buyers guide counter tops

8/8/2019 Buyers Guide Counter Tops

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Butcher block is one of the fewtotally natural countertop materials.Made from strips of hard maple,11 ⁄ 2 -in.-thick butcher-block countersare glued up to expose wear-resistant edge grain. Sizes up to12 ft. long and 4 ft. wide cost about$30 to $35 per sq. ft. Butcher block canbe ordered through lumberyards, home

centers, and a few large manufacturers.One of them, John Boos & Company, alsomakes end-grain tops, 4 in. thick, in sizesup to 60 in. by 38 in. for about $100 persq. ft. Butcher block is easy to install, hasa pleasing resilience, and can be used as acutting board. Scratches and scorch markscan be counted as character, or scrapedand sanded away. One drawback is that

wood is susceptible to water dam-age, so butcher block around asink should be sealed carefully.

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High-pressure laminate is the choice inthree-quarters of all new kitchens. In sheetform, laminate is glued to a particleboardsubstrate on site or in the shop; a thinnerversion is manufactured into a ready-made

countertop with a rounded front edge andan integral backsplash, known as a post-formed counter. Laminate sheets (12 ft. longand 5 ft. wide) come in many colors and pat-terns (including ones that mimic wood andstone) for about $2 per sq. ft. Post-formedcounters are about $5 per sq. ft. Available infewer colors, they are for straight runs only(no curves).

Laminate is highly stain resistant, but heaand sharp knives can damage it, and waterthat gets into seams can degrade the sub-strate. New edge treatments have elimi-

nated an aesthetic weakness, though: thedark line where the top of the countermeets the front edge.

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Chop where you like. Maple butcher block (above

right) exudes a visual warmththat many other materials lack.

Standard thickness is 1 1 ⁄ 2 in.,although 4-in.-thick end-grain block

is available (left).

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with the possible exception of cabinetry, no single material choice will

have as great an impact on the look and functionality of your kitchenas your choice of countertop. And with the wide array of options availabletoday, it pays to do your homework. To help you make comparisons in termsof durability, price, and other considerations, here are the basics on seven com-mon categories of kitchen countertops. Looking for something more exotic?Check out “Amazing Countertops” on p. 51.

Fine Homebuilding contributing editor Scott Gibson and ass ociate editorRob Yagid contributed to this article.

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FINE HOMEBUILDING56 Photos, except where noted: Scott Phillips. This page: Andy Engel (center); Krysta S. Doerfler (bottomFacing page: Courtesy of Vermont Structural Slate Co. (bottom



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Slab stone, especially granite, is cold to the touch, heavy, hardto work, and expensive. It’s also popular. Granite comes fromall over the world, in a variety of colors and patterns. Pricesshow big regional differences, starting at $40 to $50 per sq. ft.(possibly lower in some areas) and commonly running to $80to $100 per sq. ft. installed.

Sold in two thicknesses ( 3 ⁄ 4 in. and 1 1 ⁄ 4 in.), granite is resistanto heat and scratches. Most countertop material is polished, butit also is available in a honed (matte) finish, usually for a bit mormoney. Slab size usually is limited to 10 ft. long and 5 ft. wide

Although resistant to acidic foods such as lemon juice, granitewill stain. It’s especially susceptible to oil. Penetrating sealers,commonly called impregnators, can keep out oil and water.

Other stone-countertop options include slate and soapstone.Both come in smaller slab sizes than granite (roughly 6 ft. longand between 30 in. and 40 in. wide) and in not nearly the varietyof colors. Prices for these two stone countertops are similar, from

$70 to $100 per sq. ft., not including installation or shipping.Blue-gray and lightly variegated when newly installed, soap-stone oxidizes and darkens with time to a rich charcoal. It isextremely dense, with better stain resistance thangranite. However, soapstone also is soft.It usually is treated with mineral oil;scratches can be sanded out.

Slate runs in a wider but still limitedcolor palette: blacks, greens, reds, grays,and muted purples. Like soapstone, slateis relatively soft, although scratch markscan be buffed out with fine steel wool, saysDaphne Markcrow of Vermont Structural

Slate Company. Vermont slate needs no seal-ers, she says, and no maintenance, althoughslate mined in different regions might be moreabsorptive. Slate is formed in layers, so it mightoccasionally delaminate.

Quartz composite is another option. A combination ofquartz, resin binders, and pigments, the countertop material(sold under the Silestone and Zodiaq brands) is nonporous andstain resistant. Unlike granite, it doesn’t need to be sealed.

Slate

Soapstone

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Pricey but in high demand. Natural stone isthe current favorite among high-end countertop

choices. It offers high heat resistance and durabil-ity, and a wide variety of colors and textures, such

as this red-slate bar top with a honed finish.

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Hard-wearing and hresistant. Ceramicavailable in hundreof colors and patteroffers great design ibility at a relativelcost. Be careful, thGrout stains easily.

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Because it is easy to cut, tile can be formed into countersof almost any shape and size. Ceramic tile is available in ahuge variety of colors, patterns, textures, and prices, frommass-produced 4-in.-sq. field tile to hand-painted gems.Installed prices start at about $18 per sq. ft. for a basiccounter. Loose field tile starts at about $2.50 per sq. ft.

Glazed ceramic and porcelain tiles have a glasslike outerlayer that makes them long-wearing, heat resistant, andnonabsorbent. The downside? Tile is really hard. Wine-

glasses and china won’t fare well in carelesshouseholds, and the tile surfaceis unlikely to be perfectly flat.

You’ll need to use cutting boards

on the countertop.The major shortcoming is thegrout between tiles. Left untreated,

cement-based grout stains easily, andit can be hard to keep clean. A water-

based acrylic sealer offers some pro-tection. The bottom line: A smaller

grout joint means less maintenance.

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Bring the restaurant home. Stainless steel, long afixture in commercial kitchens, is making gains inresidential kitchens for the same reasons: long lifeand low maintenance.

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Boston architect Ann Finnerty chose a combination of stainless steeland maple butcher block when she redid her own kitchen. “I wanted amaterial that was common and not too precious and not too expen-sive,” she says. She likes the fact that stainless steel is easy to clean:“When it’s new especially, fingerprints show up like crazy.” That prob-lem fades as the surface gets more wear and develops a patina.

Stainless steel can’t be modified easily on site. Countertops usually arefabricated from templates, often in 16-ga. material. Sheet metal isglued to a substrate of medium-density fiberboard (MDF); sinks can bewelded in. The counters cost from $80 to $100 per sq. ft., but edgedetails, sinks, and overall complexity can change prices dramatically.Mark Ponder, an estimator at Weiss Sheet Metal, which made Finnerty’scounters, cautions that prices can be misleading. A plain 10-ft.-longcounter with a simple sink and a 4-in. backsplash might cost $1650, hesays, but that doesn’t include the substrate, shipping, or installation.Linda Bergling of Stainless Steel Kitchens, a large Midwestern fabrica-tor, says her shop charges about $195 per running foot of counter with

backsplash. The stainless is already laid up on a substrate, ready to go in.Counters typically are made from 304 stainless with a #4 brushed finish.Length usually is limited to 10 ft. and width to 4 ft., although largersheets can be ordered. Clean stainless-steel counters with a milddetergent, or with baking soda or vinegar diluted in water. Somefoods—mustard, mayonnaise, lemon juice, ketchup—can cause awhite surface discoloration; rub it out with a fine Scotch-Brite pad.

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FINE HOMEBUILDING58 Photos, this page: Claudio Santini (top left); Roe A. Osborn (bottom right). Facing page: CouSonoma Cast Stone (top left); courtesy of DuPont (top right); Krysta S. Doerfler (botto



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From a design perspective, few countertop materialsare as malleable as concrete. Cast upside down in moldsor formed in place, concrete counters can be madein virtually any shape and thickness. Made correctly,they are hard, durable, and heat and scratch resistant.But even the best of them will stain if not assiduouslymaintained. Cast without proper reinforcement and thecorrect mix of materials, concrete counters have beenknown to develop severe cracks as they cure. JeffreyGirard of The Concrete Counter Institute says that tominimize cracking,standard countertops11 ⁄ 2 in. to 2 in. thickshould be cast withstructural steel andpolypropylene fibers.

Fabricators exertconsiderable controlover the look of thefinished product.Girard, for instance,adds pieces of glassand metal to themix, then grinds thesurface to createbeautiful multicoloredpatterns.

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DuPont’s Corian, the world’s first

solid-surface material, now has manyrivals. But they are essentially thesame stuff: polyester or acrylic resinplus a mineral filler. Solid surfacingcomes in plain colors, patterns thatresemble stone, and translucentversions. Countertops most oftenare formed from 1 ⁄ 2-in.-thick sheets;edges are built-up layers of identicalor contrasting material. Sheets 30 in.and 36 in. wide run to 12 ft. in length.

Solid surfacing is nearly an idealcountertop. Minor surface blemishes can be sanded out.

The material is nonporous, making it easy to keep clean,and it’s highly stain resistant. It also can be fashioned intoa sink and then glued to a countertop for a seamless,leakproof installation. Solid surfacing comes with a longguarantee, usually 10 years.

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Not all concrete stains easily. Those who don’t fancy stains as pa-tina can choose Sonoma’s concretecounter tiles made with the compa-ny’s proprietary stainless NuCrete.

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Make your own. Somemanufacturers sell everything

you need to make countertops, including specialty blended con-crete, sink molds, and colorants.

www.finehomebuilding.com KITCHEN & BATH PLANNING GUIDE 2009

buyers guide counter tops

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