bahacca-

I was worried when I first saw the title of your post...thought maybe you lived in a high crime area :-)

Crimes against hard surfaces!

Ha-ha...so true!

Glass countertops?

Glass scratches fairly easily and is difficult to repair.

I checked out Dekton today. The only color they had that I'd consider was over $100 sq/ft installed! My concerns in order would be chemicals(acetone), staining (hair dye) then heat. Is my best bet to stick with Corian again? It's never had an issue with the dye or acetone and the curling irons we use have been fine.

If you like the color black, you can get the surface used in labs. I
purchased some used lab cabinets with these kind of counters for my
garage and they weigh a ton. Mama Goose used some in her kitchen
remodel. She even routered some grooves into it for a drain board
effect next to the sink. Mama Goose's Amazing Done-It-Herself Kitchen Remodel. Click and check it out!

I have the same concerns with planning DD's and the guest bathrooms for my next house.

I'd like to find a nonporous surface because I struggle with water and soap stains on the light granite that's in my current guest bath. I'm thinking of using soapstone next time.

I am swearing off dark counters. My emerald pearl granite has hard water stains by the faucet I cannot get off. I'm not a wipe every surface dry after you wash your hands person. I have 2 kids. I wash my hands 30x a day!lol If hard water stains will come off soapstone or quartz products, let me know.

Polished concrete? I'm going to be doing a turquoise polished concrete countertop in my bathroom.

Isn't polished concrete more porous than sealed stone or quartz? Why can noone invent perfection??lol

Like Joseph said the most non destructible surface is Neolith.

Pamghatten, I would love to see your concrete counters when they are done. A good friend of mine just bought a remodeled house with them and they are gorgeous. A friend put them in her Colorado mountain home and they are to die for pretty. Neither home I would consider rustic. My spouse has worked for a cement company for 18 years and has been pressing me to use concrete when we redo our kitchen. Part of me wants to and part of me is tentative.

My Master bath remodel is starting at the end of October, I've been gathering things I'll need and took a bunch of before pictures. I'll post before and after when it's done. My sister is an Interior Designer and specifically asked her concrete guy if the concrete countertop would hold up to hair products, and he said it will. So we're going with it.

My house would never be considered rustic either, not my style! LOL!

Not the advice you were looking for so, FWIW, I went with something almost disposable for the kids bath (they managed to stain unstainable counters in the past) - I figure I'll just change it out if/when we sell the home, and not worry about it at all until then. (I went with black granite and (separate bathroom) Napoli (gray) granite from Home Depot. With undermount sink attached they were $120 (sale; usually $160) for 31".)

Bahacca, I was going to suggest blue pearl granite. I have it in my kitchen (6 years now) and it is definitely bullet proof. Then I saw you have emerald pearl with hard water stains. I had those around the faucet on my blue pearl. Nothing worked to remove them. Until my husband googled it and found that a razor blade works. OMGosh! How simple was that? A razor blade. Scraped all the hard water stain right off. EASY, cheap, fast and worked like a charm.

I'll try the razor blade! Thanks! The design I have in my head calls for a light counter. I may just go cheap and realize when they move out I can get something nicer. The Dorian has held up for 30 years, so.... I may just redo their floor and shower and let them wreck havoc in their teens and then redo the vanity area when they leave!

I think honed quartzite would be really tough, though I guess it depends on how sure you can be that it is really quartzite and doesn't have more marble-like properties. Would a less white quartzite go with your design? I've only ever heard of etching or staining with the very white varieties. A Taj Mahal, Sea Pearl or Madre Perola could work, or the Fantasy Brown. I recommend getting a sample of the one you like and really beating it up.

if Corian has held up for 30yrs I would say you got your moneys worth.

We have gotten our use out of them! I'm figuring we will be in this house at least 20 more years, so I need to do what works for us. If we were selling, I'd do granite and call it a day.

I recently stayed at an upscale hotel that had solid surface shower and sink/counter top. Loved it.

And it was the most sanitary shower you've probably ever been in and the long term maintenance costs are lower than alternatives for the hotel.

I'm pretty sure fantasy brown is usually actually a marble. There are plenty of non-white marbles. There's a great series of countertop geology threads on the kitchen forum where a geologist has answered tons of questions about stone and tells how to test stones. A main take away is that stone yards often mislabel stones so you cannot rely on them calling something a quartzite.

I'd go with polished concrete, I have used it in several bathrooms

If you've had such good service from Corian, why don't you go that route again?

A cement countertop would seem very heavy, I would make sure your cabinets are built to withstand the weigh of it.

sloyder:

Cement is a component of a concrete countertop. Cabinets can easily withstand the weight.

We probably will go with Corian again. I saw taj majal quartzite yesterday and it would be perfect for the look, but I'm certain it will get destroyed. I saw a hard surface with sparkle in it that I think will look nice in the space and my girls will like.

sloyder-

A properly constructed, standard vanity can support very large amounts of weight, and concrete is only about 90% of the density of granite. My 3 cm thick granite bathroom counter weighs about 16 lb/sqft...about 1/10 of the pressure I'd exert if I stood on the counter (which I have done).

And I would LOVE to do all 3 showers in solid surface. It is just way to expensive. I'll deal with large tiles. beats cleaning the grout in the 3 bathrooms with 4x4 white tiles and grout!

I have Mont Blanc quartzite (similar to Taj Mahal, Madre Perla) on my kitchen countertops and the powder room countertop. Very hard water. I've had no problem with mineral deposits, etching, or staining on the quartzite.

OTOH, I have yellowing around my faucets from hard water on the Caesarstone Blizzard countertop that was installed a year ago in my master bathroom.

I have one more bathroom to remodel next year and have not yet decided on the countertop material. May go with a Pebblestone Caesarstone, another quartzite, or try to find an installer for Dekton or Neolith.

Bummer on the staining, but valuable information for me! Thank you!

@joseph,

Shower floor and walls were large panels, the shower floor was at an incline with a trough drain at the end. Shower was huge with rain head, wall shower and handheld shower.

Super modern and sleek. no gross grout lines. Where do I get something like this?

I will repeat, the closest to bulletproof is Neolith.

Didnt some people complain that it scratched really easily?

"Where do I get something like this?"

Speak with a solid surface fabricator. This isn't something that they usually do and they are therefore hesitant because they've got to put their best guys on it. Let them know you've got a realistic budget and you're not a tire kicker.

Didnt some people complain that it scratched really easily?

It might have been the Dekton, but I've heard nothing negative about the Neolith, unless it was how it was cut by the fabricator. You need a fabricator who's well versed in the product.

I have two samples here in my studio. I've dropped heavy objects on it, taken a knife blade to it, etc and nothing

Thread on scratching of Neolith

apparently, when it's polished?

@Joseph, that's my problem. I don't want to pay for the steep learning curve of someone who's never done this before.

" I don't want to pay for the steep learning curve of someone who's never done this before."

Small down payment and balance at satisfactory completion solves that problem. It isn't all that; I wouldn't worry about it.