Dianolo, I agree with you about granite's travel issues. Ours was American-mined, which helped on that factor.

In the area I grew up in, Corian etal. would still be considered an upgrade. Most people in that area still do laminate, with granite not nearly as common as where I live now. They must still be selling it or they wouldn't keep developing new product. However, I think a lot of commercial environments use it.

As a surface I think solid surface it could be much more forgiving around kids than stone or quartz in terms of them "helping" in the kitchen, getting out their own glasses and plates and such.

In the house I grew up in, that had five grandchildren visiting often and and length over the last 20 odd years as well, a broken dish or glass was a rarity because of the laminate counter and the stainless sink. I am now in a household of adults with a stone counter and sink...and glasses get broken.

That said, I would not gravitate toward one of the darkest colors, nor would I get anything but a matte finish. You will not be able to put something out of the oven on it, nor let your kids have Sharpees, but you shouldnt be doing that anyway:) If you want near bullet proof *and cushy go fabricated stainless steel, but then you will have fingerprints and scratches.

I have Swanstone counters installed in 2003, in Almond Galaxy. I chose it because:

1) Granite, at the time, was still more expensive than solid surface, unlike nowadays.

2) We had used Swanstone counters with integral sinks in our bathrooms in 1989, and they turned out to be literally bulletproof. Even my mother's burning cigarette mark scrubbed out, and no, nothing melted. So we were confident of their durability and ease of cleaning.

3) We have a U-shaped kitchen, so there are two corner seams. With solid surface, seams are invisible. There are no concerns about slab seams around the sink, an issue several granite owners here have agonized about.

4) I wanted a matte countertop. We get glaring sun in through huge picture windows which take up the entire back wall of the house. Even with window film, the glare off even a chrome faucet was painful (we now have a brushed stainless faucet, LOL).

5) I have seen many beautiful granites, but I find it too cold to the touch and noisy.

6) We were only replacing the counters and sink, not the cabinets. Although the cabs don't photo well, there are four different colors in them, and I've never seen a granite that would work with them. Solid surface or quartz were our best choices, and Swanstone is much cheaper than Cambria (our second choice).

7) We loved our original porcelain/cast iron Kohler Exec Chef for its durability, but the double sink layout doesn't work for us. We LOVE our super single Swanstone in Tahiti Ivory, which is a subtle blend of neutral beige with cream flecks. It is easier to clean and quieter than the Kohler. My DH used to work in restaurants and hates stainless sinks, so they were a dead last choice.

Let me say this about resale. Everything I do in this house is with resale in mind. But I do not believe that I can predict what the next homeowner wants to decorate with, nor do I know exactly what features the next buyer will fall in love with to make them "have to have" our house.

What they will get is a home well maintained; with all systems updated from sewer to plumbing to electrical; that will be completely turnkey.

It doesn't matter if they hate laminate cabs with 'plastic' counters. They will live with it until they can afford to remodel because the layout is extremely efficient, well-organized, with good quality recent appliances and over 25' of countertop to work on (and a gorgeous view, too, which is what's my favorite). It's not a huge kitchen - they weren't in fashion when we gutted the cottage in 1989 to completely remodel it - but it's good sized for the size of the house, and totally in synch design-wise and proportionately.

Worries about resale are only relevant if you are going to sell soon. Then it IS relevant. Otherwise, get what you want, to please yourself and fit your own situation. You're going to be working in that room every day for as long you live there, and life is too short to waste an opportunity to design it the way you like to live.

A corner of the counter showing granite-look pattern, against the slate-look vinyl tile flooring (which is wonderfully cushy underfoot and quiet, very important to us)

The Swanstone super single sink,33x21. It is overmounted but can be undermounted. Our sink cab, however, wasn't large enough to undermount so we had it dropped in.

I don't think the home buying shows on HGTV are particularly relevant to many parts of the country and I think they are scripted to a certain degree. My realtor was on one episode (not as the feature realtor but she was the seller of one of the properties on the show) but she gave me the dirt:).

I think every option from butcher block to laminate to solid surface to stone to quartz to stainless to enameled French Lavastone ALL have a place in kitchen design depending upon peoples' needs, and budgets.

I moved to the Northwest from metro NJ/NY. Here they use a lot of granite blocks on counters with grout on all 4 sides. I hated it & put Silestone in the kitchen & Corian in the baths. I particularly love the Corian because of the unusual new pattern with a black background. Even the installers went WOW! Corian sinks in the baths & a large single bowl stainless undermount in the kitchen. Upkeep on both surfaces a breeze.

OOh Lee1 - do you have the Martha pattern in Corian? I'd love to see it. It looks like the bardiglio marble we had planned on using before switching to RC by Corian. We are going through IKEA so can't use her special pattern which I think is only at HD... sigh... I am not sure which I prefer, but would have loved the choice.

jkom51 - What a wonderful, informative post. Thank you for taking the time to contribute to this thread!

I didn't bring up flooring but I have to agree with you about the flooring. We installed Armstrong vinyl laminate tiles (the click-together sheets of 4 or 5?) about 6 years ago and LOVE it. The floor is soft, quiet and warm. With very little effort, two kids and a dog later, the floor looks as good now as the day we had it installed. In our new home, however, we are putting in ceramic tile and I sort of dread it the hardness and coldness of it. However I feel that is the look we should go for, to put in anything else might "look" cheap. Fortunately we do not have crawling babies anymore, but my feet sure will miss our cushy floor! Not to mention how many dishes have been dropped on our current floor and not broken... I have the feeling we'll be in for some broken glass in the next place :(

So anyway - stainless appliances and a ceramic tile floor is enough "hardness" for me. I'm going to get a "softer" countertop which means no granite. Thanks for the rave reviews on Swanstone! I appreciate your input.

Here are a couple of pics of our solid surface.

Master bathroom (excuse the kitty!) This is Hanex (can't remember color). It is dark with a matte finish.

Kitchen pics with Staron.

If you do not want ceramic and are "dreading" it, you should consider something else. Many people do hardwood floors in their kitchen and love them. We will be using Marmoleum Click, which is linoleum over a cork underlayment and is a floating floor. It is softer on the feet, legs and back, and is warmer than tile.
Like your vinyl tiles, it will also not cause as much breakage if you drop something. I am using our bsmt at the moment for a temp kitchen while the work is being done and was shocked when I dropped a glass jar on the old linoleum floor that was laid right on concrete down here. The glass actually bounced a tiny bit and did not break. If that had been in our recently departed kitchen, I'd be cleaning up glass shards worrying about if I missed one or more.

The Marmoleum does not look cheap to me and in fact, has so many design options and colors so as to not look like everyone else' kitchen floor. You can do it simply or get creative.

Life is too short and ceramic lasts too long to get a floor you do not really like.

The Marmoleum Click sounds a lot like the floor we have now, I'll have to look it up!

There are so many hardwood floors already in the house, I really don't want them in the kitchen too. Plus I don't really care for a wood floor and wood cabinets. Wood wood wood. Painted cabinets, I think, look lovely with a hardwood kitchen floor.

We display many different types of counters in our showroom, but we chose Corian for our office desk area. It's much warmer to the touch than a stone would be, and for that, I'm very thankful! My mouse arm rests on a bit of the counter and I'd be frozen to death if were stone. I already have the fingerless gloves for those days when it just seems the place won't warm up. I also love the "seamlessness" of the counter's appearance. It's an U shape with a peninsula ending in a circular seating area, and even great stone fabricators would have had to have multiple seams showing. Not that the seams aren't there, mind you. It's just that they are "invisible" in that color. In some of the newer directional colors, they would have been much more visible, so do take that into account.

Now for the bad.

I really don't care for how it looks. It looks plasticy, and I don't mean that in a 60's "new and exciting innovation" type of way. I mean it in a 00's type of "unnatural" way. In a modern kitchen, with a very man made vibe, it could be a fabulous look to use a white solid surface, but with traditional looking wood cabintery, it just looks "wrong" in my eyes. It's like throwing on a velvet blazer with a pair of ratty jeans. Some folks, mostly 7' models with no body fat and great hair, can pull the look off. The rest of us just look like a fool for trying to put the two together.

The other bad is it scratches. Heavily. The light colors show the scratches much less, and the matte finish show it much less, but even my desk area in a light color shows every mark of every cabinet door sample slid across it. I also have a small area on the circular table area that is cracked because some big lummox sat on it before he thought. And, yes, it's fully supported underneath with plywood and a steel leg. And it could be repaired, no problem, but I'm biding my time to change out this counter pretty soon, so I merely sanded the area enough to disguise the crack. And you can do some home sanding to keep it looking "fresh" as long as none of the scrapes and scratches are deep. If you've got an area where someone forgot to use a cutting board, forget it. Those type of cuts can be deep enough that even a pro can't sand them out and would need to replace the countertop.

Another minus would be the cost, compared to other solid material choices. Most "name" solid surface is more expensive than a low or mid priced granite if you want something besides a plain white or bone. The more complex the colors, or the more "movement" that the pattern has, the more expensive it will be. I really DO like some of the Corian Private Label colors, but they're about $15 more per square foot here than a mid priced granite. That's about $800 for an average sized kitchen of 50 square feet of countertop. WHich isn't much, if you LOVE a choice more than another choice that you merely like, but if you don't LOVE it, why even consider it? The most used items in any kitchen are the counters and sink/faucet, so those are items that it pays to maybe extend your budget slightly.

So, the heck with what I think! Or anyone else thinks! This is your kitchen. Do YOU absolutely LOVE solid surface above all the other choices out there? And there is a wide world beyond "just granite OR solid surface", so be sure you explore butcher block, stainless steel, copper, tile, and even laminate. And there's nothing "wrong" with any of these choices if they fit your budget, are durable, and you LOVE them! "Resale" is the bugaboo word that keeps us in a beige and boring world. Don't be afraid to have your home reflect YOUR personality. You can always repaint beige and give a "countertop allowance" in 10 years time after you've made your memories in this house and are ready to move on to the next one.

dianalo - the Marmoleum product looks beautiful on their website! There are no dealers near us, but I emailed them asking about it. Of course I am not the only one making decisions about the kitchen, I do have to take my husband's opinion into account ;)

Will we have sticker shock for this flooring? We will need about 150 sq ft of flooring for our space.
Thank you for mentioning it!

Marmoleum isn't cheap. :)

I have it and like it very much.

How much?

Wow I like some of those Hanex colors. I have never used this or any Corian type product but its nice to know its out there. These materials come in some relatively monolithic and soft colors that are good for some applications.

Try www.greenbuildingsupply.com. They were the best price and very nice to deal with. I emailed my layout and pattern and Derreck was kind enough to tell me how much of each color that would take either on a straight layout and on the diagonal (more tile needed).
You save $99 in shipping if you have it delivered to a business address. My boss is letting me take delivery at work, or the cost savings would have been much less. It was approx 2/3 of what the local place wanted to charge for materials.

Here is a link that might be useful: Green Building Supply

I spelled Derrick's name wrong above. The Marm is on a major sale right now, so timing could be very right if someone is interested.

Dianlo--No I have Sorrel, which doesn't show up on the Corian page as nearly as beautiful as it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sorrel

In my last home, I used Ceasarstone (warm color, don't remember exactly), and I loved it. It looked great with our cherry cabinets. The style we picked looked like real stone (it IS engineered quartz) and is/was extremely durable.

In most of the areas I have lived, Corian in the "plasticky" looking finishes would turn-off many buyers. And, personally, I have never been a fan of (the old) Corian until I saw Rain Cloud in a showroom. Looks like marble (my true love) but I'm told doesn't have staining or etching issues. It does scratch easily though.

I will agree with a previous poster. Some granites are super busy and do not appeal to me. I think whenever you go outside the norm for your area/the current trends, you run the risk of turning off buyers. However, people still can/should do as they please if their circumstances afford it!

Jen

Have had Silestone (Gedatsu) in kitchen for about 4 months now. I like it a lot. I insisted on a solid color and felt Silestone looked the least plastic of all the other available brands. It's cold to the touch and hard as a diamond, although,a mug dropped from an upper cabinet and left a small "dent" or scratch in the counter. So I'm assuming it will have marks over time. I bet the edge would chip easily, too. But, I do love it and would get it again.

Here's a REAL WORLD experience with Corian for you. I work as an Animal Control Officer in our local animal shelter. In 2007 we remodeled our Shelter (first time since 1978) and they put in Corian counters for us. We had had formica for years. They chose a tan color.

We ABUSE this stuff. We drag metal traps covered in dirt across it. We have dogs jumping up and down on it (they occasionally get excited and do crazy things :) We have not pampered it in any way.

It looks great! We even knocked a chunk out of it shortly after install, a big triangle broke out because our maintenance guy put a screw in too far from underneath. They fixed it seamlessly and even those of us that know it's there can't find the seam/patch.

If I get a chance today I'll take some pictures to post. I can't IMAGINE that anyone is as hard on this stuff as we are in our application.

More to come if I get a chance for photos today.

Rene

hellonasty - I haven't looked at Silestone in person, but it's on my "list" :)

Rene - that's incredible, about your corian counters. Wow. I'm surprised people say they are so easily scratched in a kitchen with normal use?? What color are they? I'd love to see photos if you get a chance! Thanks for responding!

We have a small galley kitchen with not a whole lot of counter space. While I do like granite, I figured that we didn't have enough counters to make it worthwhile. We went with Matterhorn Corian with an intergrated sink. I love the sink. And I love the counters. It is the perfect color, you really can't see any dirt, I feel the dirt most of the time.
Here is a pic from 2005 when we had it installed.

When I moved in to my house 16 years ago, a selling point for me in the kitchen was the Corian- "Dusk" a speckled pattern of various greys and a little black with white as the base beneath. Loved it and still do. Will be remodeling within the next couple of months and actually changed my layout to be able to keep the counters. They are indestructible! I stand on them (to paint) have painted cabinet doors and pieces of molding on them, chop on them (no kidding- veggies, fruits, etc). Oil, vinegar, grease, wine- no problem! If it has scratches I don't see them and we get a lot of natural light in that south facing room. Anything that happens to it can be cleaned to like-new with a Magic Eraser. I couldn't see spending 1500 on nice laminate and a new sink or 4 thousand on granite, when if I keep my Corian with integrated sink, my single top-of-the-counter expense will be a replacement faucet!

I am so happy more people are posting their happiness with Corian. I have to admit I was starting to waver. We probably could upgrade our order because it has not been fabricated yet, but now I am thinking not to... whew.... Dh loved the look so much and the cost was very reasonable. I don't know if they'd honor the 40% off special we got if we switch to Caesarstone or Silestone so long after the order was placed.

We have had good experiences with laminates over the years and were planning on going with a marble, granite or laminate this time. This was a last minute change in plans, almost spur of the moment, so I have not fully processed the difference. Every other decision is researched to death first, but we went on our gut this time, swayed by the display kitchen.

I can say that in the display kitchen in IKEA, it looks lovely and has people touching it and messing with it all day, every day. It has been there for years, according to an employee, so I can't imagine it is very fragile. I bet people try to scratch and mar it to see how it holds up all the time.

Re scratches:

Countertops are like carpets - get a solid color and scratches/stains will show easier. Get any kind of pattern, even a subtle one, and it hides wear much, much better.

Well, it took a few days for me to not get distracted and actually produce the photos I offered but here they are. Corian in our animal shelter. We drag heavy duty wire cat traps across this. Dogs jump up on this counter. We drag dirty pet crates across it. You name it. Sand, dirt, rocks, wire.

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The third picture is the spot where we broke out the huge triangle of surface material.

Rene

Rene, thank you, I have been waiting for your photos. The countertop looks fantastic for the abuse you put it through! That's about the color I want for one of our bathrooms :)
We're heading to Lowe's tonight to look at all our options for countertops.
Any more responses with good or bad reviews on solid surface are welcome!

I've seen a corian witch hazel countertop and it looks really good.

I've been on a hunt for a solid surface that comes in a terrific primary color for my younger son's bathroom. (Like, LEGO-type colors.)

Just when I thought I'd looked at every option, I stumble across DURAT ... anyone familiar? The colors are fantastic! It's Finnish, but there is a distributor in Portland for the Western U.S.

I've seen the great blue that Corian has, Caesarstone has an orange to DIE for but it's terribly expensive; most solid surface products just see to take so much pride in looking like something else - it's a little annoying.

I'm going to email the company, but has anyone ever heard of this brand? Any experience with DURAT?

Here is a link that might be useful: Durat USA

Corian lava rock photos.

http://www.countereffectsbyroger.com/id1.html

http://www.casf.com.au/webdata/application/477c57aa-1661-44bf-b9dd-3e89c432900e.jpg

http://www.topsourcecorporation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/corian-lava-rock.jpg

I have not heard of Durat until now. The palette is awesome. I agree, its nice to have a material that celebrates itself rather than trying to mimic something else.

As for the relative indestructability of one surface versus another, I think that is a bit overrated. Durable yes, but there is nothing wrong with having something that also teaches you to take care of things. imo. :)

This page has descriptions which are useful to find colors that match your sweeby test.

Here is a link that might be useful: healing colors descriptions

We've had Corian (tumbleweed) for a couple years now and I love it. I'd considered granite all over and also just on the island, but I don't care for the hard, cold feel of it. Plus, we have one 18' stretch of counter, the island and another 6' stretch, the weight of the granite would have been horrible. I love the looks of it in other peoples houses but it just wasn't for me in this house. I've found the Corian really easy to take care of and the sink is a breeze to clean. If I'm draining something hot, I always run cold water so it doesn't damage the sink. I always use hot pads on the counter; we had laminate before so that's what I'm used to doing.
PS...some day I may paint my oak cabinets in an off-white, but hubby's not keen on the idea. Maybe I'll start by painting the island off-white or black.

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The island has a seam in it....if you look closely, you may be able to see it. Our counters do also but the flow of the pattern nearly hides it completely.
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Check out honed granite. Not shiney. Soft. I was going to do Corian before I read about here and fell in love with honed Virginia/Jet Mist...looks a lot like soapstone but without the tendency to chip or scratch.

Hi doggonegardener, you should send those photos to corian and get a donation to the shelter!! I was sold on soapstone, but found out it might not be possible because my cabs aren't perfectly level. I'm still looking into that, but your photos and the wear and tear on them has me looking at Corian!!!

ernietd - just wondering why your unlevel cabinets make soapstone out of the question but not Corian? I know from experience that Corian can crack if it is not properly supported and you put pressure on the unsupported area. I must have had some uneven cabinets and my kids (young) cracked it when they crawled onto the counter to reach something in an upper cabinet.

I just ordered Corian Witch Hazel for my "L" shaped counter and island because it has the look of marble but with all the softness and durability of a solid surface material. Thanks hilltop for sharing pictures of your Tumbleweed because my kitchen is very similar and I was really worried about the seaming with a directional Corian. Your island looks wonderful! My contractor (also brother-in-law) was really pushing me towards granite but I had Corian Cameo in my old kitchen and after 20 years, it still looked great. To me, granite is cold and busy. I'm going for a vintage-cottage look and granite would fight with all my "cuteness." Glad to read there are others who appreciate the solid surface materials and are willing to buck the granite craze. Now how about those stainless steel appliances ...?

I am looking to replace my 18-year-old counter top, which we got for free: white tile. My husband is in the business, granite, Silestone, Corian,Zodiac, etc. etc. he gets at a great price. So, of course, I want wood. Not going to happen. Also, I know that wood would have to be babied and I know I'll get lazy, or out-of-my-mind busy with Christmas dinner and place something scorching hot down on the counter and that's the end of that. I know myself. The white tile has served me well, you can put anything on it and it's fine. You just have to keep on cleaning the grout - it was a lot of upkeep and I'm glad to be replacing it. However, I swore I would never get granite, because I tend to not like to do what everyone else is doing. Well, wood is out, (darn!). I have natural cherry cabinets, still gorgeous, not replacing them. I saw a display kitchen with natural cherry cabinets and colonial gold granite and fell in love. I love the natural movement of the stone, I love the sparkle embedded in the stone, I love the relatively low-maintenance of the stone, and I love that it's a natural material.

Ask yourself: what am I like in the kitchen - will I be careful? Do I want to fuss with keeping something continually clean? (i.e. white tile with grout - yikes!)

We all have to make compromises to accommodate our manners in the kitchen. You want to get something that you'll love for years to come. You certainly don't want to have to babysit your counter tops!

Take your time - do your research, make a decision that's a balance between beauty and brains! Good luck! Enjoy the journey!

Doggone, the links to your pix go to a password protected server. I'd like to see them.

Well I can tell you one brand of solid surface countertops not to get and that's LG Hausys HI-MACS. They crack, melt and scratch with normal use. And the worse part is there customer service department. Rather than fixing the problem they keep changing the story as to why the countertops failed. Its a long story but if you want to read about it go here http://thefarmgardenblog.com/2015/10/09/hi-macs-solid-surface-counter-review/

Green Building · More Info

Michael O'Loughlin:

As I mentioned on your other post, we need pictures and dimensions to make an evaluation as to what/whom is at fault for your solid surface installation. Thanks.

I had a home with miles of Corian in the kitchen including an integrated sink. It did not hold up and looked and felt cheap; the stains in the sink I could not get out. In my home I have marbleized limestone in the kitchen and when my home got destroyed when the fire sprinkler pipe broke, I was able to salvage it and rebuild my kitchen. If i had not been able to salvage the countertop, I would have had to use a lessor quality countertop. I chose quartz for the bathrooms, and chose a pattern that did not try to emulate a natural stone, and I think that looks better than trying to look like stone but not pulling it off. Many of the marble patterned quartz look fake. In a rental I have 30-yr laminate that is deteriorating and am not hesitating putting in quartz. I think it will hold up just fine. I have been a landlord of about 6 homes over 30 years. I have always had good luck (knock on quartz (wink).)

"...the stains in the sink I could not get out."

You were doing it wrong:

20 minutes, tops.

" In a rental I have 30-yr laminate that is deteriorating and am not hesitating putting in quartz. I think it will hold up just fine."

Until your tenant sets something hot on it without a trivet. That could be fixed if it were Corian. Engineered stone, not so much.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC, We are talking the bathroom so I guess that would be the curling iron. The kitchen is something else, I don't even really know what the kitchen is, some sort of solid surface, it is really cheap and scratches. The kitchen was remodelled before I bought the home. It is holding up, though, 13 years so far. The house with miles of Corian, I sold it is someone elses headache. I have marbleized lime stone in my kitchen it is holding up like a champ, I have not sealed it in years.

Quartz is 33%+ resin by volume. That's a lot of plastic to scorch.

I had LG Hi-Macs Ice Queen in a former kitchen. I loved it. Gonna do it again in a few weeks in what I hope is my final home!

previous kitchen

Dan, the quartz I used is in the bathroom, I don't know what is in the kitchen could be a Corian knock off for all I know

This is the bathroom before, original 30 year-old cabinets. I am not sorry withmy choice.