We’re inching right along in the kitchen (wish we could share kitchen updates every day but we’re doing this thing real-time). Which brings us to our latest decision: the new counters that we’ll be going with.
We’ve been debating possibilities for weeks (there are a junkload of options out there with pros and cons to each one). And ten people would probably make ten different decisions, so it can feel especially hard to hone in on the “right” thing since there are so many variables. So here’s how we landed on the choice that we like best for our kitchen/family/life. But first the thing we’re sad about: although we had high hopes of DIYing concrete counters (I pinned about a million tutorials) they’re not a good choice for our kitchen. After talking to a few concrete experts (who actually make ’em for a living) we learned that in order to accommodate the double 12″ overhang (on two of the four sides of the giant 3 x 5′ peninsula that we’ll be adding) we would need to pour the slab extra thick, which is an issue because:
- our cabinets can’t support that amount of weight (they’d need to be reinforced = $$$)
- our floors aren’t built to support that load anyway (more on that here)
Cue the sad trombone sound effect. We debated doing some sort of concrete “slipcover” (for lack of a better word- some folks just coat another countertop material with a thin layer of concrete) but it ended up having more cons than solid concrete, so we decided to explore a few other options in hopes of finding The One. But we’re diabolically determined (picture me stroking my chin like an evil genius) to mess around with concrete one way or another. Maybe we’ll make a long concrete dining table for an outdoor deck area that we have yet to tell you about/build (it’s on the to-do list, so we’ll hopefully get there eventually). But back to the kitchen…
Once concrete was off the table (or the counters, har-har) we decided that hitting up a bunch of local kitchen shops as well as the usual home improvement guys (like Lowe’s and Home Depot) would be a good way to see what other counter materials were out there… and what they were going to do to our budget. Back when we did our first home’s kitchen we really splurged when it came to the counters (to the tune of $3,700 after a $300-off promotion), but they kind of made our kitchen and we had saved up the money to pay them off right away, so we didn’t regret that choice.
But we definitely went into this kitchen makeover vowing to come in substantially under that number. Which is funny given that we have about twice as much square footage (since we’re adding a big peninsula and this kitchen is a lot larger than our last one). For example, to use the same “pashmina” granite from Home Depot that we used for our last kitchen would cost us over $7,000! Which is just not in the budget. At all.
At first we thought about butcher block (Ikea sells it so affordably and it can be stained to get a richer chocolate look). But with the dark wood counters in the adjoined office (just five steps from the stove and three from the fridge) we decided that would be too much wood. Plus we loved the slick and easy-to-wipe-down surface that granite offered us in our first kitchen. Call us spoiled. But this time we wanted to go with something different (and had heard good things about quartz, solid surface options like Corian, and even cool eco options like recycled glass). So after hitting up a bunch of places, here are all of the samples that we brought home to mull over:
- Top left: LG Viatera quartz in “Geneva” found at Lowe’s (note: any of these options are probably available at a number of places)
- Bottom left: Caesarstone quartz in “Pebble” found at a local spot called Kitchen & Bath Solutions
- Right: Silestone quartz in “River Blanco” found at Kitchen & Bath Solutions
- Top left: Cambria quartz in “Torquay” found at Kitchen & Bath Solutions
- Bottom left: Cambria quartz in “Sussex” found at Kitchen & Bath Solutions
- Top right: Allen & Roth quartz in “Alloy” found at Lowe’s
- Bottom right: Cambria quartz in “New Quay” found at Kitchen & Bath Solutions
Oh and here’s a pile of white solid surface options from Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Kitchen & Bath Solutions (the one on top is Glacier White by Corian, and there are other options by LG Hi-Macs and Allen & Roth under it).
We also admired a few awesome eco options like recycled glass but they sadly weren’t in the budget (at least we got cork floors and can reuse almost all of our cabinetry to keep things green).
The one we loved most? This Silestone guy (River Blanco):
But after we learned that it would be over 5K for those counters alone (!!!), we knew it wasn’t meant to be. But don’t cry for me Argentina. It all worked out in the end and we found something that’ll be a great choice for our kitchen/family. The winner? Glacier White Corian:
We’re in love and have all but forgotten the 5K option that we once called a favorite. That’s actually not a white Corian square pictured above, but that bigger white tile was the same color so it represents the new counter better than a tiny Chicklet-sized square sample. Oh and the stainless steel bottle represents our new stainless appliances and the paint swatch is the current wall color so you can see how those things layer in with other things like our backsplash tile and the mocha cork.
Why did it win? So many reasons:
- It’s thousands cheaper than most other options we priced out ($38 a square foot at Lowe’s – compared to many other options shown above that were in the $80-100 per square foot range). We also have a 10% off “project coupon” that arrived in the mail from Lowe’s and will get 5% off on top of that when we use our Lowe’s credit card (you know we love a deal)
- John’s sister has lived with Glacier White Corian in her kitchen for the past 5+ years and loves it and has had zero issues (seriously, she wants to marry it)
- We are keeping our existing deep stainless sink and are not going with an integrated Corian sink (we have heard they can be harder to care for, and John’s sister has a stainless sink with the Corian tops and has loved that combo).
- It’s easy care (Corian is nonporous, which means stains do not penetrate the surface). According to the company, it also resists the growth of mold, mildew, and bacteria (John’s sister has a teen, a tween, a toddler, and a big dog – and she has no scratches or stains to date)
- We already use trivets and wood cutting boards to set down hot things (we’re paranoid) so following those steps with Corian should be no sweat (John’s sister hasn’t had any issues with that in five years of use either)
- It’s lighter than granite, quartz, concrete, etc (so our cabinets and floor joists can handle it, no problem)
- When installed, there are no seams, if done correctly (which is definitely appealing since the seams in our current granite tops drive us bonkers)
- It reflects lots of light, so it’s great for dark windowless rooms (like our kitchen!)
I know it might sound really bland to do white cabinets with white counters, but many of the rooms that we love in our inspiration files have the white on white look. And given our recent backsplash choice it’ll all hopefully make sense (the gray-green penny tiles will stand out along with colorful items on our open shelves while the counters and cabinets are classic & clean).
We’re also toying with the idea of some sort of subtle color on the cabinets (maybe a soft taupe-gray like this kitchen that we crashed a while back). Not sure where we’ll end up, but we’ll definitely keep ya posted! What about you guys? Has anyone else decided to go with Corian? Or concrete? Or quartz? Or granite? Or butcher block? We’d love to hear which counter you picked for your kitchen! There are so many delicious options out there…
Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winner. Click here to see if it’s you.
My parents have had it for years and love it! Good choice!
Yay! So glad to hear that!
xo,
s
Ditto! My mom has had corian for a long time and loves it too! (she has the integrated sink though) – sounds like a great choice for you guys!
Me 3!! My parents have had white corian for years too =)
Love it!
xo,
s
Love the look Corian- plus the “milkier” (for lack of better term) finish to it will look good against the gleaming stainless and your cheery paint color.
We have Corian and so many people assume it’s granite! There are so many great options out these days that I don’t think I would do granite even if I could. I love the Eco by Cosentinto counters made from recycled materials, but they are about $80/sq ft. We were thinking of maybe doing that when we replace our cheapo builder grade master counter since it’s much smaller. Plus the recycled mirrors and glass in it are so pretty :)
Yay- so glad to hear that!
xo,
s
Another thing to consider regarding hot pots and corian countertops (not just sinks). My parents have Corian countertops – my mom put a hot (not right off the flame, but still hot) pot on a trivet, on her countertops and it still cracked the counter. It was a very small crack at first, but over time it’s grown to over a foot long. It’s great that Corian is fixable in these instances, but it’s not cheap to fix. She decided to go with granite this time around…
You might consider shopping around even more. We got our granite tops for $34/sq ft.
Sorry to be Debbie Downer :( Just a warning…
Thanks for the warning Nina! With John’s sister’s use of them for five years without any problems we’re completely married to our choice! And plan to use a big thick wood cutting board to set down hot things (just like she does). We’ll keep you posted if anything crazy happens though!
xo,
s
From what I’ve read and seen, most countertops aren’t supposed to have hot pots put directly on to them.
I do it very occasionally, because our lime green laminate bench tops are definitely not staying, but even then it’s only been for 30 seconds to make room elsewhere, and I’m willing to take the risk because we’ll be replacing them soon enough.
Can you tell us around what the total cost will be? It would be interesting to know the total compared to the other numbers you mentioned. I would love Corian some day since it’s so easy to take care of (though I think we’ll be stuck with our laminate for a while to come).
We haven’t had our kitchen measured or anything for it, but maybe around $1200-1500 total (for the L-shaped stove, sink area and the giant 3 x 5′ peninsula and the counter branching off of that by the fridge)? We love a budget breakdown so we’ll share exact figures as we go!
xo,
s
Be careful thinking you will get 5% on top of the 10%. Lowe’s has their registers set up to let you do one or the other… just FYI.
Hmm, maybe that’s a store by store thing? Ours honored that for the appliances we got and other items we’ve purchased on sale! Every time you use your Lowe’s card it’s an automatic 5% off- and it can be stacked on top of sales (like a 10% coupon) at our store.
xo,
s
That is what I have been told too. Didn’t think you were able to get both discounts. Hope it works for you though!
You can’t stack two coupons. For example a 5% coupon and a 10% off coupon. But you can stack the credit card savings at my store. That always automatically comes off at the end, after they scan any coupons and hit the “total” button! Might vary from store to store though…
xo,
s
i was coming to say the same thing….. they won’t stack a 10% coupon and the 5% lowe’s card… you do get the sale price off and then either the 10% or the 5%… but not both…. now if you have an “in” they can manually do it for you… but the cash registers won’t do it automatically!
Hmm, I have to say that I believe this varies by store. We don’t have an in and no one manually does anything. We watch them scan a coupon and the price goes down. Then they hit total and I pay with the Lowe’s card. After it is scanned the total automatically drops down 5% more. It’s in their system so they don’t hit any keys or do anything. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
The hubby and I are right smack-dab in the middle of our kitchen renovation, and though we haven’t bought it yet, we’ve pretty much decided on laminate countertops from Lowe’s. Budget friendly, and the finishes available can look so much nicer than your traditional laminate.
We did the Wilson Art laminate in the Optix (or something similarly-named…) as our temp fix in my kitchen and I LOVE those counters. Love them.
We just put Wilson Art laminate countertops in as well a few weeks ago. We LOVE them. They come in so many great colors. It looks like granite until you touch it and realize it’s not. We saved thousands by going with laminate and haven’t looked back.
Great choice, it’s going to be bright and beautiful. So fun following along this renovation!
White on White looks very clean, which I love.
Great choice!
Brilliant! I swear to you, ever since it started, this conversation about the countertops, I wanted to suggest corian, but you were so into concrete, I didn’t want to go against. Concrete is difficult to keep, and, after a while, one gets tired of it’s industrial feeling. A home is a home, not a factory. And corian is GREAT to keep up! Great, great, great! And I love the colour choice, it’s airy and gives a good mood in the morning when running the coffee maker, half asleep.
My parents chose Corian when they re-did their kitchen about 10 years ago and it still looks great. So exciting to see everything coming together!
So glad to hear that! Seriously. I’m grinning like a fool over here.
xo,
s
Clean, Crisp and Classic. I’ve been eyeing plain white for awhile!
Major Corian envy going on over here!!!!
Congrats on making your decision.
I have had white Corian for 11yrs. Only con is that newspaper print and any color juice leaves a light stain. I love Clorox 2 for quickly removing any stains.
Love your progress and your blog!
Wahoo! That’s so great to hear! Emily warned us about the colored juice thing (she has a toddler) but says her soft scrub gets it right out! So glad.
xo,
s
I also have Corian …they were here when we bought the house. Everyone comments on how great they look and I certain they are fairly old. I wanted to say that we LOVE the clorox 2 (spray with bleach) bc it is AMAZING how clean and crisp the counters become. We have the integrated sink and it is super easy to clean…no problems! I have also heard there is a way to buff the counters over time once there becomes little scratches and such…something to look into!
Love love love where this is going! The color palette is so fun and fresh! Quick question – I love the breeziness of white cabinets but have a white(ish) tile floor but tan granite counter tops. Do you think white cabinets would wash out the room? (Surprise Amber by Sherwin Williams paint on the walls) Thanks! :)
Hmm, that’s a toughie! Since the floors are white-ish but the counters are tan I think you’d still have enough contrast with the counters (some of our favorite inspiration rooms have two things in the same color, like cabinets and counters or floors and cabinets). I would just bring home swatches to see which whites look best! Good luck!
xo,
s
I was hoping to see the concrete (we have it in our kitchen) but I think the corian will be beautiful. Totally excited to be seeing the kitchen reno. For some reason I thought it wouldn’t be for a year or two.
My old house in Church Hill (we now rent it out) has white counters, white cabinets and a white tile floor. Not what I probably would’ve picked but it looked really nice and allowed for brighter color on the walls.
We have Corian and we LOVE it! the only bummer is that your can’t put hot things from the oven on it because it will melt, so better keep your range clear!
Yup, we actually don’t do that with our granite (call us scaredy cats- it just seemed like it would burn a huge hole into our light counters) so we’re used to using trivets!
xo,
s
Nice! Love the Corian, def makes sense regarding its durability and your burger and Clara! :) Cant wait to see the finished product. Have you thought of what hardware you are going to go with on the cabinets? :)
No idea about hardware yet- although lately I’ve been loving the shiny deeep deep deep silver tones. Bad description, I’ll have to share pics in a hardware post soon!
xo,
s
I think your choices look great! We ended up going with the IKEA butcherblock in our kitchen because we could do the whole thing for $300. We reused our cabinets and painted them black so it looks pretty cool.
That’s amaaazing! What a deal.
xo,
s
We have Corian counter tops and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. LOVE. We’ve had ours for almost a year and have zero issues- plus they wipe up clean with a counter wipe or sponge. We bought our house with white laminate counter tops that were de-laminating and had lost their seal (they’d stain if you even thought about setting a cup of coffee on them). I was soooo happy to see them go. We didn’t want white again, but did want a lighter counter top (we have medium wood cabinets and not a ton of natural light in the kitchen) so we went with “Burled beach” which is SO much prettier than the little tiny square that you get from the store. My suggestion to anyone thinking of purchasing counter tops (since it’s a pricey purchase)- pick your top 3 color choices and then buy a larger square of each. For example- you can go to Corian’s website and buy any counter top color in a 10″x10″ square. This gives you a MUCH better idea of what the color looks like. What we thought was our top contender turned out to be super ugly in a large square- and “Burled Beach” (which was a last minute throw in) won. I bet you’ll love yours as much as we love ours- can’t wait to see your kitchen all bright and white!
Wahooo! Sooooo happy to hear tha you love love love them! Yay.
xo
s
As I was reading I picked out the one I loved the most, and it was your first 5K option. It’s soo pretty. Just the price [for your kitchen] sucks (maybe for a smaller kitchen, or for someone with an unlimited budget! haha)
And when you went to the white, I thought it may be too blah with the white trim and cupboards. THEN I looked at your pictures. OHH LALA ! Me likey. Can’t wait to see how it all turns out :)
Being budget conscience and wanting to DIY it. We went we Soapstone. We saw Norm on this old house cut with regular work working tools. This turned out to be a bit of a lie. We were able to cut straight pieces ourselves, but when it came to routing the sink hole, our nice expensive router shaft overheated and blew up! We ended up hiring someone to finish it for us. We LOVE our soapstone.
Also non -porous,softer than granite so no breaking dishes and you place hot pots and things right out of the oven on them! Plus they look better as they patina, so they look better everyday.
Sounds so pretty! I’m jealous! Was it expensive?
xo,
s
We’re considering soapstone for our kitchen as well. I’d also be interested in knowing the cost.
I just googled it and it said 80-100 installed (which is more than our budget allows, but it looks gorgeous!).
xo,
s
When we remodeled our kitchen we considered DIY soapstone from M. Teixiera: http://www.soapstones.com/diy_soapstone.html
I’ve read great reviews on online forums, it’s supposed to be relatively easy for experienced DIYers to cut and install, plus it worked out to around $26/sqft for our kitchen! The only drawback is the max width is 30″, so it wouldn’t work for your 3×5′ peninsula — but you could always DIY the perimeter and have the pros install just the peninsula!
Not to talk you out of Corian — the white is beautiful and I’m sure it will look great! We ended up going with white Silestone and LOVE it.
Thanks for the tip Sarah! We’re sold on the Corian but soapstone sounds gorgeous too!
xo,
s
I have a question about how you chose the Corian over the LG Hi-Macs? When I bought my current home, I was able to select a few ‘upgrades’, and one of the options was Corian countertops, which I did choose. However, what I actually got was LG Hi-Macs, and I was a little miffed at the time (mostly due to some other issues that were going on with the house purchase) that they would give me something different than was advertised and that I was paying more for. Anyway, what I got was the Hi-Macs, and I have lived there almost 3.5 years now with no complaints. I was just curious about how you decided between those two, since they are both solid surface.
They were both exactly the same color and exactly the same price (to the dollar) so we just thought we’d go with Corian since we know someone personally who has it in the same color/finish and loves it (John’s sister). But if she had Hi-Macs we probably would have gone with that!
xo,
s
Glad to know they were the same price! Thanks!
When we were debating counters, we also loved the Silestone options, but were out of our price range. We ended up going with a special they had on granite.
Don’t want to burst your bubble, but our Lowe’s didn’t allow us to use the ‘project coupon’ because they claimed it wasn’t good on installed purchases. Good luck, I hope your store gives you a deal!
Aw man, didn’t check on that yet. Thanks for the tip! We’ll have to see if our store will honor ours! It says it has a price cap of 5K but that’s all it seems to say (nothing about installation I don’t think). I’ll keep ya posted!
xo,
s
We’re doing white on white in our kitchen, too, but we’re going with Ikea countertops because we pretty much have no budget! I love the fresh look and no matter the other options, I always come back to it.
We have a dark grey corian in our kitchen and I love it. It does look shiny and cleans up very easily. However watch out for knife scratches and hot items. Hot items leaves marks like crazy. Be sure to use a trivet.
Thanks so much for the tip Jane! We used trivets the entire time we had granite in our first house (and here) just because we’re crazy paranoid. Haha. So we should have no issue keeping hot stuff off the corian!
xo,
s
Haha..I am kinda paranoid too about those things. Our previous owners actually left a big cutting board made of the same corian countertop material that I always leave next to my gas stove , so I can place anything hot on it :)
Smaaart! We have a big wooden cutting board that we currently use to set hot stuff down on!
xo,
s
Sherry ,
I know this is way off topic but , do you think we can paint rooms when the weather gets cold ?Like its not about less than 60F. Or should we wait until spring to do any painting projects ?
Thanks so much for your patience :)
Oh yes, you can paint inside at any time of year. Painting outside in super cold or hot weather isn’t usually recommended.
xo,
s
I was very pleased with myself when my favorite was your favorite!!! I was a little “eh” about the Corian, but quickly changed my mind when you put the inspiration pictures up. It’s love. I’m all for saving money too so it’s double the love.
One question though… have you ever researched affordable/eco friendly new cabinets even though you usually paint yours? I was hoping to take advance of your knowledge. I need a new kitchen like crazy!!!
We actually didn’t do any eco cabinet research since we’re use what we have folks and were psyched to reuse our current ones. I would imagine there are some awesome formaldehyde free cabinets out there with water based stain and sealer. Just be sure to recycle or craiglist your current cabinets in the name of being green – just so nothing ends up in the landfill to make room for the new stuff!
xo,
s
I love white counters with white kitchens and don’t think they’re boring at all! Also, I had no idea Corian was cheaper than Silestone. We want to (eventually, in a few years) replace our laminate counters with something like Silestone, but wouldn’t mind Corian at all. Good to know there’s such a price difference!
Love it! I can’t wait to see it completed. I think the white on white will look beautiful, it will make the amazing flooring and backsplash the stars!
I was dreaming of recycled glass, but I guess you are real people who actually have to pay for things. Oh well. Haha. I am enjoying your progress and I always love how your rooms turn out! I know your kitchen is going to be gorgeous.
If you’re going with a solid white counter, I’d probably go with some sort of color for the cabinets. Our cabinets are Pewter Tankard by SW (a warm grey) and we’re hoping to go with wood counters: http://ourhumbleabowed.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/countertop-specifications/ We just have to see the slabs and go from there. I think your kitchen will look great and I can’t wait to see what you do. :)
My m-i-l has had corian for the past 20 years (a very light pink). It looks very pretty but it’s not at all maintenance-free. It stains and it needs to be buffed or polished, otherwise it looks dull. I just wanted to tell you that after cooking in her kitchen I’ve vowed never to get corian. Now granted, she got this countertop a long time ago, maybe corian has come a long way since then? Hope so. Otherwise, love where you’re going with your color choices!
Yes, I think it has changed a lot in the last 20 years! Emily never has to get her white counters buffed or polished (after five years of heavy duty use).
xo,
s
Love it! Great choice! I can’t wait to see the finished product.
My parents had corian and i’m not sure why but the diswasher didn’t vent well. steam would come through the drawers when the load dried and the corian split right above the dishwasher in the middle. it was a giant crack and turned black with all the junk that got stuck in it. just a venting heads up :)
Woah- thanks for the tip! We’ll be sure that our new dishwasher vents properly!
xo,
s
My parents put Corian in their kitchen and bathroom (knobs and all!) about 10 years ago. It’s still as flawless as the day it was installed. They even have the built in sink in Corian!
I think it’s a beautiful and durable choice! =)
Woot! So happy to hear that Andrea!
xo,
s
That’s one of the huge benefits to Corian: you can build in a seamless sink!
Are you guys going that route?
We considered it but have heard a bunch of issues/complains about the sinks being a lot harder to care for than the counters, so we’ll be keeping our nice deep stainless one that we have (undermount of course).
xo,
s
Had Glacier White by Corian in a previous house and LOVED it, Things like red liquids would leave a mark, but with Soft Scrub, it came right out! Also had the Corian sink, that was the best, no seams anywhere! You will love it!
So glad to hear that! Emily swears by Soft Scrub too!
xo,
s
When we redo our kitchen, the plan at the moment is to use 12×12 tiles that look so much like a dark grey-black granite. We love them!
I’m not a huge fan of my corian (would have LOVED silestone), but I find regular bleach does take care of any integrated sink stains.
I have faith that whatever choices you make it WILL look lovely. I’m putting my vote in for a color on the cabinets! Good luck!
I have Corian in my kitchen right now! I bought my grandparents home after they passed away and it came with 20 year old almond Corian. I hate the color, but the counters are amazing! I did manage to put a vertical crack in one by setting a skillet fresh out of 475 degree oven on them. Other than that- no damage after twenty years.
Wow- 20 year old counters in that good shape is awesome! So sorry about the hot skillet thing! We definitely plan to use trivets and a big chunky wood cutting board (that’s our current method since we’re too paranoid to put hot things on granite either)!
xo,
s
I am deciding this right now, we are building a house and in the kitchen design phase. I am doing white cabinets and a black island. I really like the carrara marble look but hear it is high maintenance. I used to have quartz counters (Caesarstone in Raven) in our old house and I L-O-V-E-D them. But, they would cost like $9000 (!!!) in this house. Which just isn’t gonna happen. I am getting depressed thinking about black granite. I just don’t want to do it. I had just completely forgotten about corian. I am going to call my kitchen guy right now and have him price it out. Thanks!!!
I currently have a light color corian counter with a white integrated corian sink and I. Hate. It. It stains!! (They are only 3 years old.) The only thing that can get it out is weekly scrubbing with soft scrub with bleach. Can’t wait to replace them.
Really? John’s sister Emily loves her counters so much! Maybe since yours are light but not white it’s harder (Emily uses Soft Scrub and hers is still sparkly white after 5 years!). Oh but are you talking about the sink? She has a stainless sink (we would keep ours too) – have heard corian sinks are harder to care for!
xo,
s
That is true for sinks, my counters are a medium toned Corian and my sink is integrated but white. Everytime my husband makes sauce it stains the sink and it needs a scrubbing. But I assume that’s because it’s a sink and it sees more action :)
We have heard bad things about the integrated sinks (Emily went with a stainless sink, and we would keep our existing stainless one) just because there’s that no-hot stuff rule for the corian sink so we don’t know how we’d drain our boiling hot pasta water! Haha.
xo,
s
We were told that if the sink got too stainy (which it hasn’t yet) it could be sanded down. I just checked the Corian website to make sure and sure enough, you can use special abrasive pads since the color is throughout the material.
http://www2.dupont.com/Surfaces/en_US/products/corian/corian_care.html
And I always run cold water while dumping boiling water… my dad is a plumber and he always said it’s not good for the pipes to get such hot water with any sink. So the heat thing hasn’t been a problem for us!
So smart!!!
xo,
s
I was going to say the same thing. I think it looks so dingy (we bought our house with it, didn’t select it) because it is very hard to keep clean.
Our sink is the same material too, and that’s where most of the grunge occurs I think, more than the counter tops… I should probably wash dishes more, but I would opt for a stainless sink if you can.
Maybe John’s sister had some sort of sealant done? I would check, and am jealous of her success at keeping them white! :)
We chatted with her for about an hour (while poring over them looking for a scratch or a stain) and she didn’t say anything about a sealant. I’ll call her just to be sure though! With three kids (one of them’s a 13 year old boy!) and a big dog and five years of use we definitely love how well hers have held up! She also heard the same thing about the sinks (getting grungy and being harder to care for) so that’s why she stuck with stainless.
xo,
s
I HATE my white integrated sink also. I do use soft scrub, but mine are no longer the sparkly white. They’ve turned an ugly dull yellow. (8+ years old)
I hate to add to this bad news party, but I’ve recently had the same experience. We installed a white Corian countertop with integrated sink (from the HD) in the bathroom a couple months ago, and it got stained when I painted the bathroom. A few drops of latex paint here and there that left spots, even though they were cleaned up when wet, and rinsing brushes in the sink turned out to be a very, very bad idea. It left a ring of the light blue paint color where the water level had been that I just cannot get off. (And like previous commenters said, the sink gets very grungy from daily use and the whole thing is much harder to clean than the previous porcelain sink and laminate countertops that we had.)
Bottom line: Corian and paint-happy people probably don’t mix.
Thanks for the tip Evan! It sounds like most folks are saying that Corian sinks are a lot harder to care for than counters in this thread (glad we’re skipping the sink and going with stainless), but we’ll make a mental note to toss drop cloths down on the counters when we paint (we protect our wood-topped desk the same way when we paint/stencil in the office – which we’ve done three times since installing the counter!).
xo,
s
Evan — have you tried baking soda on the stains? I have granite counters but a Blanco solid-surface sink
(which I LOVE), and I just use a bit of baking soda to buff out any stains that appear. Works like a charm! (Baking soda is pretty much my favorite cleaning product ever, and it costs next to nothing.) Hope it works!
We just re-did our tiny galley kitchen with white cabinets and white corian countertops with an integrated sink. We looooove it, and we’re terrible at not wiping up red wine on the counter. If there’s ever a little spot, a rub of soft-scrub and you’re good to go. I don’t worry about it a bit. It was a great price too (we went with the default white… the same color as the integrated sinks) and purchased during a promo at Home Depot that included a free sink, free edge upgrade, etc.
So glad to hear that Jade! Thanks so much for all the positive Corian feedback everyone!
xo,
s
Also, I am going to do a carrara marble mini-subway tile backsplash, so I will get my carrara in somehow!!
Great choice guys it’s gonna be beautiful. We’re in the thick of our own kitchen reno right now (ie: the room’s an empty shell!) and we can’t wait to bring all the pretty stuff in. We went with granite bc it was on sale for $39/sq ft with the purchase of our cabinets. A no brainer really and we’re super excited to have them installed!
http://www.mysocalledhome.com/2011/09/you-schrock-my-world.html
What a deal!
xo,
s
Love the White Corian! Can’t wait to see the finished product. Your kitchen is going to be so lovely and bright, which will be quite an accomplishment considering the lack of natural light. Great choice!
For the abandoned concrete counters…
http://sadtrombone.com/
Haha, thanks for the appropriate sound effect Alexis!
xo,
s
I have dark grey Corian countertops and I am mostly in love with them. They look fantastic and are very easy to clean. My only word of warning is to be very careful about moving things around on them. They scratch very easily. I put a huge scratch in them the very first day we had them (cue the “and this is why we can’t have nice things” refrain!). Ever since then, I simply don’t slide or scoot objects around on them. Anything that needs to be moved just gets picked up — an easy enough adjustment to make.
Thanks for the warning Heather! Emily didn’t mention anything about that (I wonder if white is harder to notice scratches or if she just has angelic kids who don’t scoot things)? Haha. Either way, good to know!
xo,
s
We have Corian counters in a darkish grey/brown with an intergrated white sink. Even though we have had them about 3 years they look as good as new. The sink looks bright white even though I am no Martha Stewart. I usually use Method cleaner on mine and it seems to be working fine.
We couldn’t be happier…and the one you chose looks gorgeous btw.
So glad to hear that Victoria!
xo,
s
LOVE corian! We had it in our old house. It was a TERRIBLE color, but it was a great counter top! We just went with granite at this house, bc it was the same $$ as corian that we liked…I’m loving the white on white on whites!!
Here’s to keepin up the momentum (yours and ours!)
Can’t wait to see it in place. I love white everything, so I whole-heartedly approve! I’m due for a kitchen reno in a few years (our kitchen is original to our 1960s house), so I am taking copious notes!
It’ll be pretty and clean :)
Let me know if you need any help!
We just got granite counters for our small kitchen. And when we took a cabinet door and our backplash into the store for comparison (at Lowes) the one that was best was ON SALE! Gotta love a bargain at $46 a sq ft. We also signed right up for a Lowes card to get the 5% off. You can use the 10% project coupons with the 5% off on your card?
Yes! In ours you can always get the 5% off on your card on top of anything else. It’s just automatically taken off when they run the card. We got a bunch of appliance discounts and still got the 5% off on top of that when they ran the card!
xo,
s
FYI — the one time I had trouble getting the 5% off with my card was when the register didn’t have the correct sale price on something, so the cashier had to override it, which apparently invalidated the 5% off function. I had to ask for the discount, convince the cashier that I really was entitled to it even if the register wouldn’t calculate it, and then math ensued….
So strange! Ours always goes through when they scan the card- regardless of if things are discounted. At our store all of the signage is “an additional 5% when you use your card” so it doesn’t say anything about “not applicable on sale or clearance items” or anything!
xo,
s