Granite countertops....

I hate my white-bread kitchen countertops and would love to get some granite ones. Not the most costly, by any stretch of the imagination, but a durable black granite. Can anyone please give me a ballpark cost of how much installing them would have in a small kitchen with limited countertop space?

They'd look terrific with the black appliances. :)

Thanks all!

I have a fairly large kitchen in terms of floor space, but absolutely no storage or counter top space.

For my kitchen, your typical "L", it was about $3000. This also included adding a peninsula to the left of the entry way.

I'm in the midst of planning our kitchen redo right now. Projects like this take me such a long time to plan because I keep changing my mind. Our landscape guy put together the outdoor fireplace yesterday and he kept asking me "are you sure this is where you want it? I can't move it you know."

Guess my reputation precedes me.

:hi:

I have maybe 8 feet of counterspace. I'd love to be able to have a peninsula, but there is no room in there unless I remove the table.

:hi:

I would have removed the wall between the family room/kitchen and opened it all up and put in a half wall with a counter. That would make it seem so much more spacious that it actually is.

I'm hoping when my dining room furniture arrives, I can put enough dishes away to actually make room for the food in my cabinets!

I went on a house tour yesterday and this house had a kitchen to die for. Absolutely spectacular with an amazing amount of cabinets and countertop space.

it adds a nice living space to the kitchen so at those times when people congregate in the kitchen, there is comfortable seating nearby. :)

It looks the same, but is WAY more durable. Granite counter tops are a pain in the ass, as well as expensive.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I am just in the thinking stages. But I really dislike this old white laminate with gold flecks crap.

I think

... or similar. I second the idea that real granite does not make a good countertop for the kitchen, too porous.

Marble doesn't. If you can afford to upgrade to Marble you may want to consider it.

Both Granite and Marble are gorgeous though. :)

and more porous than most granites. It's more prone to staining than granite.

(all kinds of "it depends...") but husband is a stone mason and that is what he said after I forced him to ball park it.

and taking measurements. Ballpark is what I wanted. It's a very small condominium kitchen (happily, the other rooms are enormous) but it works for me. Thanks.

and it's a little less expensive is to do granite tiles. That way, they can tile over your existing counter without having to remove it. Granite is very heavy so there are support issues that also may be involved that are eliminated with the granite tile solution. Just a suggestion.

What's there is probably Formica, which is the laminate bonded to particleboard.

If you're going to do tile of any sort, don't fuck around: get rid of the fucking Formica crap, redeck the countertops with 23/32" BCX plywood, lay 1/4" Hardibacker over the plywood, then lay the granite tile (which is available at any flooring dealer or home improvement store) over the Hardibacker.

You get 16 linear feet of countertop out of a 4x8 sheet of plywood because the flat part of a countertop is 24 inches wide. You'll need a 6"-wide strip of plywood for the backsplash.

so you do that, but it would still be cheaper than full granite slab replacement. I know people have tiled over formica countertops. They scored the formica big time to get better adhesion, soit can be done. However, if you don't want to risk it, replace the underlayment and tile over it.

Longevity of the substrate--the particle board sitting under the granite--is the problem here.

You're absolutely right that granite tile is less expensive than a granite slab. Unfortunately, it also LOOKS like you tried to save money--the grout lines take away from the essential beauty of the stone.

Now that I've said that, let me tell you what I think makes the best-looking, best-performing "do it yourself" countertop: Porcelain tile. I'm getting ready to re-do my kitchen, and porcelain tile is what I'll use for a number of reasons:

* Porcelain tile never has to be sealed because it is inherently non-porous. The grout needs to be sealed, but if you use the new stain-resistant grout with Scotchgard in it, even that's not so much of a problem.
* Porcelain tile comes in many more colors than stone.
* There are porcelain counter edges and porcelain backsplashes. Just set them in place. (This is the real selling point for me; I can make backsplash stone and front-edge stone with a wetsaw, but I don't feel like mitering 500 pounds of rock just to edge the counters.)

I'm going to make new cabinets, then put 23/32" BC plywood on top of them, Hardibacker on top of that and finally lay porcelain tile. It'll be great.

I've seen the granite tiles and they looked beautiful. As far as the porcelain goes, there are still problems, even with the stain resistant grouts, but I think when it comes to kitchen renovations, it all comes down to a matter of personal preference.

Good luck with your project. Sounds like fun.

All the hip kids are.

:hippie:

I mean those with concrete countertops....

When we redid our kitchen 4 years ago, we went with a high grade formica.

We figured that:

A. We'd either move before it mattered that the formica wore out, or...

B. We'd just get new formica countertops if we stayed. We like to change things up now and then.

But if we got granite, it would be a permanent thing. And we're not into permanent things so much.

You can lay it right over what you've got now. Just another thought...

I *personally* could not lay it over what I have now (if I expected it to be done well), but is certainly something I should look into. Thanks.

I made the same suggestion. Great minds and all that......

Thanks for the suggestion.

edited to say: and that is if your kitchen really is as small as you claim it is.

Why do you say $7,000??? Judging by the speed with which granite countertops have been entering this building, I'd be extremely surprised.

You can most likely tack an extra $45 per lineal foot onto the base cost if you aren't on the 1st or second floor. Granite is heavy and even though it is wonderfully durable once installed it is notoriously difficult to mill, move and install and once a single section is damaged it is nearly inpossible to replace without replacing the entire job since granite comes in batches from a quarry and each individual vein is unique and almost NEVER matches up nicely to granite from another vein...

Guess you don't think much of granite....

(the porousness affects sanitation) I'm just answering your cost question.

n/t

We built our house almost 5 years ago, and the granite for the kitchen and all three bathrooms cost us $8000.00........

Now...I know that our granite guy wasn't greedy, and also it was five years ago......but still....

My kitchen is huge. We didn't have all the fancy edges the way so many folks do.

I'm hoping your estimate is off......but I don't actually know!

Just my two cents......:hi:

Mine would fit into a corner of yours...

:hi: Congrats on your new status!

There's a lot more to it than meets the eye!

My new status, not my kitchen, I mean!

Corian is a solid surface material composed of acrylic polymer and alumina trihydrate made by DuPont. It is said to be a thermosetting plastic, but can be thermoformed by heating it to 300°F (149°C), allowing unique shapes to be created. Its primary use is for countertops. Corian is available in thicknesses of one-quarter, one-half and three-quarters of an inch, with half-inch being the most common thickness for most applications. All thicknesses feature the consistency of color and patterning throughout common to all brands of solid surfacing material. This allows scratches, stains and light scorches to be removed with sandpaper. Joints can be made invisible by joining them with a special seam adhesive and sanding the connection smooth. The disadvantages of Corian are that it scratches easily, can be damaged by chemicals and is not heat resistant, so it can be melted by hot pots and pans. Corian is far more expensive than laminate and butcher block countertops and significantly more expensive than tile, but is less expensive than high quality granite.

the only drawback is if someone inadvertantly scratches it or uses it as a direct cutting surface you could easily end up serving family and friends microscopic shards of melted acrylic along with their turkey dinner...

The same goes for the Formica, nevemar, pionite (etc...) High pressure density laminates (hpdl) found in the vast majority of homes but I guess that's the world we have chosen to live in.

group,(I think, or it could have been a different board) said that the integrated sink, which is so appealing is actually thinner than the counters and therefore doesn't do well when you pour boiling water into it, say for instance, with pasta.

Do you know if that is true? I would MUCH prefer the Corian because I love the integrated sink.

My experience is plumbing. In the trades definitions, countertops are provided by the cabinet contractor, that includes integral sinks.

to do your job, many times stone yards have a place that has odd pieces left from bigger jobs, i'd check that out.

I really need someone to do the work for me.

times they're happy to get rid of the odds and ends. In my last house i got 2 "leftover" pieces of Abosolute black granits for 2 bathrooms, they installed them for me and the total cost was $950, that was probably one of the best upgrades i did in terms of selling.

I know there are stoneyards in the Chicago area. Years ago I visited one (not close to here exactly) for something work-related and the owner gave me a piece of leftover granite from the Vietnam wall. It sits here on my desk and is a prized possession. :)

and had theirs done for around $30,000. Granted, I'm not quite sure what the material was, but it appears to be granite. Plus it took a lot of special cutting to get the curves and inlays cut.

It's definately not cheap.

You could be thinking of a more mafic rock such as basalt or gabbro.

And I opted for granite over Corian or concrete based purely on the looks. A really beautiful grey stone with a bit of pink flecks in it. It really compliments the yellow birch cabinetry nicely. I needed 28 linear feet (the kitchen is quite large) plus the back splash and it cost me $22,000 (Canadian dollars) but I don't regret it. It certainly is better than the plastic laminate that was there before. Also, if properly sealed and maintained, it should last a very very long time.

Q

... and I actually CHOSE Formica!

I could have popped for Silestone or granite, but I live in a simple Cape-style home, and wanted my kitchen to be in tune with the rest of the house.

Moreover, even though I could have afforded the above, I have other things to do with my hard-earned cash -- and so, my $700 custom-made Formica was the better choice over spending $5,000-$8,000.

and the husband is a mason to boot, but in the kitchen and you can't beat the "give" and ease of cleaning when it comes to formica! I have a lot of glass and stoneware dishes and with tile you have to be extra careful every time you set something down.

On the other hand, my mother's tiled kitchenis going on 20 years old and still looks pretty good even if there are two small chips.

I have, I kid you not, kitchen counters made of 3x3 ceramic tiles. EEEEEEEEK!

The only advantage I can see of having ceramic tiles for a counter top is they are not prone to heat damage. Needless to say, I sit at the kitchen table with a cutting board when I chop veggies.

The grout is a bitch to keep clean in the kitchen as well.