Sarah's Country House--countertop materials revisited

[sarahperdue]

Hi Everyone,

I decided to go with linoleum over laminate, but I'm becoming concerned that the lino will not be durable enough since I'm not sure I will give it the care it needs. I'm considering solid surface.

I love the look and feel of linoleum as well as it's natural content and renewability. I'm concerned that even with 3' of stainless drainboard and 2 Corning Ware counter savers, it might be challenging for my family to properly care for lino countertops. Corian and other solid surface producers manufacture red countertops. I like the durability of solid surface countertops and the fact that they are softer than tile. I'm not even sort of considering granite, stone or concrete.

I think it might be possible to use metal trim on the solid surface counter.

Instead of linoleum kitchen flooring, I have opted to use reclaimed old growth pine flooring from the addition we are tearing off. It's beautiful, affordable, recycled, cheaper and practically bullet proof.

Oh, bother. Help. Thoughts? Ideas?
Sarah

 

[chachp]

And free.

Recycling from your addition is also free $$$. Replace it later on if you hate it.

 

[sarahperdue]

not quite free

After almost five days of killing myself getting the flooring up and damaging many of the grooves, I opted to pay my master carpenter and his son to tear it out. Even though I prefer not to pay them to do stuff I can do myself, the've done five times more than I did in a day and a half. Paying them is a decision worth every penny!

I don't anticipate wanting to change the floor. It's the counters I'm wrestling with right now.

Thanks,
Sarah

 

[pulltostart]

Sarah,

That red Marmoleum is gorgeous!  Unless you (and your clan) are just brutal to the countertops, the linoleum should work for you and allow you to get your enjoyment out of it.  Any of the reds could get old - I would be afraid of the cost of the Corian vs getting tired of it in less than 10 years, or so.  Since the linoleum is just a covering, if/when you tired of the color or if you damaged area(s) of it, it wouldn't be so difficult or costly to update.  I would vote for the Marmoleum with SS edge trim.

 

But, it's not my house.

 

lawrence

 

[sarahperdue]

Thanks Lawrence

...we're brutal.

Sigh.

and messy.

Hmm, maybe I'll make it my goal to keep the kitchen here in town consistently clean. If I succeed, I'll go Marmoleum.

That's definitely what I'd prefer, but I love the way the solid surface countertops hold up.

Sarah

 

[parunner58]

Hi Sarah,

The house is coming along beautifully. I had Corian put in my old house in PA. We installed it in 1997 and when we moved in 2011 it was still on perfect condition. I love to cook and never had any damage done to mine. We had a galley kitchen, and had the integrated Corian sink and a half also. Loved the durability and ease of cleaning up. What we did was we ask the contractor for the sink cut out. He routed the edge and made it into a work surface, which I then always used a cutting board on top of that. I never cut on the Corian or put hot pans directly on it. They say you can, but for what it cost I took no chances. In my new kitchen here in FL we opted for Silestone (quartz) and the undermount giant sink. The sink we chose was made out of Swanstone, which i found was also what some lab sinks are made of. Down here the contractor would not give us the sink cut out. The first 5 pictures are the Silestone in FL and the last 3 are the Corian in PA. Both were contracted through Home Depot and did a great job.

 

[ozzie908]

Quartz worktop

I have Quartz in sparkle white its a fantastic surface for pastry rolling but I had an accident with a hot pan and its cracked the surface I have tried to get the fitters to repair it but they say it has to be replaced.... At nearly £1000 for a length I think not.

Don't suppose anyone has any ideas on how to repair the crack ???

OH Sarah I apologise for hijacking your thread XXX

Austin

 

[sarahperdue]

Hijacking the thread

The more information the better.

@mike Beautiful countertops. Thank you for sharing your experience and pictures. You've described all of the reasons I like Corian. I'm building a period kitchen, and there's the rub. The Corian has all of the qualities I'm looking for except the retro look.

Lawrence, the idea of cost and replaceability with the Marmoleum. Lino seams are welded, so patching might also be within reach if I buy extra material.

If I do the Corian, I've been thinking about trying to use metal trim.

Continuing thanks for everyone's interest and help

Sarah

 

[parunner58]

Sarah, with the right contrator, I am sure they can do anything with the Corian. The metal edging would be no problem. I have seen inlays, any kind of routed edges done.

 

[jeb]

The house we moved to when I was in second grade had lino. countertops. It was discoloring around the sink then. Any nick or cut with a knife would soon start to discolor as water got into it every time you wiped the counters. My mother worked and my brother and I made our own snacks and sandwiches and such so we weren't very careful with the counters (even after mother had a fit when she saw us cutting on the counter without a cutting board) we cut sandwiches directly on the counter when she wasn't looking. She tried to wax it and keep it nice but it was a lost cause after a few cuts got water into them. My parents were going to redo the kitchen in a few years after we moved it (and a little money was saved up) so she just quit trying to fight a losing battle. By the time we replaced the kitchen the counter tops were pretty bad and probably not too sanitary but we lived on a farm and the motto was "a little dirt never hurt anybody" (even if you were scrubbing it out of the cracks in the linoleum counters).

 

[sarahperdue]

leaning towards Corian

I like the almost bullet proof ruggedness, ability to sand out blemishes. I like that it is more resilient than stone or tile as well as less brittle.

but still thinking and undecided...

Sarah

 

[mattl]

I see no reason you could not apply the metal edge to the corian.  Much more durable, less worry about upkeep.  Win win.

 

[countryguy]

I had my Corina counter top installed about 15 years ago. I like that it is seamless, easy to clean and scratches can be buffed out if necessary although I've yet needed to have that done. The installer also finished the edges of the sink cut outs and gave them to me so I use them as cutting boards and as a turret for hot pots and pans.

Gary

 

[chachp]

I echo the Corian comments....

 

<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">Our house was built in 2000.  As far as I know this is the original kitchen so that would make our counters 20 years old and they look great.  I have been thinking about having them polished but they really don't need it.  We do a lot of cooking and are not exactly gentle on them but we are careful not to cut on them or put hot pans on them.  I think they have held up well.  The house did not have an under counter sink.  It had the regular double bowl sink which we replaced with one big one.  I asked the installer if it looked like there had been one there before and he said no so I guess the person who designed this kitchen opted out for the under counter version.</span>