COMPARING COUNTERTOPS

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COMPARING COUNTERTOPS


Written by smith
Sunday, 11 January 2009

COMPARING COUNTERTOPS

Plastic laminate
Advantages. You can choose from a wide range of colors, textures, and patterns. Laminate is durable, easy to clean, water-resistant, and relatively inexpensive. With the right tools, you can install it yourself.
Disadvantages. It can scratch, scorch, chip, and stain, and it's hard to repair. Conventional laminate has a dark backing that shows at its seams; new solid-color laminates, designed to avoid this, are somewhat brittle and more expensive.
Cost. Standard brands cost $1 to $3.50 a square foot; premolded, particleboard-backed tops in limited colors are $5 to $10 per running foot. Installed, a custom countertop with 2-inch lip and low backsplash costs from $40 to $90 per running foot (more for solid-color materials).

Ceramic tile
Advantages. It's good-looking, comes in many colors, textures, and patterns, is heat?proof, scratch-resistant, and water-resistant if installed correctly. Grout is also available in numerous colors. Patient do-it-yourselfers are likely to have good results.
Disadvantages. Many people find it hard to keep grout satisfactorily clean. Some kitchen designers recommend using less grout space (V32 inch versus the typical 1/2 inch), but the thinner joint is definitely weaker. You can also buy grout sealers, but their effectiveness is disputed. Hard, irregular surface can chip china and glassware. High-gloss tiles show every smudge.
Cost. Prices range from 50 cents to $50 per square foot. Choose nonporous glazed tiles, which won't soak up spills and stains. Installation costs vary, depending on tile type and size of job (generally, the smaller the countertop, the higher the per-foot price).

Solid-surface
Advantages. Durable, water-resistant, heat-resistant, nonporous, and easy to clean, this marble-like material can be shaped and installed with woodworking tools (but do it very carefully, or cracks can occur, particularly around cutouts). It allows for a variety of sink installations, including an integral unit like the one shown on page 74. Blemishes and scratches can be sanded out.
Disadvantages. It's expensive, and requires very firm support below. Until recently, color selection was limited to white, beige, and almond; now imitation stone and pastels are common.
Cost. For a 24-inch-deep counter with a 2-inch front lip and 4-inch backsplash, fig?ure $100 to $150 per running foot, installed. Uninstalled it's about half that. Costs go up for wood inlays and other fancy edge details.

Wood
Advantages. Wood is handsome, natural, easily installed, and easy on glassware and china.
Disadvantages. It's harder to keep clean than nonporous materials. It can scorch and scratch, and it may blacken when near a source of moisture. You can seal it with mineral oil, but seal both sides or the counter may warp. It's a good idea to make an insert (or even the countertop itself) removable for easy cleaning or resurfacing. Or use a permanent protective sealer, such as polyurethane (but then you can't cut on it).
Cost. Maple butcher-block, the most popular, costs about $12 to $16 per square foot for 0.5 to 1%-inch thickness. Installed cost is $50 and up per running foot, including miters and cutouts. It's sold in 24-, 30-, and 36-inch widths. Smaller pieces are avail?able for inserts. Oak, sugar pine, and birch are also used for counters.

Stainless steel
Advantages. Stainless steel is waterproof, heat-resistant, easy to clean, seamless, and durable. You can get a counter with a sink molded right in. It's great for a part of the kitchen where you'll be using water a lot.
Disadvantages. Don't cut on it, or you risk damaging both countertop and knife. Fabrication is expensive; you can, however, reduce the cost by using flat sheeting and a wood edge, as in the counter shown at right.
Cost. The price of 16-gauge stainless (about me inch thick) is about $5.50 per square foot, just for material. For sink cutouts, faucet holes, and bends and welds for edges and backsplashes, count on about 3 to 6 hours' fabrication time at about $45 per hour for an installed 6- to 10-foot-long counter. Custom detailing and high chromium stainless up the price—as high as $300 to $500 per running foot.

Stone
Advantages: Granite and marble, both used for countertops, are beautiful natural materials. Their cool surface is very helpful when you're working with dough or making candy. They're heatproof, water-resistant, easy to clean, and very durable.
Disadvantages. Oil, alcohol, and any acid (such as those in lemons or wine) will stain marble or damage its high-gloss finish; granite can stand up to all of these. Solid slabs are very expensive; recently, some homeowners and designers have turned to stone tiles—including slate and limestone—as less expensive alternatives.
Cost. A custom-cut marble slab costs $40 to $70 per square foot, granite about $60 and up—polished and finished with a square or slightly beveled edge. Decorative edge details and the like add more. Marble counter inserts run $30 to $45 per square foot. Installation costs about $75 an hour.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 25 February 2009 )

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