The stainless steel countertop around my cooktop just went in, and I can already tell it's going to be one of my favorite features of the new kitchen. It has a matte finish, no glare from my 10-foot long window nearby. So wonderful to be able to set hot pans from the cooktop and oven right on it!

The fabricator used 14 gauge stainless steel. I've heard you want at least 16 gauge to avoid dents and dings. I've also heard that it will get scratched but over time all the scratches blend together. The installer used a thick plywood substrate so it's very quiet.

My cost came to about $128 per square foot plus an extra $800 to fabricate an integrated, seamless chef sink. My cost may have been higher because the only installer I could find was an hour away and he charged me extra for his traveling time.

I'm sorry I don't have any photos yet because my vent hood and backsplash still haven't been installed.

HTH,

Erika

Thanks Erika! I can't wait to see pictures of your kitchen-I saw just a smidgen of your countertop in the thread about ovens. It is a beautiful kitchen, from the little I saw of it!

We haven't looked at soapstone slabs yet (except one place where they were a bit clueless about them) so I don't know what they will cost in our area yet, either.

We have stainless counters to each side of our rangetop, and other counters elsewhere. Ours was $17/sq ft, because we didn't need an integrated sink and we had it done by our local sheet metal fabricator. We DIYed our kitchen, so my husband just took the counter substrate to the sheet metal guy and he wrapped the stainless around it (of course, he welded and sanded the corners quite nicely)...Then DH brought it home and fit it into place. We also had him do 2 filler pieces for behind the rangetop and hood, since we have deep counters on that run and needed to pull out the rangetop and hood to match. We have 18 gauge, so getting a heavier gauge would probably be a bit more money.

In my previous kitchen I had SS countertops on both sides of the range and I adored them. It was wonderful not to have to worry about setting something hot on them, and they cleaned up easily.

At first I was afraid of them -- they were highly polished and very shiny when new, and everything scratched them. A day after they were installed I dropped an unopened can of tomato soup and dinged the surface but good. Within a few months of normal wear, all the scratches blended into a kind of patina that was very comfortable to live with, and the ding simply reminded me to be more careful about things falling out of cabinets. If you don't install cabinets above your SS countertops you'll never even run that risk.

I'm sorry but I don't remember the cost and I don't have pictures (it was 20 years ago). I would love to have them again some day, this time on all countertops and with an integrated sink.

rc
in Vermont

rhome-Thanks for the info! $17/sq.ft. will definitely be helpful in getting dh to consider that option, as well as the pictures of your wonderful kitchen! I've admired it more than once on this forum (I've been lurking for quite awhile...) I love the close up-especially those teeny little tiles on your backsplash!

rcvt-Thanks!-it's nice to hear that you liked them long term! Anything we choose will for sure develop a patina quickly around here, with nine kids, and #10 on the way... ;)

Love mine. They are terrific. They don't glare too much although they will reflect. You must be willing to accept scratches -- otherwise no downside as far as I am concerned.

I'll get pictures as soon as I can -- it's old but my Mom's house has just maybe 18 inches on each side of the sink, and it has the drip vents (not the right word I know) fabricated in. That way, spills are directed right into the sink. It's really neat, and although the kitchen is outdated now, several potential buyers have commented on it.

I adore my copper countertops, for what it's worth. DIY, they cost me about $23/sf.

We love our SS countertops! They don't have to be babied, and we expected them to get scratched. They define the work centers of our kitchen. They have a satin finish, so there's no glare that I notice. Since we have so much SS, we did opt to have our island topped with granite, because it is more of our public area of the kitchen, open & next to our family room.

gizmonike:

niiiice! i'm also doing the cooktop countertops in ss, with ss backsplash. i'm wondering, how did you treat the seam where the backsplash and countertop meet? silicone?

and also, where did you purchase your tile?

love your pictures!

What great kitchens! Thanks for all the pictures-dh is starting to get onboard with the idea. He equated SS countertops with restaurant kitchens, but all of your kitchen sure illustrate how nice they look in a home.

circuspeanut-your copper tops are beautiful, too. I like your toe kick detail, too-I've been looking for pics of those, too, since our island desperately needs some details to dress it up.

igloochic-love the faucet! Did you replace it or modify it? Faucet shopping is on my list of things to do...It looks easier to clean without the coils. How on earth did they integrate your sink so well/seamlessly? That looks great!

We already have a stainless steel apron front sink (great bargain from craigslist). I am having a hard time visualizing SS countertops on the perimeter vs. on the island. I'm not sure how the apron front sink would look with SS countertops. Would I have problems matching the finish?
The island, however, has a rounded overhang in the plans, so I am assuming we would have to come up with a different shape if we do SS on the island?

I am totally fine with scratches, BTW. The floor is handscraped (by dh) walnut, and I am hoping that the inevitable distressing it will get will just make it look better!

If I could fly in Circuspeanut to do my counters, I'd do copper. But I can't (and it would be creepy) so I'll be getting my second SS counter. It does take a while to get the spouse onboard. :) But mine loved it enough to want it for our "new" house.

I don't have any good pictures, and none of the finished kitchen. It was in a 20's Tudor revival home and we went with sort of a period-inspired kitchen. We used a Motawi subway backsplash, so it was definitely not restaurantish. This picture is before refrigerator, backsplash, lighting, etc. were finished so it looks a bit stark. And yes, small kitchen!

We were initially inspired by the kitchen in Edsel Ford's house (why pick a low-budget inspiration?). It has a big island with a German silver top, which isn't silver OR stainless. Stainless is a nice approximation and can look very vintage as well as modern. I should find a finished picture because this does look kinda, well, bad. :)

fori-that must have been beautiful with Motawi tiles! I used to work as a design consultant in a tile showroom that carried Motawi tiles.

And I thought most guys would like stainless counters because they look more commercial and therefore 'tougher.' (Insert "Tim the Toolman" type of grunting here) My dh was fully and immediately on board with the idea right away, because his dad and brothers worked on tug boats (and he did summer work on them as well) and all of the boats' kitchens had stainless counters. So he viewed them as nostalgic, nautical, masculine, and equates them with a hard working and productive kitchen. :-)

Well, I think they are girly and damageproof. :)

Of course, when I'm around, girly stuff HAS to be damageproof to last.

We did not have a bright kitchen so the stainless helped lighten things up. We did have some antique light fixtures that must have come from a retail outlet--they took 300 watt bulbs. But no glare, really, nor glare from the undercabinet lights.

We were also able to make the most out of a corner sink cabinet by having a custom sink. Of course, the measuring guy sort of goaded me into getting one that was a tad to big (front-to-back). "C'mon--nobody ever wanted a smaller sink" he said. So I stood there and stuck my hands in the cabinet ("this deep!") and reached back ("that far!") and ended up having to replace my faucet with a jointed one that reached as far forwards as I wanted because I got bad aches reaching way back BUT I digress.

I'd do it again. In fact, I am.

(Motawi really does have some great stuff, don't they? We were close to the pottery so we got to look at EVERYthing they carry. Nice folks, too.)

Love all the SS countertops and we plan to put one in on our DIY remodel.

Rhome, can you provide more detail on the substrate that your husband made to take to the sheet metal fabricator--type of wood, thickness etc. Did you need to have your range in place beforehand to get the height correct? Thanks for any additional info.

My dh associates them with working in restaurants while he was in college, unfortunately. ;-) It took years before I could get him to like going out to eat, again, after he finished college and didn't have to wait tables anymore.

If we can find a way to do SS cheaper than soapstone for at least part of the kitchen, that will sure help! I know by now that I have to show him pictures-trying to verbalize my ideas always flops. With him it is true that "a picture is worth a thousand words". :-)

Cache, because we wanted thick countertops (2 1/4"), he used 3 layers of MDF or plywood (each at 3/4"), screwed together. The rangetop did happen to be on-site when we put it all together, but we had used the specs to size everything (cabinet height and counter), knowing and planning that the rangetop would stand proud/higher by about 1/4". It actually ended up to be a little less than that.

This may or may not work for you, but I'll throw it out there.

Depending on what, exactly you're looking for, what's available and how resourceful you are, restaurant salvage may be an option.

Old counters, unit tops and other stainless surfaces from restaurants turn up cheap at salvage places and auctions. If they happen to be the right size, or nearly so, or your contractor thinks he could retrofit them at very reasonable cost, then you could find a deal.

I think they're really handsome. And another of those elements that, though great, because they're never particularly popular, will not date your kitchen, and can be considered truly "classic".

Good luck!

Growlery-that's a great suggestion! Dh is the "contractor", though we have hired out various parts of the remodel. He is pretty handy. We have found tons of good deals on craigslist and auctions already (for example, our sink on CL, and our vent-a-hood from a kitchen center that went out of business and had a liquidation auction). The hood was $46-regularly $800+! We also found a 6 burner viking range on CL.

Our substrait is plywood as well. We wanted it to approximate the 3cm granite on the other counters so we used two layers of marine grade plywood. Marine grade isn't necessary, but we had it on site from our shower construction and didn't mind the extra protection it gives in a water area. Our fabricators came out three times with the counters to do a dry run on the fit, then went back, cut, banged, etc and finally arrived at the finished product. Between the raised counter, the corner sink, the runnels going into a sink, integrating the sink, integrating the backsplash and wrapping the front around the bends in and out, they said it was the most complicated countertop they have ever done. I thought it was pretty simple actually heh heh (it's so much easier to be the designer LOL)

Our sink is actually not an exact matched finish to the counters. It went in shiny like any new sink, but after a few months of use it's patina is pretty much the same as the counter. So I think with yours the finishes will blend quickly.

My sink had a rim on it (it was able to be installed either as an undermount or overmount because it was a commercial sink). To put the runnels in on the corner they had to chop a bit off of one corner. I was worried how it would look, but really, it's totally seamless. That's what you'll get with a good fabricator. They really do wonderful work, just be sure to ask to see some of their work before you go with whoever you pick. Sometimes cheap means weld marks, dings, etc. You don't want that :)

"igloochic-love the faucet! Did you replace it or modify it? Faucet shopping is on my list of things to do...It looks easier to clean without the coils. How on earth did they integrate your sink so well/seamlessly? That looks great!"

Those are both KWC Systema faucets. The tall one was actually our first choice. We wanted the reach, and that professional look, but once it was installed, it didn't really work in the windows. We have two friends who have that same faucet and they love it. Cleaning the springs is not an issue at all (they really don't get dirty, even here in dusty alaska). It's a gorgeous and heavy faucet, which was also part of the problem. That swing arm weighed a ton, which was GREAT for use! It functions so easily, smooth movements, etc., but the head is heavy, and given the proximity of the windows, we had grave concerns about it hitting a window and breaking it. We have a 3 year old who loves to play in water and I could just see that thing getting a little shove...it takes a crane to bring in windows to the location, so we figured it was cheaper to buy another expensive faucet than to replace the windows at some point heh heh

So that tall one is sitting in a box in the garage waiting for me to decide what to do with it. Poor darling...it's lonely for a nice kitchen heh heh (it's next to a plastic shop sink now...I think it needs to be humbled a bit) :oP

So we went for the shorter Systema, but it's still nice and heavy. The visual is better for the location than the taller one, and it does not have the open swing the spring one had (I prefer the open swing frankly, but not with a 3 year old and windows). I'll probably use the tall one in the victorian house...or sell it...gad I don't know LOL (Our remodel is like a shop project from little boy hell...it seems to be together but we have LOTS of extra parts).

igloochic-I know what you mean about kids and water! I think Kohler's Krypton faucet is totally cool, for example, but NOT in a house full of kids-we would have water everywhere! Your windows are cool-great view, too. One day I hope to get up to Alaska (I have several siblings living up there).
A friend of ours told me about a metal shop locally that he knows the owner of, so I am going to see they have to say about countertops. And maybe even a tub enclosure for our teenager's bathroom-I just saw a neat metal shower in the book "Good House, Cheap House"
Cabinets are getting installed on Friday! I'm getting closer to having one functioning kitchen, instead of two partial ones! The oven in the old kitchen doesn't work, so I am using my "new" range. No dishwasher either-the old one broke in November, and we don't want to install the new one in the old kitchen and then have to move it...

Gizmonike-- I LOVE that kitchen! I am doing a modern kitchen, too, and I love seeing how warm they can be. Everything about that space is beautiful. I would also like to know where you got the tile/what it is/etc. Also, if you are in central texas, who did your countertops??

thanks!

Gimonke,

I love your kitchen! Our design is very similar. I have a few questions:

What type of wood are your cabinets?
What gauge stainless steels do you use and is it matte finish?
Is your hood a liner with custom stainless or is the stainless pat showing part of a manufactured hood?

Thanks so much! Tanem

NecroSPAM!

I love my stainless counters with integrated sink. They were fabricated and installed by a commercial kitchen contractor. They do glare (my visiting sister has been known to enter the kitchen and sit at the island with her sunglasses on), but I’ve installed sun shades to solve that problem. In the end, I wouldn’t change a thing.