Hi ...I have redone a couple of kitchens over the last few years; in both cases the cost of a laminate solution was around 70% the cost of granite. Assuming you are in an area where you can get granite, the pros of granite or even quartz outweigh the difference in cost between the two products.

I have been in dozens of houses with pot burns showing on the laminate ...just doesn't make sense as a countertop.

Thanks for weighing in. Are your comments specifically about
Formica 180fx, or laminate in general?

I was hoping someone would be able to comment specifically
on IdealEdge, the special decorative edge that is attached to the countertop – the one
that eliminates the traditional brown seams (Wilsonart offers similar edging).
Has anyone had problems with these edges?

We have light-coloured laminate countertops right now. Our house
is about 30 years old and we've lived here for 10 years. Although I can’t say for
sure that the countertops are 30 years old, we haven’t changed them since we moved
in. There are no burn marks on the countertop at all. We use the crockpot at
least once a week and we don’t put anything underneath it while it sits on the
countertop and simmers all day. We have an espresso machine and we never have
to worry about stains from coffee drips. The countertop has held up quite well,
as have the laminate countertops in many of my relatives’ and friends’ homes –
with proper care of course (i.e. being smart enough not to put blazing-hot
items directly on the countertop).

My parents opted for a granite countertop in their kitchen when they had their new house built, and my mother regrets her decision. She is disappointed with it for a number of reasons. She is a serious cook and
spends a lot of time in her kitchen, but feels like she needs to baby her
countertop. For her, granite is impractical (and she complains about it being noisy). Only a few years in, the granite has several chips in it. When I
told her we’re redoing our kitchen, she advised “skip the granite – get laminate
instead.”

I have looked into quartz but the only products available in
our price range are not the well-known Caesarstone/Silestone brand. I have received one
decent quote for a dark brown quartz (C5074) distributed by KStone collections. Kstone is a Canadian company but I think the actual product might be made in China.
I wonder about the manufacturing process (same quality control? standards?). I have seen chips in these types of quartz countertops before so I
know they are not bulletproof.

I’m just trying to make a decision that will look nice in
the end, but fit with our budget and lifestyle.

Patricia, I had laminate with a beveled edge in a previous house. Lived with it 4 years without a problem. Even though it's a different profile from the ideal edge, they're both attached to the countertop similarly. My laminate was 25% the cost of quartz or e-stone, btw.

I am probably not a good broad source - it sounds like we disagree :-)

This said, however, I would characterize our experience with laminate as poor ...we LOVE the ability to take pots and pans and move them around on the counters ...we LOVE the look of the clean, flat surface ... we LOVE the idea that 50 years from now, the stone will still be exactly the same ...

Another point ... from above ... different parts of the country have different pricing on granite vs laminate ...in Virginia and Florida.

No problem George - all very good selling points for stone, I agree! :)

Thanks for weighing in on this, zmith!

Our laminate counters from Formica with a wood edge were installed in 1993 and still look like new (15sf of counters and 18sf on an island). There are a few small dings from dropped utensils but that's it. No burn marks, no water problems around the sink or at the tiled backsplash seams, and no stains of any kind. And this in a house where two boys grew up and out and the parents are none too careful. For the price you can't beat it and the newer patterns are very attractive. I'd not hesitate to use it again were it not for the lack of respect it seems to get here in New England.

I just heard back from our local countertop company. They told me they are willing to do the IdealEdge, but by the time you tack on the price for the edging pieces ($89 per 8-foot piece - we will need quite a few of these because of the island and other exposed ends we have), plus all the labour associated with gluing them on, it will bring the price way up to the that of certain stone options. I really thought it was going to be more cost-effective than that. Disappointing!

Yeah ...sort of like our math as we looked at laminate vs stone ...everything is labor intensive, most actions to make it look more like stone. I didn't mention it earlier, but we have had a couple of instances in various houses (former military so moved around quite a bit ...and on rental houses) where the laminate seams would begin to swell ...remember, right underneath the laminate is fiberboard, so any water that gets in will start a cycle. We put granite in a rental house recently ...small kitchen, so was only about $300 more ...major renting point and, assuming it isn't hit with a hammer or massively abused, may never have to replace it ...in a very damp area of Florida so another issue with laminate is sidestepped.

btw, I do like laminate FLOORS in certain circumstances ...lots of progress with improving their resistance to water damage, but it is a very special engineered product, unlike most of the backer fiberboard for laminate.

Sheesh ...keep forgetting stuff ...depending on where stone or even synthetic stone products get chipped, they can be ground down and buffed out ...for instance, a common area for chips in the lip for undermount sinks, and this is pretty easy area since it is rounded over already. Another btw, on the rental house we used a drop in sink in order to avoid renters from chipping the edges ...