Kitchen countertops?

Parent Cafe
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<p>BunsenBurner,
Thanks for your response - I just had a phone discussion with DH who said that he didn’t think that there was any way that we could remove the old grout without cracking the tiles, but now I can share your response with him, and hopefully, we can go that route. I’d rather try this first before I end up spending something like $25,000 for a new bathroom (in an older home) - and this bathroom is tiny. What is this special tool that you recommend renting, and do you know where I can get it? I can’t believe that all you need now is just a squeegee and a towel - that’s wonderful!</p>

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<p>Hey Notre Dame, what color did you choose?</p>

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<p>We have a local company in our town called “The Grout Doctor” and that’s all they do, is clean, remove and replace grout. My neighbors used them and were very pleased.</p>

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<p>chocoholic-we chose giallo vicenza. Existing cabinets area honeyspice maple with black hardware. We had white appliances and elected to keep the white and therefore went with a white undermount sink with brushed nickel faucet. The undermount sink is kohler-langlade; very different design. There is not much wallspace in the kitchen and it is painted an olive color-so the white appliances coupled with white trim stand out nicely. The black from the granite is just enough to complement the iron hardware and other accent pieces in the kitchen. We do love it and I learned a lot thru the whole process. It was an educational experience learning about granite–felt like I was in a geology class. Tried to learn and make informed decisions before sinking a whole lot of money into the process.</p>

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<p>Photos please :slight_smile:
it sounds really pretty ND. What specifics did you learn about granite selection that would be useful to us toddlers in the process?</p>

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<p>ND AL, it sounds gorgeous!</p>

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<p>As far as specifics, one of the things about granite that I found interesting is the flow of design-density of the rock. Some granite does not seem to have much more than veins running thru it-almost a marble effect. What we chose is more compact with stones. Also, learned that once cut, it can have weak spot (esp around the sink) as the installers cracked the first piece for the sink section. It is very fragile but once installed and sitting on the counter/cabinet, very strong. I can’t remember all of the terms I learned, but the more granite I looked at, the more variation and makeup I could observe. At first, I was overwhelmed about too many choices, but then I could gradually see the distinct characteristics. As you can tell, I spent quite a bit of time researching, but hey-only child is off at college and this was something we wanted to do for a long time. Not to mention trying to be careful with regard to cost. My advice would be to visit a granite showroom and visibly look at different pieces. And, if the showroom staff is good, they should be more than willing to talk to you about granite and give you some good educational lessons.</p>

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<p>Our kitchen is about 11 yrs old. We have a huge granite island with sink and corian counters around the edge of the kitchen.
I don’t recall the color. But what I do remember is making my choice based on square samples at the installer. We then went to the granite wholesaler and looked at whole slabs. I was surprised at how different it looked in a large piece. The sample I looked at was very speckled. The piece we ended up with has some large swirls and veins. We also chose what section to cut the sink at. We were able to get a whole slab with no seams even though our island is large.
We don’t do anything special with ours. I wipe it down after I do the dishes using dish soap and a sponge. I have on occasion also used 409 type cleaners. We have no stains. Even after pasta sauce sitting on it. We have resealed it a couple of times but I don’t think it was essential. After 10 yrs it still looks great. As does the Corian.</p>

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<p>We have granite, and had it sealed when installed 5 years ago. I am careful with it and wipe it down a lot. Have been meaning to look for a sealer, will tell DH. Northeastmom, any recommendations?</p>

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<p>While I wasn’t asked for pictures, I will chime in and offer this link. From this page, I chose the Silver Sea Green. It never looks as good in a picture as in person, though. We have maple cabinets with nickel hardware (wheat sheaves), so the silver hardward will pick up the silver in the granite. It’s also hard to see, but there are specks of honey gold in the granite, and our backsplash is made up of custom artisan tiles (with occasional art tiles with raised artichokes on them) scattered throughout. </p>

<p>OK, another question. We’re getting a free sink with the purchase. We’ve always had a double sink of equal sides, but now one of our options is a double sink with either a 70/30 split or 60/40 split (I ruled out a 90/10 split). Any opinions on these splits, if they’re worth it or not, or should I just stick with the equal sides?</p>

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<p>very pretty Teri. Thanks for sharing. The pictures obviously do not do justice.</p>

<p>I prefer the split sinks. We have 75/25 split, and I really like that. It gives us plenty of room for soaking large pots and non-stick items, and the smaller section seems adequate for draining and in-sink-erator. The width of our bowls is 21" and 7.5".</p>

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<p>I’ve got the 50/50 sink and wouldn’t change. I collect the things that go into the dishwasher on one side for a quick rinse and stack the pots and hand washables in the other.</p>

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<p>I finally figured out how to upload and share photos. This is my kitchen (Uba tuba granite with pecan colored maple cabinets from Ward’s Cabinetry). Second photo includes my oak hardwood floors (mannington wilmington oak in honey)</p>

<p><a href=“http://i244.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/gg18/seiclan/daisy085.jpg[/url]”>http://i244.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/gg18/seiclan/daisy085.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://i244.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/gg18/seiclan/daisy086.jpg[/url]”>http://i244.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/gg18/seiclan/daisy086.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I just stumbled across this thread, the day after I set the date to install my countertops.</p>

<p>I’m going with Corian. Actually, I’m going with Simplicity. This is a Corian clone also made by DuPont. I think it is available only through Home Depot.</p>

<p>I mention this because it is priced about 33% less than Corian. According to the sales person I spoke with, it is exactly the product as Corian. However, they offer fewer colors, fewer edging options, and a warranty that does not transfer to new owners should you sell your house. </p>

<p>In my case, they were minor trade-offs for the greatly reduced price. Just wanted to mention it for any who prefer this solid surface option.</p>

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<p>seiclan - that is too funny. My friend that referred me to the place I bought my granite at just had Uba Tuba installed within the last month. I haven’t seen her kitchen yet, but I saw the slab at the store when I picked mine out. Very, very cool.</p>

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<p>ChiSquare, I think I already mentioned on this thread that we had speckled Corian installed in our house 9+ years ago and I’m glad we did. It may not look as fancy or elegant as natural stone, but it served me well. It looks the same as it looked the day it was installed, even the snow white sink shows little wear and tear. Even though I cook a lot of “colored” veggies (tomatoes, beets, carrots), only the white sink gets an occasional stain, but a dash of Oxyclean in a sinkful of warm water removes stains completely in 15-20 min. The only thing I have to be careful with Corian is to always use trivets under hot pots and pans and to run cold water when I drain boiling water into the sink. Once in a while when I’m in a deep cleaning mood, I buff my countertops with a special Corian conditioning product which I got from Home Depot (made by Hope Company in MO).</p>

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<p>seiclan,
Your kitchen looks really beautiful!</p>

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<p>Bunsen, thanks for that. I actually preferred Corian, due to “softer” feel and the more appropriate look (I thought) for my 20’s era house. I think I’m in the minority these days, with all the granite enthusiasts. I can’t wait for that integrated sink! No more icky moldy scum around the outside of the sink!</p>

<p>Clean? Did someone say clean?</p>

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<p>The integrated sink is the best thing about Corian. I just don’t like the way Corian looks. Unfortunately I don’t like Granite much either. If I ever get around to doing my kitchen I’m probably going to go with a mix - mostly butcher block, and stone around the sink with enough space to roll out dough. At least that’s the current plan. I’m also seriously thinking about paperstone, I love the way it looks and it’s green too.</p>

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<p>Wow… that was an education today. Spent many hours driving to and from three warehouses to choose my slabs. What I found out is that, granite slabs can really vary. Two of the places I went to had slabs of silver sea green that were much darker than what I saw in the showroom. Thankfully, one of the warehouses chipped off a chunk sample for me to bring home. But I used it to compare the slabs at other places, and was quickly able to make a decision based on the differences.</p>

<p>Of three warehouses, they were so entirely different. One (deep in the heart of Chicago) didn’t seem to care much about showing me what I wanted, and seemed miffed when I asked them to actually pull a slab out for me to look at under better light. Another place was very clean, and the staff was extremely helpful. The other place was kind of in the middle, not pristine (but cleaner and more organized than the one in Chicago), but was organized. </p>

<p>A suggestion for anyone who is about to undertake a similar project. I’ve taken my digital camera with me on every shopping trip (of course I also took a drawer from our kitchen), as well as a spare tile from our backsplash. I took pictures of the different granite slabs I looked at, and by the end (when I realized the granites may be similar but look different under different lighting situations in the warehouses), I would hold my purse up to the granite and take the picture so I could put colors in context when I got home. </p>

<p>Anyway, we had storms on and off all day today, and my laptop was on the rag (and at Best Buy for most of the day), so I had good incentive for taking the time and being thorough. Am on call this weekend for work, so I feel like I’ve gotten a major project out of the way in case my weekend gets busy. Phew!</p>