If you are near a city you should check out prefab granite slabs. They are more than laminate, but not as expensive as custom granite or some of the other counter surfaces available. In Houston you can get some basic colors for as little as $19.95 s.f. installed with a free sink.

Laminate is a good choice although a hot pan could scorch and it does scratch. Newer laminates are better at hiding scratches and stains.

If you are paying someone to do the work, I have no suggestions. However, if you are DIY - concrete might be the perfect answer for you.

It would meet all your criteria, and for DIY is quite affordable. We seriously considered concrete, but when I decided I wanted to keep my kitchen in the "old farmhouse" period, I switched to Soapstone.

About 3 hours away from a large city. An hour just to get to a town large enough for a lowes or home depot.

Not DIY - they are about to start building a house and I am just trying to do tge research and educate them on their choices.

Macy - I LOVE the look of oiled soapstone. It would be what I would choose myself if I could afford it (haven't found it priced anywhere around here). It does confuse me though with the softer and harder types that each has its own set of pros and cons.
I mentioned concrete to here once and she said no. I am not certain why exactly.

That's definitely in the middle of nowhere which does limit your options.

Both Dorado and M. Teixeira will ship soapstone slabs to you for local fabrication so you might look into that. The fabrication is a lot easier than with granite so it can be done by a local contractor, but the material is lot more expensive.

Wilsonart has a laminate color called Oiled Soapstone that has good reviews here on the forum.

It's good to cross concrete off the list early. It may be interesting as an option, but there are way too many negatives long term.

My soapstone is being shipped (is on a truck right now somewhere between New Jersey and South Dakota). I'm in about the same boat - Sioux Falls is about an hour away and there are a total of 2 granite fabricators there (nearest granite yard is 4 hours away). Around here, no one even knows what soapstone is.

For the soapstone, I had M. Tex do all the fabricating so it will be ready to set and epoxy together. It cost $59 a square foot fully fabricated(on sale). Then it cost about $400 for shipping, and we'll be picking it up in Sioux Falls - otherwise it would have been another $150 to get it from there to our house. We've got a 3/4 ton pickup and a 16' trailer so hauling it won't be a problem. We can uncrate it and carry it into the house one section at a time - the heaviest is under 175 lbs so DH and I can handle that no problem.

I'm very excited to be getting soapstone, I had expected it to be out of my reach. I was looking at getting just one chunk for a work area, and found out it wasn't as bad as I thought (for raw slabs). DH liked the samples, and then he started looking at the options and decided for what it cost, he'd have them do all the work!

If cost is very important, you just aren't going to beat laminate unless you do one of those art-y painted plywood countertops (Here's another thread here on THS that has some very nice looking plywood countertops). Another alternative might be a solid surface like Corian/Hi-Macs/Avonite, but that doesn't address cutting or heating concerns and will be substantially more money than laminate.

The good thing is that laminate is much better than it used to be. It looks more realistic, there is a variety of finishes now (gloss levels, textures, etc.). To paraphrase the old extinct car commercial, "This isn't your mother's laminate!" :-)

I saw that the house is 3 hours from nearest box store, but if you are able to make the trip to DFW area or Austin, Houston, San Antonio, or West Oaks, there's a store called Floor & Decor. They carry granite countertop pieces called Quick n' Easy. They measure 18" x 31" and start at $8.88 a sq ft and I counted 6 different color options on the website. I believe they'll ship direct. I think there are a couple of edge options too.

Or if laminate is the way they want to go, she can purchase a single granite tile, attach some felt pads to the bottom, and oila! cheap, heat resistant trivet.

Also something to consider is IKEA butcher block counters. They come in pre-cut lengths. Again, one trip, and you're set. It looks like they can be ordered online as well.

EXTREMELY affordable, possibly cheaper than laminate. It can be stained and treated with Waterlox or similar waterproof treatment, or just oil it once a month or so with mineral oil. Scratches can easily be sanded out. A trivet (granite tile) next to the stove or oven is handy to prevent scorching. DH and I had IKEA butcher block in a previous house, in the 4 + years we had them, they still looked great. A light sanding and oiling was all it took to get them looking nice when we sold the house. BTW, I'm definitely NOT a neat freak. Medium brown wood hides a multitude of sins.

There's an IKEA in Frisco (North DFW), Houston and Round Rock (North Austin).

Here is a link that might be useful: Floor & Decor

Take a look at the laminate counters in these beautiful kitchens laxsupermom linked for us in her thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Laminate counters

We redid a kitchen an hour SE of Houston and used Granite Masters ( on the west side of town) for prerfab granite. They were great and so much less (1/2) of other bids. I took my scale drawings over there and we figured out what size slabs I needed and they brought them and cut to fit on site. Also ordered a 12 ft. butcher block island from Michigan- cheaper than getting it locally even after paying for shipping and all one piece which was not possible with IKEA.

What about tile? I would think a through-body porcelain or a granite tile would work. Probably heat-resistant, and if there is a tile guy/gal around to put the floors, they might be able to do a countertop, too. Just a thought.

If you go to the Bathrooms forum, there are several really helpful tile guys that could give you good advice.

How can you use laminate if you say that there will be a heat issue? You can't just sit a hot pot off of the stove on laminate. I have Formica 180 FX and love it. But it is laminate too. I think the lowest cost heat resistant material would be porcelain tile. That can be had for quite a low cost online if you shop.

>How can you use laminate if you say that there will be a heat issue?

Yes, I was wondering about that, too. It seems to me the simplest answer to that is one of those nice big ikea trivets next to the stove, no matter what surface you go for. I've always had laminate so far, but I sure wouldn't yank a pot off the stove directly onto that.

I also agree with the other posts that these days, unless you can find something in the preformed section in your local big box store, butcher block may be less expensive than many laminates now. If you like laminate, then go for it, by all means, but the idea that laminate is the budget choice isn't such a hard and fast thing these days. Lots of other options in a similar price range now.

If you can do it yourself, granite tile would be good alternative. Use very narrow grout lines & epoxy grout & you won't have to worry about stains.