Countertop help

8 years ago

I moved into this house approximately 2 years ago. It has all black solid surface in the kitchen. After trying to deal with it for two years (scratches so easily, cannot slide anything on it or it makes a new scratch) we decided to purchase granite. Granite installer came out to measure & said my cabinets are extremely out of level and he would have to take them all out, level them and then install the granite. He said if it was him he would just go with laminate because everything is so out of level and unsupported. We have decided to keep them for now because this isn't our forever home and I can polish them with Hopes and they look decent enough. I would like to replace the high bar top for something that doesn't show every single scratch & require constant polishing. & keep the current counters. What would you recommend? Wood? Quartz? I think granite might be too high of a sheen?

Featured Answer

cpaul1

8 years ago

There are several things here. One is I don't understand reinstalling the cabinets to get the counter top level. That makes no sense, that's what shims are for. It's unfortunate if your cabinets were not installed properly, but that can be fixed when the counter tops are installed by ensuring those are level as part of the installation process. Then I would not replace just the bar with another counter top. Your kitchen is too small to be able to take different materials types/colors, that will just chop it up and make the whole thing look worse. Even if you were going to replace just the bar, i would never downgrade granite to a laminate, that makes even less sense than the previous comment. So, I would either replace all of the granite to something lighter (I'm never a fan of dark granite in a kitchen) or I would see if you could reseal the granite to make it less scratch-able and to get some luster back to it.

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Comments (8)

Ann Q
Original Author
8 years ago
I asked him if he could use shims to level the new granite & he refused saying shims are not the proper way to level granite & it could potentially crack in the future if shims were used. I have no idea if he was feeding me a line or not. My current countertops are solid surface not granite. Do you know of a sealer for solid surface? I inquired about having them professionally sanded and was told there are no guarantees due to the dark color.
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Simona Stafano
8 years ago
Agree with the previous post. Granite is good. Picture is really dark, but lighter surface will work better. Go to places that have remnants, you may be able to work something for this size.
Simona Stafano
8 years ago
Sorry I missed your post. Find another granite installer. Another thing you can do and it will be cheaper to go to 2 cm granite or quartz and install plywood under. Again go to more places to shop.
Ashley Kime
8 years ago
If you don't want a polished finish try a granite with a leathered finish, or Quartz both are very durable and are hard to scratch or stain. Also, you may want to take a look at this video that talks about the pros and cons of five types of countertops https://youtu.be/ZGL9PPxdGNI
Ann Q
Original Author
8 years ago
Here's a lighter picture of my current solid surface counters.
cpaul1
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
If the cabinets are that far off that a shim here and there won't fix it, then I would lay plywood over the cabinets for the counter top to lay on to provide additional strength. All of this is really a question of money, like ultimately everything else in life is. How much do you want to spend on that kitchen. I would determine your budget before you make any decisions and then get several bids. That is a small kitchen and they have granite remnants for not that much if you think your cabinets can be salvaged.
auntthelma
8 years ago
My friend did that. A different counter top on the bar section than the work section. It can look good and you get a brighter kitchen.