cheapo solid surface countertops

My house as a tile countertop.

It sucks.

It's coming out when the reno happens and a decent quality laminate goes in.

All of the alternatives would be great if you just want nice countertop, but if you are concerned with resale in the future, go with granite. The trick with granite is don't go to a big-box store or have some "decorator" come to your house. Find the actual granite yard, which is probably in a dusty part of town behind some warehouses, pick the actual slab you want and have them recommend someone to install it.

A second for finding a ReStore by you. It is run by Habitat for Humanity and you should be able to find what you want for a good price while helping a good cause at the same time.

http://www.habitatgreenville.org/restore/

You can always go with epoxy poured over something cool. My BIL did his bar with epoxy over bottle caps and it was pretty darn cool.

How does the wife feel about carbon fiber?

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: A second for finding a ReStore by you. It is run by Habitat for Humanity and you should be able to find what you want for a good price while helping a good cause at the same time. http://www.habitatgreenville.org/restore/

Yeah I couldnt remember what charity ran the restores, but they usually have a decent selection for cheap. and all proceeds go to help a good cause too FTW

I'd look at IKEA. They have good stuff.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/kitchen/10472/

I can't remember who does it anymore, but something I looked into years ago, was a recycled countertop made from smashed up glass sank into epoxy. SUPER cool, lightweight, non-porous (epoxy being effectively plastic and all) and was pretty cheap. I imagine if you could somehow duplicate the effect on your own, it would be even cheaper, though I've not looked into pricing gallons of epoxy recently, and I sure as hell don't want to build my own table to get the air bubbles out (though they might look rad). Someone else mentioned stainless- what about taking use fridge doors and bending them? Should work a treat and be pretty easy, bonus that they should theoretically be food safe! Option# 72 because I like bad ideas, get some 3/4 lexan and use that! Then your counters would be see-thru and you could light up your kitchen from UNDER the sink!

Our laundry room was completely reworked with stuff from ReStore. I basically bought someone's kitchen. Worked out great for us, worked out great for them. All of our excess parts from our remodels (such as our old kitchen) go back there so someone else can use it.

WRT going straight to the granite (or quartz, I'd recommend the latter) yard instead of a big box store: we got our quartz from Lowes because if the supplier/installer goes out of business, I've still got someone to honor the warranty.

Datsun1500 wrote: IKEA sells butcher block countertops for cheap. If you seal them properly, you should be good, or just get a cutting board and prep the meat on it.

I put those counters in my old house when I was renovating it to re-sell. They're really pretty and are solid oak slats glued together well. The price was certainly right, and the kitchen looked fantastic. But Tuna's got a wife and kids and butcherblock is not an indestructible material. You can't leave water standing on it, you can't cut on it or you leave marks (look at an old cutting board and picture your counters looking like that), you can't even put wet dishes on the counter for a while because you'll raise the grain and cause staining.

I love them - in someone else's kitchen. I wouldn't install them in mine unless I was selling it right away or didn't care about visible wear.

ryanty22 wrote:

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: A second for finding a ReStore by you. It is run by Habitat for Humanity and you should be able to find what you want for a good price while helping a good cause at the same time. http://www.habitatgreenville.org/restore/

Yeah I couldnt remember what charity ran the restores, but they usually have a decent selection for cheap. and all proceeds go to help a good cause too FTW

Thanks, that helped me find the local store. We have some remodeling coming up and this is going to be helpful.

I made up some plans to use some of that Ikea Butcher Block countertop as a desktop, but haven't built the desk yet.

The local Restore is a great place to look for bargins - I will second (third? Fourth?) the idea. At my local store, the inventory changes fairly quickly (at least the good stuff) and so it may take several trips until you find the material in the quantity that you are looking for.

T.J. wrote: The local Restore is a great place to look for bargins - I will second (third? Fourth?) the idea. At my local store, the inventory changes fairly quickly (at least the good stuff) and so it may take several trips until you find the material in the quantity that you are looking for.

I totally don't get this. I am not looking for more laminate. What am I going to find at a restore place which I can actually put in my own kitchen? Again, just countertops, no cabinets or the like.

We're discussing countertops in general. For your question and rules, you have your answer. Concrete.

You can find all sorts of things at a ReStore. The quality of what you find may be related to where you live - if there are nice houses being renovated, you'll find nice stuff. If it's mostly meth labs in trailers, well, don't expect much.

Keith Tanner wrote: We're discussing countertops in general. For your question and rules, you have your answer. Concrete.

I think I am being kicked out of my own thread!

Nope. You asked a question and sparked a discussion. Not all of that discussion will be 100% applicable to your needs, but it's all useful to someone.

tuna55 wrote:

T.J. wrote: The local Restore is a great place to look for bargins - I will second (third? Fourth?) the idea. At my local store, the inventory changes fairly quickly (at least the good stuff) and so it may take several trips until you find the material in the quantity that you are looking for.

I totally don't get this. I am not looking for more laminate. What am I going to find at a restore place which I can actually put in my own kitchen? Again, just countertops, no cabinets or the like.

Here at the local restore they actually get really nice countertops, Ive seen butcherblock, granite, stainless, even seen some of the epoxy countertops that have already been done just need to be set over new cabinets. yeah they have laminate and the other cheap stuff too. Basically if someone takes it out of a house it can be donated to themto be resold and the donater gets a writeoff for charity. So if you can find one especially in a wealthier area where remodels arent uncommon you could score nice stuff for cheap

tuna55 wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: We're discussing countertops in general. For your question and rules, you have your answer. Concrete.

I think I am being kicked out of my own thread!

I said good day sir!

a friend of mine redid theirs with cement a while back... used some awesome paint to finish it up and it looks awesome and from what he told me was cheap (DIY obviously)

You can also find new stuff at ReStore from time to time. Shops make mistakes and instead of eating all of the cost they will donate it to get the the tax benefits.

I will have to look into the cement idea, our will need redoing in the not too distant future.

Pedantic moment: cement is the partion of the mixture (along with sand and water) which hardens. Concrete is the actual product people use. The two are not interchangable.

KyAllroad wrote: Pedantic moment: cement is the partion of the mixture (along with sand and water) which hardens. Concrete is the actual product people use. The two are not interchangable.

Shut it with your logics and common sense. This is the interwebz there is no logic and common sense here

My wife and I did ours with the rustoleum chips and epoxy product, then layered on a E36 M3load more self-leveling epoxy. Really the self-leveling epoxy was kinda key, it scratches easily, but it's also somewhat self-healing and can be buffed.

tuna55 wrote: I am not an expert, but everything I have heard or read of reasonable value says no wood near raw meat.

Jeez... I hope someone told the butcher.

I want more cement countertop info. I want to try it. Looks awesome, cheap, and unfortunately really time consuming.

I'm curious how to do a hole for a sink, faucet, etc. Are those drilled/cut afterward?

How think are the tops that you think are fragile? I'd think 2" would be super solid.

They are more sensitive to heat than you might imagine, especially the finishes, and subject to shrinkage cracking.

Here's what my buddy wrote after doing his own:

Duke's buddy said: I did a pour in place, which I think is much easier. I used standard baggged concrete that I mixed right next to my counters. I had the advantage of renovating the entire space so there were no finished floors at the time. I used an electric mixer that I rented from Home Depot: well worth it. My counter is 2" thick, with a 3" bullnose edge. I used two layers of particle board as the support base on the cabinet tops to strength. My cabinets were all new (cheepies from Lowes) so I was able to put a vertical piece of partical board against the wall prior to installing the cabinets, to support the back edge of the support base boards. Probably over kill, but definitely didn't hurt. I formed the bullnose with 3" PVC pipe that I split in half on a table saw, then screwed the bottom edge into the bottom of the top base edge. At the corners I simply mitered the pipe and secured it together with duct tape. I reinforced the counter by screwing a grid of drywall screws, 6" OC, into the particle board base that stuck up about 3/4" and I wired a metal mesh (fencing material) to the tops of the screws. Finishing: As soon as you have all the concrete in place, you'll flatten it out as much as possible with a wood float, and you'll want to vibrate the outside edge to eliminate air pockets along the edge. To vibrate it use a vibrating sander with out a sanding pad (don't skimp on this step). The concrete will set up in 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the humidity level. This is when you do your final finishing with a metal/mag float. This is when you can get it glassy flat if you keep working it (circular motion) with the float. The biggest issue I had and lessons were relative to concrete dyes: - Lesson 1: Concrete dyes dry much lighter then when wet. I wanted my counter colored, so I used a red dye in the mix, which was this great dark red color when it was wet. As it cured and dried out the color lightened over the weekend and eventually became pink! Since I was not planning on celebrating the "Race for the Cure" at that time, I had to fix my pink problem. - Lesson 2: Concrete dyes are not stains: I decided to try using the dye as a stain (it was liquid) on the concrete. I tested it and it dried dark red. Although it dried dark, unfortunately it did not fully absorb into the concrete, so it was very weak and scratched easily. I ended up coating the surface with 6 coats of Bar top resin (2 part mix at $80/2 gal kit- I used 3 kits total) which gave it a nice hard a easy to clean surface. I covered the gouges with leaves and graphics in between the resin coats. That's my counter story, hope this helps.