 40k into our house already and it is FAR from done... It's crazy how much stuff costs!

Oh I know! We try to DIY whenever possible and watch for sales. We sort of "flipped" my condo for $6000 because we just bought stuff when it was on sale. We found flooring on clearance and bought enough for the whole place, even though it just sat in stacks in the kitchen for months lol! We got new-to-us second hand appliances and lighting, and new kitchen cabinets and countertops on sale. But it looked so good when it was done, and I sold it for 25k more than I bought it for, just 6 months later!

But when you need something NOW, you kind of have to pay whatever they're asking for it! I think we just got really lucky with the condo to find so many good deals at the same time!

I definitely know what you mean! We always get a ton of quotes for everything we do... But the bigger things add up as you go along.

-8K for a new high efficiency furnace and A/C unit
-2.5K for a new 6' cedar privacy fence (that we built ourselves... This was a must have for safety for the pups)
-1K for the front picket fence
-2K for new Craftsman style doors

It adds up quickly! We are working on the bathroom now... Taking things slowly because it's expensive!

Ohhh I am not looking forward to the fence. Well, I am looking forward to having it, not paying for it lol. We currently have a 4' chainlink fence around the back yard with "privacy slats" which means nothing when the fence is only 4' high and the neighbors are very chatty lol. I like them as neighbors but I don't feel like I can be outside and be silly with the dogs or just do my own thing without being watched lol. I really want to put up a 6' wooden fence but when DH brought it up to the neighbor, he said he didn't want anything he'll have to take care of on his side. He likes the chain link because it's no-maintenance. So our other option would be a vinyl fence (we currently have a vinyl privacy fence around our back deck) but I think that's even more expensive than wood!

We are also on a corner lot and we have quite a large front and side yard that we would like to fence in, just for more room for our dogs to run around and more area that actually feels like useable yard I guess. All the big dogs on the street come and poop on our front lawn too and I'd like to stop that.

We are on a corner lot too, and on a pretty busy street... so it was really important to have the privacy fence out back. The fence we share with our neighbor is a picket fence, but she's never outside... so we have a lot of privacy. We plan on adding to the privacy fence on her side if she moves out. I really like that even though there is a sidewalk on the other side of our fence, no one can see in to know we have yorkies.

Our front yard wasn't fenced when we moved in and I was always worried about the pups running out or other dogs pooping in our yard. That fence was great... Now they have 1/3 of an acre, all fenced in to run around in :D They love it!

Oh I'm sure they love that!!!! Our back yard is cut off by our driveway, and DH has a hunk of metal sitting against the fence (his late grandfather's old vintage farm truck he is "fixing up") so nobody from the street can really see in. But of course, it cuts off a lot of the yard too. I'm sure we have way more space in our front and side yards than we do in our back yard! It will be nice to have that extra room for our kids to play too when we have a family.

With white cupboards, I think a soft/mid gray soapstone would be incredible - I love the look of soapstone. I've always been in love w/ concrete countertops too...just really research it if you go that way bc if they're not sealed correctly, it's a nightmare.

Ohh soapstone sounds interesting.
Concrete is great antique and industrial style.
I like the living stone from costco too now.
Quarts and south americal marble remnants are cheap and beautiful.
I 'm strange I really like butcher block counters but what a pain to clean!
I don't get the granite craze personally I don't love granite.

Soapstone would be great! I have a weird feeling that granite is just a phase and will look outdated in 20 years, so I don't really want granite in my house.

I was going to suggest butcher block. I just love how the wood looks with with cabinets!!!

I so agree. One reason I think granite will be outgrown/outdated is bc it's just so "busy" for the eye, ya know? And almost anything really busy eventually looks dated bc it's so easily traced back to a time when it was a trend.

We have granite bc that's what our builder was doing 7 yrs ago - and it looks great, we always get compliments on it. But I'm more "meh" about it. I think it's fine, but not really that aesthetically interesting.

I did a little more research last night and it seems that soapstone has issues with water marks. The only way to get rid of the water marks is to oil the counter which gives it an all over darkness, but then if you spill anything that would absorb the oil, or have unfinished ceramic on it, or even anything with rubber feet on the counter (such as my food processor) would leave white-ish marks, and you'd have to re-oil again. It just seems to be a little more work than I was hoping for!

Quartz also seems like a pretty good option from what I looked at last night. There seems to be less maintenance.


I was also looking at the kitchen last night and I feel like butcher block, although I love it, would just be too much wood. Our kitchen is pretty large and the original wood floors are a huge feature, and there is also one original wood doorway on one side of the counters. The floor and doorway are a different color so I'm not sure which way I would go with the counters - try to match one or the other, or just go completely different again, and I think it would just look too woody for me!

Oh what a pain...that sounds too high maintenance. Have you thought about a black counter? I love that classic look of a black counter w/ white cupboards. Like this one, for ex: http://media8.dropshots.com/photos/1...6/b_101918.jpg or this http://artsandcraftshomes.com/wp-con...6/2-5-blwh.jpg

These next links are from a girl whose blog I follow...she does all her own renos, and has a great eye. She did her kitchen, and used marble - looks amazing (pics attached below). I think there may be some maintenance issues w/ marble, but I don't know what they are.

These are her renos: .. in the Fun Lane: Our Renovations!

Her main blog: .. in the Fun Lane

I love black counters too and I think a black and white kitchen would be pretty timeless. That first picture looks very similar to our kitchen with the floors! They are a very similar color.

I am also trying to convince DH now that we should probably have a farmhouse sink. I do like a double bowl sink, and there is actually a farmhouse double bowl sink at Ikea :) I have been dreaming a lot!

I really like marble countertops but I think I like them better with dark cupboards. All white is just a little too bright for me :)

Ohhhh! I love your kitchen! We have granite and it looks beautiful and I really love it! A new counter will really give your kitchen a facelift. I would love to see pictures after you cahnge it!

Do you have to do much work with your granite? Does it need to be re-sealed and stuff?

I have white kitchen cupboards too and just had new countertops installed last week!

I went with granite. After looking at 5 different warehouses and walking by thousands of slabs of all types of material, I picked the one the had the colours I liked. I knew it as soon as I saw it!

My advice would be to go out and look and see what you like, that will work in the space you have available. I saw some beautiful stones that I really liked & would look gorgeous if you could utilize a large piece of it, but they just couldn't work in my small space being cut up.

OMG I'd have a field day with a remodel like this.

With the exception of laminate, nearly any natural stone countertop you install is going to require yearly maintenance.

Black granite is probably what I'd go with because it's aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Marble is a maintenance nightmare. I have black marble around my fireplace and it's already got white spots where Gabby peed on it. However, I need to caution you that anything citrus left on the black stone will etch in, even if sealed. The rule is, wipe up as soon as you're done prepping food and you'll be fine.

Concrete would be my second choice. It's a little less maintenance but a little too industrial for a house of that period.

Give me a minute to think on it.
I wish I could walk through to get a feel for the room. Pictures are so hard to go by.

Thank you! Do you have any opinion on quartz? I know it is man-made, but from what I have read it seems to be less maintenance than granite.

Granite is very easy to care for...just soap & water cleanup (best cleaner I've found is mixing water, rubbing alcohol & dawn dishsoap in a spray bottle...it's cheap & works excellent!)

Sealing is a breeze & in my experience, only needs to be one once a year or every other year...it's like a waxed car...you see when water no longer beads up like it should & then you know it's time to re-seal. Then just clean the counter and let it dry thoroughly (I let is dry overnight). Spray on the sealer, wait about a half hour to an hour and wipe off the excess..don't use the counter for 24 hours.

Are you much of a DIYer? Do you have a budget in mind that might limit choices?

Personally, I love building & remodeling and really dislike having to hire others to work on my home, which is why I had such a hardtime deciding on my countertops. My temporary countertops (after I'd ripped out the old ones, moved cabinets & changed the floor plan of my kitchen) were ones I built myself out of MDF. I'd thought about laminating them (a very easy & very cheap DIY weekend project) or tiling them, or pouring concrete (a DIY project I did for a friends office table & counter) but I just don't like the look. I much prefer the look of natural stone, but that takes DIY out of the equation, which means hiring a fabricator/installer, which means increased cost. My kitchen is very small so price wasn't much of a factor.

Granite doesn't sound as bad as I thought. We are newlyweds and we hope to have a family in the future so I'm sure there will be a lot more wear and spills! Even now we aren't the greatest at cleaning up after ourselves in the kitchen so I want something that can stand up to it!

We are very DIY kind of people and have never hired anyone to do any work for us (new flooring, new kitchen, new bathroom etc. all done by us with the help of family members in our old condo!) I know we would have to pay for installation of stone, but of course it's something I want to be done right.

We got a quote for granite for about $7000. We thought that was a lot! But it seems any kind of stone would be pretty close. That's why I looked at Corian for a little while too, but I do think I like stone better. We do have a large kitchen and a lot of counter space so I know we will have to spend more money no matter what we get. I think I would feel better spending that much money if I know it is going to hold up for a long time. I don't want to change them again in 10 years!

Well hi there, fellow DIYer :D
Getting an excellent fabricator & installer is the most important part. This is where you want to get references and talk to people who have had work done by them. Anyone with the right tools can cut stone. Cutting it so it is scribed to your walls and has a perfect fit in your corners & to your cupboards is a whole other ball game. Many fabricators want you to go with a granite backsplash as the thickness of it covers many cutting sins. I plan to tile my backsplash myself to I wanted my counters to fit perfectly...and they do :)

That sounds reasonable for all your counters as you'll need a couple of slabs. All mine counters came out of a single slab & was $3000 (and I have a couple of pieces left over).

I too looked at Corian & quartz...but they looked like the artifical product they are. Personally, I prefer the more natural look of stone. This is my second home with granite counters. I thought I might want a change this time around, so looked alot before I made my choice. It helps if you know yourself well & know what YOU like...not what your friends like, not what's the trendy thing to have, but what appeals to you time & time again....so the best thing you can do IMO is to get out there & actually and see what appeals to you.