Here is a materials chart I've found useful.

As I understand it, metal countertops, no matter which metal, are fairly thin sheets over plywood.

I usually think of zinc counters more in service areas like laundry rooms, but they should work fine in a kitchen. They do stain and scratch, but since you're good with patina should look very nice.

I've seen them and they would be very nice in a new/old kitchen. I used stainless for a similar (but easier to maintain) look in a period-ish kitchen. If you find zinc isn't quite easy enough, stainless can take on a lovely patina of abuse and be a very good stand-in for zinc. Just don't get a euro-chic ultra modern edge.

do you have a healthy budget?

I have fabricated quite a few counter tops, backsplashes, range hoods and fireplace mantels ect using a lot of metals including zinc, after 20 years of custom fabricating it is by far the softest material I have worked with, most any liquid will stain unprotected zinc so it will patina quite quickly a few coats of carnuba wax provides good protection.
As for cost per sheet zinc is apx 4 times the cost of stainless steel and about 2.5 times the cost of copper.

I saw one in a high end kitchen showroom, and it was gorgeous. But i think I heard that there's an issue with toxicity? And, it's expensive.

Hello All,

Due to posting rules for businesses I can't send you to our web site, but I can give you definitive answers about zinc. If you Google 'zinc countertops' you'll get some listings for companies that make them right at the top of the page.

We do a good volume in zinc tops, and so I have some experience and pretty good feedback at this point.

Zinc countertops come a couple of different ways. High end seamless zinc countertops with fancy edges are the nicest. Look for welded seamless construction and 16 gauge thickness. Lower budget zinc tops are always thin zinc wrapped over wood, and the seams are either soldered or simple hairlines, like laminate tops.

Zinc will stain and will also chalk a little if it gets repeated and lengthy exposures to water. We patina zinc and then apply a very light lacquer to slow this down, but it doesn't stop it. Zinc just takes a little attention to dry it after use and to occasionally wax it with carnauba wax, and it behaves pretty well. It is pretty soft, but its decently tough, too. We get no complaints about durability or finish from our customers.

Zinc plated water pipes pass all toxity tests and have always been used in house residences. It seems to me if they make water pipes with it, it must be ok.

We offer countertops in a matte finish stainless steel that looks a little like zinc, but its really not a comparable look. Something about zinc is just sublime, and its missing from stainless.

A side note - there was a zinc countertop shown on Oprah a couple of days ago that's seamless. We build that kind of countertop system and ship it all in one piece with welded seams and wood already attached to the bottom. We can also ship really big systems, too, like 25' long, all in one piece.

The best thing about zinc, copper, and pewter is that they're soft enough to do some fancy edges. So in additional to the plain-jane square edges, you can get curvy French-style edges, too. Because its soft enough, we also hammer it in a few ways to give it texture and interest.

Hope this helps!

cg

Copperguy where are you located West, Mid West, East Coast, etc? I'm trying to find someone to make a Zinc countertop.