I ended up using a urethane additive with my grout as the joints were 1/16 which does not work too well for most epoxy trouts as they are usually of the sanded variety.

So far so good.

I have urethane grout on my floor and much to my dismay it has discolored where there's the most traffic. I don't know what to tell you to do. I do know that I would not do a tile countertop b/c of the grout and the unevenness if the surface, but that's me.

David-- there is no such thing as a urethane additive. Urethane grouts as a premixed one part chemical grout. Bostik has one of the better ones, Starquartz is another. The additive you used is most likely a latex or acrylic.

Yes, the urethane grouts are a bit easier to work with. You can't get too far ahead of yourself-- only about 3-4 linear feet of countertop before I'd go back and clean what you have-- or the grout will dry right on the face of the tile. Beyond that, it IS alot easier to use.

here's the urethane grout's achilles heel, and this IS a consideration for a countertop in an occupied home (as compared to one under construction)-- Once the grout is applied, it CAN NOT GET WET for 7-10 days, or the grout can be ruined permanently. It'll resoften, and won't harden back up. For this reason, I'd still recommend using a grout like Laticrete's Spectralock. It's not that much tougher to use, and once dry, you're good to go, and it's as bulletproof as you're going to find.

FYI, TEC XT Grout (cement-based, no urethane) also needs to cure for 7-10 days before getting wet or sealing (it doesn't need to be sealed, but can be--with a solvent based sealer).

It won't disintegrate like urethane grouts will, though, and it CAN get wet. The XT is just TEC's version of the Permacolor from Laticrete.

Good to know Bill! I pushed it a bit sealing the tile/grout--maybe 6 1/2 days, because I just had to use the shower already. :-)

As you know, I looked into the Permacolor, but the XT colors worked better for us.

I had this idea of using a farm house sink (Rohl) with a tiled countertop--sink won't be the tile in type. I thought of installing the sink so its top is slightly raised above the tile countertop--the tiles would then butt up against the side of the sink (saw a forum where one person did this and hated it). However, I'm still open to this idea. Would I have to use caulk between the tile and sink or could I get away with grout alone? Tell me why I shouldn't consider using this sink/tile countertop installation so I can finally put it to rest.

Caulk it. Why should I talk you out of it, when it's perfectly viable?

Trying to think why that blogger hated the idea of this tile/sink installation. Think she said hers got to look dirty over time where the caulk between the side of sink and tile met. Stated that the Rohl farm house sinks were not always evenly level across their tops and by elevating the sink above the tile, one side of the sink might stick up above the tile , say an inch, and the other side could be even with the top of the tile. I would guess that the cabinet guy could correct that in the cabinet construction. I have some great old tile that I would love to use for a kitchen countertop utilizing the farmhouse Rohl sink raised slightly above the countertop. Unfortunately, this old tile has no edging tile so I'm thinking I would use a wood edge since there will be a butcher block island in this kitchen. Please tell me what installation considerations I should be making when elevating the sink above the countertop and applying wood edging.

What's better Urethane or Epoxy? I read on a forum that Epoxy is better but only trained people can install it?

Why is it so hard to install?