We’re inching right along in the kitchen (wish we could share kitchen updates every day but we’re doing this thing real-time). Which brings us to our latest decision: the new counters that we’ll be going with.
We’ve been debating possibilities for weeks (there are a junkload of options out there with pros and cons to each one). And ten people would probably make ten different decisions, so it can feel especially hard to hone in on the “right” thing since there are so many variables. So here’s how we landed on the choice that we like best for our kitchen/family/life. But first the thing we’re sad about: although we had high hopes of DIYing concrete counters (I pinned about a million tutorials) they’re not a good choice for our kitchen. After talking to a few concrete experts (who actually make ’em for a living) we learned that in order to accommodate the double 12″ overhang (on two of the four sides of the giant 3 x 5′ peninsula that we’ll be adding) we would need to pour the slab extra thick, which is an issue because:
- our cabinets can’t support that amount of weight (they’d need to be reinforced = $$$)
- our floors aren’t built to support that load anyway (more on that here)
Cue the sad trombone sound effect. We debated doing some sort of concrete “slipcover” (for lack of a better word- some folks just coat another countertop material with a thin layer of concrete) but it ended up having more cons than solid concrete, so we decided to explore a few other options in hopes of finding The One. But we’re diabolically determined (picture me stroking my chin like an evil genius) to mess around with concrete one way or another. Maybe we’ll make a long concrete dining table for an outdoor deck area that we have yet to tell you about/build (it’s on the to-do list, so we’ll hopefully get there eventually). But back to the kitchen…
Once concrete was off the table (or the counters, har-har) we decided that hitting up a bunch of local kitchen shops as well as the usual home improvement guys (like Lowe’s and Home Depot) would be a good way to see what other counter materials were out there… and what they were going to do to our budget. Back when we did our first home’s kitchen we really splurged when it came to the counters (to the tune of $3,700 after a $300-off promotion), but they kind of made our kitchen and we had saved up the money to pay them off right away, so we didn’t regret that choice.
But we definitely went into this kitchen makeover vowing to come in substantially under that number. Which is funny given that we have about twice as much square footage (since we’re adding a big peninsula and this kitchen is a lot larger than our last one). For example, to use the same “pashmina” granite from Home Depot that we used for our last kitchen would cost us over $7,000! Which is just not in the budget. At all.
At first we thought about butcher block (Ikea sells it so affordably and it can be stained to get a richer chocolate look). But with the dark wood counters in the adjoined office (just five steps from the stove and three from the fridge) we decided that would be too much wood. Plus we loved the slick and easy-to-wipe-down surface that granite offered us in our first kitchen. Call us spoiled. But this time we wanted to go with something different (and had heard good things about quartz, solid surface options like Corian, and even cool eco options like recycled glass). So after hitting up a bunch of places, here are all of the samples that we brought home to mull over:
- Top left: LG Viatera quartz in “Geneva” found at Lowe’s (note: any of these options are probably available at a number of places)
- Bottom left: Caesarstone quartz in “Pebble” found at a local spot called Kitchen & Bath Solutions
- Right: Silestone quartz in “River Blanco” found at Kitchen & Bath Solutions
- Top left: Cambria quartz in “Torquay” found at Kitchen & Bath Solutions
- Bottom left: Cambria quartz in “Sussex” found at Kitchen & Bath Solutions
- Top right: Allen & Roth quartz in “Alloy” found at Lowe’s
- Bottom right: Cambria quartz in “New Quay” found at Kitchen & Bath Solutions
Oh and here’s a pile of white solid surface options from Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Kitchen & Bath Solutions (the one on top is Glacier White by Corian, and there are other options by LG Hi-Macs and Allen & Roth under it).
We also admired a few awesome eco options like recycled glass but they sadly weren’t in the budget (at least we got cork floors and can reuse almost all of our cabinetry to keep things green).
The one we loved most? This Silestone guy (River Blanco):
But after we learned that it would be over 5K for those counters alone (!!!), we knew it wasn’t meant to be. But don’t cry for me Argentina. It all worked out in the end and we found something that’ll be a great choice for our kitchen/family. The winner? Glacier White Corian:
We’re in love and have all but forgotten the 5K option that we once called a favorite. That’s actually not a white Corian square pictured above, but that bigger white tile was the same color so it represents the new counter better than a tiny Chicklet-sized square sample. Oh and the stainless steel bottle represents our new stainless appliances and the paint swatch is the current wall color so you can see how those things layer in with other things like our backsplash tile and the mocha cork.
Why did it win? So many reasons:
- It’s thousands cheaper than most other options we priced out ($38 a square foot at Lowe’s – compared to many other options shown above that were in the $80-100 per square foot range). We also have a 10% off “project coupon” that arrived in the mail from Lowe’s and will get 5% off on top of that when we use our Lowe’s credit card (you know we love a deal)
- John’s sister has lived with Glacier White Corian in her kitchen for the past 5+ years and loves it and has had zero issues (seriously, she wants to marry it)
- We are keeping our existing deep stainless sink and are not going with an integrated Corian sink (we have heard they can be harder to care for, and John’s sister has a stainless sink with the Corian tops and has loved that combo).
- It’s easy care (Corian is nonporous, which means stains do not penetrate the surface). According to the company, it also resists the growth of mold, mildew, and bacteria (John’s sister has a teen, a tween, a toddler, and a big dog – and she has no scratches or stains to date)
- We already use trivets and wood cutting boards to set down hot things (we’re paranoid) so following those steps with Corian should be no sweat (John’s sister hasn’t had any issues with that in five years of use either)
- It’s lighter than granite, quartz, concrete, etc (so our cabinets and floor joists can handle it, no problem)
- When installed, there are no seams, if done correctly (which is definitely appealing since the seams in our current granite tops drive us bonkers)
- It reflects lots of light, so it’s great for dark windowless rooms (like our kitchen!)
I know it might sound really bland to do white cabinets with white counters, but many of the rooms that we love in our inspiration files have the white on white look. And given our recent backsplash choice it’ll all hopefully make sense (the gray-green penny tiles will stand out along with colorful items on our open shelves while the counters and cabinets are classic & clean).
We’re also toying with the idea of some sort of subtle color on the cabinets (maybe a soft taupe-gray like this kitchen that we crashed a while back). Not sure where we’ll end up, but we’ll definitely keep ya posted! What about you guys? Has anyone else decided to go with Corian? Or concrete? Or quartz? Or granite? Or butcher block? We’d love to hear which counter you picked for your kitchen! There are so many delicious options out there…
Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winner. Click here to see if it’s you.
Karen @ bellacarina.com says
my parents have had corian in their kitchen for at least 10 years and they haven’t had any issues with it. It’s made it through 3 kids and TONS of large family dinners. ;) They are going to have to refinish the cabinets soon, but the corian is still going strong! They have a grey, speckled color that is supposed to mimic granite. I like it. I like the idea of doing a subtle color to the cabinets…just to break it up a bit!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad to hear that Karen! And we’re definitely leaning more towards the subtle cabinet color lately. We’ll keep ya posted!
xo,
s
meredith says
oh, also, has your sister ever had a newspaper on the Corian counter get wet? happened to us and it was NOT fun to clean up. i guess i’m just a low maintenance girl!
YoungHouseLove says
She never mentioned it, but it does sound obnoxious. Oddly enough we read the paper on the sofa (I even clip coupons there at night) so hopefully it won’t hang out on the counter.
xo,
s
Lisa says
Yes, I have white matte Corian and newspaper print, fruit juices and even plastic bags with print will stain. I do use Clorox 2 which I find is easier to use than Soft Scrub if done while the stain is fresh (no grainy residue).
Sometimes I find Soft Scrub will dull a small area of my matte Corian. I have had it for 11yrs, no other complaints really hardly any scratchs. I have white enamel sink but your definitely on the right track with the stainless.
Shary says
I had Corian counters (blue) in my last house. We lived there 6 yrs and never had any trouble with them. We also had the corian sink and I didn’t find it difficult to take care of at all. And it was two families before us that put the counters in, not sure how many years that equals, but they still looked great when we left. When we redo our kitchen here, I plan to use Corian again. Love it!
YoungHouseLove says
Yay- love it.
xo,
s
Helene says
I used concrete to cover up an ugly hearth. I liked your idea of just painting it, but our tile was cracked and badly damaged so we needed to do something to the surface. I didn’t want to deal with prying it up and laying something new down, so I just covered it with a few layers of spreadable cement and smoothed it out. You can cover cover just about anything with that stuff. It’s like icing a cake.
emma says
my parents have had the same white corian you picked out since i was like 10 and they love it!
maybe you can make some concrete trivets for use by the stove/for party buffets on the peninsula. white + splash of grey is so pretty!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw that’s a fun idea! And so glad to hear that your parents have had and loved the same corian since you were ten!
xo,
s
carly @ masons roost says
We have corian countertops that we took out of military housing (they were being torn down). I’m guessing they are over 20 years old and are in really good shape. There’s a few knife marks but thats from us not using cutting boards all the time. The only big problem is that they are a pinkish beige :)
Stephanie says
My parents had a few cutting boards made out of the same corian their counters were made of (just a few 12×12 scrap pieces with some little rubber feet attached to the bottom). They often leave one out for their cutting needs and that way they never ding up their corian AND it blends in beautifully with their counters. Just a thought…
YoungHouseLove says
Love that! We have a chunky wood cutting board that we use now (and also put hot things on) so we like that idea!
xo,
s
Debbie says
I’ve been debating countertop choices for a kitchen reno for more than a year. I’m painting my dark cabinets white, and like you, have been drawn to the look of white kitchens. My first choice was marble, but everyone has discouraged that choice. I’ve visited a couple of dozen granite/marble suppliers looking for something that looks like marble but acts like granite. That quest hasn’t been successful but I did come across Cambria Torquay. (Corian Rain Cloud or Witch Hazel are my alternate choices.) So far, Torquay is the leading contender for my reno, but since I can’t get underway until after the holidays, there’s always time for to change my mind again! I love your blog and look forward to reading about your adventures every day!
Kathy says
The white on white is going to be lovely– my gosh, you’ll need sunglasses once you’re done in there it’ll be so much brighter! :).
Last year when we remodeled our tiny kitchen, I wavered between Home Deep’s “Staron” (which is *supposed* to be similar to Corian) and Silestone. My final decision was based on the key scratch test on the samples. The Silestone “coffeebean” won…the scratches didn’t show at all. And then I lucked out because HD was having a promo that included 3 upgrades– one was a free stainless steel sink–so final costs were still cheaper than the Staron option. yea!
YoungHouseLove says
So lucky!
xo,
s
Kristen says
I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned this to you guys yet, but Sarah’s House 4 started last week on HGTV Canada. Sarah buys a builder house in the suburbs and fixes it up to look custom. The kitchen episode just aired this week and she did a stunning kitchen with soft grey cabinets and a dark grey island. When you mentioned doing a subtle colour on the cabinets it made me think of this kitchen.
Here’s the link with pictures on the HGTV Canada website: http://www.hgtv.ca/sarahshouse/episodes.aspx?sectionid=399&categoryid=8391414025226646170&postid=237486
YoungHouseLove says
Gorgeous! Thanks for the link!
xo,
s
Elisabeth says
We had corian in our first house and loved it! We also had the inlaid corian sink and I’m glad to hear you aren’t going to go that route. It was a PAIN to keep clean. I don’t know if it was really corian since it did stain, but either way, I won’t ever have a sink like that again. Can’t wait to see the rest of the details! It’s coming together!
Kristina says
When I was in middle school, my parents did a massive kitchen renovation and put in Corian countertops. We loved them! Never had any problems with them with two kids, two parents, and two grandparents running around the house. Super super durable. Great choice!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad to hear it Kristina!
xo,
s
Meg says
My parent’s remodeled their kitchen in 1988 and used white corian countertops. In 23 years, never a stain, crack or anything went wrong and they still look great – shiny and clean. And we were not gentle with these counters. I am sure, as kids, we spilled all kinds of stuff, left hot pots and baking sheets, and they never got damaged. Sounds like a great choice!
YoungHouseLove says
Woot! Love it.
xo,
s
David says
I would be curious if you evaluated Corian vs. other real estate comps in your area. I would hate for you to choose the cheapest upfront cost, but then pay for it by hurting your resale value because all the houses you are competing against have granite, etc. Total cost is effectively the same, just a question of timing right?
YoungHouseLove says
Our realtor said solid surface and quartz and granite are all in the same-ish resale price point assuming it’s not something bright or too specific (since certain granite is out due to color, and laminate is in a lower resale bracket). So a classic choice like white Corian is a nice option for resale (especially in our area, where marble could potentially price the house out of the neighborhood).
xo,
s
Pamela says
I’ve loved Corian for a long time and used it for a bathroom counter 20 years ago. I have the “glacier white” and there is a pink stain (don’t know the offender) that cannot be removed. Also, the plain white definitely shows scratches, not big, more overall. When we redid the kitchen I seriously considered Corian, but would have gone with “rain cloud” because the swirliness would camouflage the scratches. Just about that time Silestone introduced “river blanco.” Now I know what love is.
gemma@thesweetestdigs says
Love the choice! Your kitchen is going to look classic and beautiful. My brother and sister-in-law just installed Corian as well and are super happy with it.
Ooh I’m counting down the days (years?) till we tackle our kitchen renovation. Save, save, save!
Meagan says
Just saw Nina’s response about the hot-surface-cracking thing, and thought it was worth mentioning that when my parents got their corian counters (which they love!), my mom had an extra piece (maybe 18 inches square) cut, and finished with rounded edges (made from the hole made from the sink I think?) that she leaves on the counter right next to the stove, so if there is ever any flaming/super-hot-and-oops-this-potholder-isn’t-working! situation, she can drop the pan without ruining her counters!
YoungHouseLove says
Smart!
xo,
s
Chris says
We have white corian in our kitchen and LOVE it. It was here when we bought the house and I was definitely hesitant at first but it has worked out great. No stains, no issues with hot pans. If you catch them with the light reflecting you can see that they are a bit scratched (they are 10 years old and have survived 3 owners in this home) but its not noticeable at ALL unless the sun is right on them and you’re at the right angle. We do have the integrated sink which I don’t love…the sink is a little harder to clean and needs more elbow grease than the counters do. good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the reassurance Chris!
xo,
s
Carriegel says
Interesting discussion. We bought a house five years ago with dark green Corian counters. At the time the counters would have been six years old. We hated them. They had faded in spots, were scratched and dull looking. Of course, being a dark color didn’t help. We replaced the counter with a quartz one which we love. It will be interesting to see what your experience will be. Good luck!
Margaret says
Did the Caesarstone make you think of that Flipping Out where Jennie and Jeff pitch name ideas to the Caesarstone people? I’m glad you picked up “Pebble” and not one of the other “interesting” names they came up with (which I won’t repeat here…)).
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- yes! Kitty Litter!
xo,
s
Amy says
i am so excited to hear about your choice! we went with white cabinets and glacier white corian in our kitchen remodel a few years ago. even though granite and marble and quartz are so pretty, i am SO SO SO happy with the decision we made. (pictures here: http://m-chem.blogspot.com/2011/06/before-and-after-kitchen.html)
OH: and barkeeper’s friend is the BEST for cleaning white Corian! sometimes the newspaper or fruit juice will leave a faint stain, but BKF takes it right off. when the countertops are all clean and gleaming and white it is like crack to me. for real.
have fun! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Gorgeous room!!!!! I love the owl planter!!
xo,
s
Lisa says
Wow, beautiful kitchen!!!!!
michele says
we had corian in our last house. mrs meyer’s clean day surface scrub to keep it nice and shiny. it tended to get dull after awhile … little scratches, etc. … but was still enjoyable. and going white may make that a non-(visible)issue. hated the integrated sink – stained like crazy. good call on keeping stainless. we just built a house and priced out caesarstone, quartz, silestone, etc., and they all came in more expensive than our first choice: soapstone. we have soapstone on the perimeter, and stainless steel on the island, and i have to say that i adore both. seriously … i could lick them on a daily basis. love the clean look you are going for … bright and happy. such good qualities for a kitchen!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tips Michele. We love Mrs Meyers so we might end up using that too! As for your soapstone and stainless steel, they sound amazing!
xo,
s
Mrs. Limestone says
Yea for countertop selection. That is always a bear.
Its not bland to have white on white – there will be lots of textures in here. Im sure it will be beautiful.
Jane says
I noticed lots of people habe mentioned cracks that can form with Corian from hot items, like stoves…. Just so you know, my parents have over 20 yr old Corian and they recently had the crackes ‘patched’. You can’t even tell the difference! The patches are seemless, so if anything like that ever happens to you, its completely fixable!
Also they had some detailing on the original Corian… a hideous peach stripe around the edging (so 80’s…). They were able to remove the stripe and replace it with a stripe that mimics the look of granite! Also seamless! So there are lots of options like that as well!
YoungHouseLove says
We have heard that! And that it’s warrantied for life so they’ll fix things for free! Love it!
xo,
s
deb says
It’ll be stunning!
Shari says
A year ago, I had the LG Hi-Mac put in my kitchen (in Graphite) and I don’t love it. It looks beautiful but from my experience, I don’t think it’s a great choice for a high use area like a kitchen. My hubby and I are empty nesters so we are not hard on our countertops but even after just a few months of use, the finish was starting to dull and scratch in the areas that are used most often. I have since learned it can be buffed out but who wants to deal with that hassle and expense several times a year to keep countertops looking new? At the same time, we also had a leftover piece of the same LG Hi-Mac installed on a vanity in one of the bathrooms and that is holding up much better since it doesn’t get the daily wear and tear of things like dishes, glasses, silverware etc. being placed on it.
Jeanette says
Do you know why people are saying the integrated sinks are harder to care for? I love the seamless look so we were thinking of doing the corian with the integrated sink when we changed out our counters. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
We just heard that since you’re not supposed to put hot stuff on corian that you can’t pour hot water down the drain or things can crack (but that’s how we drain pasta all the time)! We also hear it can get dingy since it gets so much banging around with pots and stuff (counters seem to have it easier than sinks). Some folks have them and love ’em though! We were just digging hard for cons to make sure we had all the info!
xo,
s
Ashley says
I have Glacier White Corian with an integrated sink and I LOVE IT! It has been 2 years. I pour hot water down my sink all the time. I am in the middle of another kitchen remodel and am using the same Corian but getting the Corian farm sink. When I was ordering the Corian (at a different place than I bought it from the first time) I was telling the designer why I was worried about Corian and heat and he said it sounds like the previous salesperson put a little too much fear in me…better safe than sorry though. I do use hot pads and trivets to be safe but hot water down the sink is ok. I do soft scrub my sink once a week to keep it sparkly white but I love the fact that I do not have to clean around the sink. Mine has never got dingy from pots/pans but that might be because I soft scrub it once a week. I do not think you will regret the integrated sink!
MDmomof3 says
I would have thought the white on white was boring except that this past year, I have watched every episode of Design Inc. on HGTV and Sara Richardson does white-on-white like nobody else! I want an entirely white house after watching her designs.
Gabbi says
L-O-V-E your choice! We are doing the same thing in our kitchen reno! White solid surface countertops from Lowe’s and painting our old cabinetry white…except we are carrying our hardwoods into the kitchen instead of the old linoleum that was there. I can’t wait to see how your reno turns out! It’s going to be absolutely beautiful!
Heidi S. says
My mom has 14 year old corian. It has held up well. She has sanded it twice to get rid of scratches and give it a more uniform sheen. You can just use some wet fine grit sand paper by hand or with a sander. The other thing I was going to mention is using Ikea for countertops. One of my clients just used Ikea for her granite (during the kitchen sale) and it was around $40 sf (with the kitchen sale). Ikea also sells a couple brands of quartz and I want to say that they were in the $50-60 sf (which is cheaper than HD or Lowes and they had several of the major manufacturers). So even if you aren’t putting in an Ikea kitchen it may still be worth pricing out counters at Ikea since it is subcontracted out anyway. Here is her kitchen with granite and professionally sprayed Ikea cabinets:
http://www.statelykitsch.com/andi-neils-kitchen-part-14-its-done/
YoungHouseLove says
So gorgeous!
xo,
s
Chris says
I have had a light color Corian, not white, in my kitchen for 8 years. It looks brand new and is so easy to care for. Everyone told me at the time to get granite but I didn’t want any upkeep and the Corian is simple to take care of and can take a lot of abuse.
YoungHouseLove says
Yay- we love hearing all the good stuff you guys have to say about Corian!
xo,
s
Alisha says
We remodeled our kitchen about 4 years ago and we put in Corian. I have to say, excellent choice. I have NEVER had one issue with ours. Ours is a light grey color, not white, but we have had no stains, scratches or chips at all!! And this is with 3 boys, 1 husband and 1 boy on the way in our house!! We also have a stainless steel sink and love the look together. Cant wait to see the finished project!!
YoungHouseLove says
WAhoo! SO happy to hear that!
xo,
s
Christy says
Add another tally mark for glacier white corian owners – had it for 6 years – no issues! And now I realize I have always taken that for granted….appreciating my counters now :)
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! Thanks Christy!
xo,
s
Laura says
Oh, I’m so relieved. I was worried when I saw that white Corian was an option. We have it on our bathroom and kitchen counters and I HATE it! But then I realized, really, I hate the sink being Corian. It picks up stains from food easily. So you should be good, but…
Another issue to be aware of is that kitchen appliances can burn the Corian. We have a lovely burn mark on our counter due to the toaster oven being on the fritz.
Callie says
We used corian counters in our kitchen makeover about a year ago and I love them! (ours is more speckly-looking like granite). They have not yet shown a single sign of wear that I can see – even though I once accidentally put a hot pot right on the counter (and then grabbed it back off quick with a gasp hehe). We got them last November when the corian counters were on sale at Lowes, and they offered a free built-in sink (which I looooove). We got 5% off with our card, AND an extra 10% off by using a coupon we got from the post office (The post office gives out lots of coupons, including 10% off at Lowes, in their “change of address” packets. We had just moved). I don’t think that Lowes always allows the extra 10% off with that coupon on countertops, but we kinda bargained with a manager, and he said “hmm I can’t do it with the system, but here” and calculated out what 10% of our total was and handed it to us in cash out of his register. :) Yay for always asking about discounts!
However I would be a little worried about doing white countertops! Our white corian sink shows marks sometimes that I wash off with softscrub. The counters have more finish than the sink, though, I think (the counters are more shiny) so you will probably be fine…you’ll have to keep us updated on how you like them! :o)
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, we’ve heard the sink is a lot harder to keep up with- but the counters are great! Here’s hoping!
xo,
s
Stephanie says
We have a medium gray colored Corian in our kitchen and we LOVE LOVE LOVE! I hope you guys love yours too!
YoungHouseLove says
Yay! So glad.
xo,
s
Amyks says
We mulled over using concrete for our kitchen, but ended up going with the caesarstone in “buttermilk”, we looked at the pebble color,too, but decided that the white color worked better with our darker brown cabinetry. And we love it, they are stain resistant and can handle hot temperatures, too! Although, we also always use some sort of trivet when we put a hot dish on our counter! Can’t wait to see your finished kitchen, I am sure it will look amazing.
Ami P says
Love your choices. We have granite now and were advised AGAINST sealing, for the reason that some things react with the sealer (lemon juice, cleaning products) and would etch it. Have since learned that is terrible advice and our granite has stained. I would not use a light granite again. But wanted to send you a link to a kitchen with gray counters and white (although marble not solid surface) counters. Never thought I was a painted-anything-but-white cabinet person but lovvvve this. http://augustfields.blogspot.com/2010/06/kitchen-inspired-by-sally-wheat.html
YoungHouseLove says
Gorgeous!!!
xo,
s
Emma says
Wise choice! It will be beautiful :)
Sabrina says
I love the look of white on white. I’ve always wanted white couches and white carpets ( not going to happen with a toddler, baby, 4 cats, a dog, and accident prone husband lol) Our counter top is white laminate. UGH! it is horrible. I think it was supposed to be white, now it has all the colors of the rainbow. I am believing you that the Corian doesn’t stain, going to look into it also next time we are at lowes
Ashley says
Yea for the Glacier White Corian! I had it installed in my kitchen (with white cabinets) 2 years ago and it still looks awesome! I love it so much that I am using it as well as the same white cabinets in the house my bf and I are remodeling to live in!!! Corian also has a farm sink out! We have one on order, can’t wait to show you the final reveal (in a few months!).
Jana says
We never dreamed of having granite countertops, but when we added an island and decided to re-do all of the dated laminate countertops (complete with hunter green accent!) we checked out all of our options. We were seriously looking at the solid surface, but then we just thought we’d check out how much granite would cost. There was only one local place that did granite besides Home Depot (which was out of our budget), so I asked if they had any remnants, which were 1/2 price. Originally we were thinking we could have contrasting colors, dark on the white island, and light on the wood cupboards, but they ended up having a remnant that was big enough to do our whole kitchen (granted, we have a small kitchen!) and it looked great with both white and our oak. We went with the granite, too, for resale purposes. Hopefully it will help us sell our house one day. It ended up costing $1500, installed (same or less than all the solid surface or high-def laminate options we could find). We love them!
We still need to change or paint the light fixture, change out the knobs on the oak cabinets to brushed nickle, and do something with the bulkheads (and add decor!), but here is how it turned out:
http://pinterest.com/pin/395627790/
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- what a deal!
xo,
s
caitlin jennings says
Hi! This is my first comment! Love your Blog and the attention you both give to it.
Glad you aren’t integrating the sink! My parents have theirs integrated and the sink has cracked (big time) twice! They have had them about 13 years now and have had 5 kids (4 of them rough boys)truly put the counters to the test. We have set hot pots and pans on the surface, used it as a cutting board, and cleaned paint brushes with everything from finger to oil paints. The stains come out easy with bleach. There are a couple of scratches here and there, but you honestly can’t see them unless you start looking/feeling. The kitchen is the gathering spot in our house and with constant use they still look great! Good choice!
CB says
My parents have had white corian for 20+ years. They have always loved it and it lasted through 3 kids at home with no mark of wear or tear :) Plus, white is so much easier to care for than dark (in a kitchen at least!)
YoungHouseLove says
Sweet! Love to hear that!
xo,
s
Michelle says
We are getting our Dal-Tile Quartz counters in Alpine Shadow installed tomorrow and I’m really excited about them. I hate granite with a passion and really wanted anything other then it. With that said, I don’t know if we would have picked that if I wasn’t getting the deal we are getting. I’m lucky to work for a General Contractor and I have received a lot of good hookups. I’m getting each slab for $597 plus a very cheap install…when I got a quote for fun just to compare my price to what is out there it was double that for one slab.
My husbands parents have corian and while it’s a pretty outdated looking counter, it has lasted! I’m amazed at it…and it really does look nice. I think you’ll be very happy.
Sarah says
Love it! I have white corian and it is awesome!
Casey says
Hey Sherry and John! (And Clara and Burger!) My husband and I are avid DIYers and we re-did our 1960’s kitchen with out buying anything new except for appliances! And our solution to countertops suprising as this sounds…we made them out of MDF board!! We had a carpenter friend cut them out and we stained them a dark walnut. Everyone LOVES them. We did this as a temporary fix because of budgeting (cost us no more then $60) but They have lasted now for over 2 years and going strong! Would love for you guys to enjoy some before and after pictures if you want! Thanks for the wonderful Blog!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that’s an awesome “interim” idea! Never would have thought of that! Would love to see after pics!
xo,
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Beth M. says
I have to say- thank you for giving me the courage to go with Corian! It makes so much more sense for us, too, but I couldn’t pull the trigger until now.
amanda n says
We built a new house and have quartz counters rather than granite. Mine are kind of a pale taupe with little specks of gray. They hide dirt so well I have to look at the counters from an angle to see if I’ve wiped it all. Love them!
Kate says
Quick question — I thought at one point you’d been talking about getting a new sink, but now it seems like you’re keeping this one? I may be going crazy and remembering that from another blog I read, but just wanted to check… Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
We did a post a while ago comparing living with a single sink to living with a double one (like we had in our first house) and a few folks interpreted that to mean that we were shopping for something new- but we’re actually really into our deep single sink that actually fits bit pots (our old double one wouldn’t!).
xo,
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