Have you been to http://retrorenovation.com/? Plenty of ideas there and kitchens that have been remodeled in the period.

Thanks for your reply :) I have used Retro Renovation as a resource quite a lot. I've seen all three of our counter possibilities used in remodels on the site- they all work well. I feel so much more overwhelmed with this than our bathroom.

A minty solid surface would be great in there--it's a very nice kitchen! Silestone has a nice aqua but I don't know if it has sparkly bits. You could do white again, and the quartz with the chunks in ti is pretty nice, but color....

There are some midcentury fans at the home decorating forum who might have some suggestions. It sounds like you got your money's worth from your sparkly Formica. :)

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/decor

Silestone has some white sparkly quartz in its Platinum line, but it may be too sparkly.

Wilsonart makes a couple of vintage laminates including linen, daisies from their archive, and boomerangs. Formica makes some linens, and a boomerang.

I know you said you don't want laminate on the backsplash but one way to get the durability (or increased heat resistance, with quartz) of a modern material like quartz or solid surface would be to use a plain color on the countertops and a coordinating retro laminate on the backsplash.

The 1950s laminate lasted HOW LONG?

The newer ones are even more durable. I don't think you will outlive them, and they have improved the molding process that makes the curved backboards.

I's do laminate again.

I don't think the newer ones are as durable, in general, although they have improved some aspects, and they do have some really durable specialty laminates in limited colors. The 1960s laminate in the house I grew up in was in perfect condition when we sold the house a few years ago.

My 1939 house came with octagonal tiles for the bathroom flooring and for the kitchen countertops. We remodeled it back in the early 2000s and could not find octagonal tiles anywhere. We ended up using 4-inch tiles in white with black trim in the kitchen. We were fortunate to have a tiler who was as artistic as he was talented. His knowledge and attention to detail made it much nicer counters than the original and much nicer than we had envisioned. As a tip to the modern he put in a remnant of black granite about 2-ft wide and 4-ft long where the counters made an L shape. It was very striking and surprisingly.

Fori is not pleased: Thanks for tip on the decor forum, I'll have to pester them too! I really like the idea of an aqua/ minty counter, and if I can source Corian Mint Ice (Beach glass is so beautiful, but discontinued :( ) it will jump to the top. BUT, I am so used to the white, and our kitchen can lean towards dark... We will be putting in an aqua & pink master bath, so I can get my aqua fix there..

palimpsest: I do love the sparkle of Silestone- so far the only quartz I really don't like is the Cambria with gobs of silver glitter mixed in. Mirrors and glass are cool, but all that craft store glitter... lol! I've been taking advantage of free laminate samples, and I really do like the linens and wefts from WilsonArt & Formica but I do have the itch for sparkle!

lazy_gardens: This laminate is probably 55 years old! Pretty wild, really. It's definitely not in perfect condition but it has held up really, really well. The only thing I don't like about current laminate is while I like some of the vintage looking patterns, I don't like them well enough to go up the backsplash- part of my problem is I really like what I have now, and I wish I could just swap new glitter formica for the old!

dchall_san_antonio: Your kitchen is lovely!! My husband is pretty much Camp Tile. I LOVE tiled kitchens in pastels, and very few in our neighborhood still have them. I've never seen octagonal tiles, only hex- I bet they were amazing!!

These are the counter samples I've ordered and/or been able to see in person. Some of the solid surfacing is a pretty sparkly white, and MSI makes a quartz that's almost a dead ringer for my current formica. The pictures from my kitchen aren't the best lighting... but then again, the lighting isn't great in there

If you haven't been here, you can waste an evening

http://solidsurface.com/sheet-material/fully-stocked-brands/formica

Have you considered going all out and doing one of those 1950's starburst patterns or even a boomerang pattern? Honestly, if you're ok with formica, I'd stick with the formica.

Imhappy&Iknowit IOWA zone 6b: Oh, I love that site! I have definitely wasted evenings scrolling through sites like that :D

cpartist I have some of the samples of the Retro Renovation boomerang laminates, and I like them, but I don't know if I will tire of them. Both my husband and I are alllmost there, but not quite.

taylvs3: We were pretty close to going with white Corian, but we feel like it would be very unforgiving with our boys. No go on painting the cupboards yet, the wood is so pretty :)

We did finally decide on going with Quartz- We will probably go with Silestone Stellar snow- the flashes of mirror and glass like like a modern update to the sparkle Formica that is there. I went to town trying to damage our Corian, Formica and Quartz samples and Quartz won out. I sliced, stabbed, dropped cans and tried to stain and not a mark.

Thank you all for all the input!

I'm sure it will look great. Please post when finished.

I love sparkly white quartz tops! Great choice. Here is a kitchen that we remodeled with sparkly white quartz.

Shiloh Cabinetry: Modern Country Kitchen - Xenia, OH · More Info

Hi all!

I just wanted to share an update now that -most- of the backsplash is done. It was great to hear other opinions and have resources shared

We are still waiting for tile replacements for the last stretch of wall.

we went with Silestone Stellar Snow for the counters and 4.5 x 6” pastel aqua rectangles for the backsplash. We will have it grouted once the other wall is finished. So here are a few progress pics :)

It's perfect!

This looks awesome!

Beautiful! I love your kitchen!

Thank you cpartist, Blurberry and Shopping101!