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[Sweetbay magnolia]

I would think, depending on your situation, find a look (style) that appeals to you and then price "lines" within those parameters. Of course you want the best installer you can find - no product is worth a dime if it is not done properly.

No reason to follow a crowd, unless you believe rationally that it will bring a greater return on investment. Never a guarantee. Enjoy the new counters!

[perryp]

saving,going to be upgrading a kitchen soon...thx

[151949]

On 1/23/2015 brii said: A friend of mine has soapstone. I've never seen it in person before. Hers Is black. She put it in the bathrooms too. She oils it every few months

This is very popular where we lived in SW pa. Several people I know have it. It is beautiful. It reminds me - colorwise - of the Pa bluestone people use for walks and patios outside.

[151949]

On 1/23/2015 shoekitty said:

We live near Silicon Valley in California. Some recycled countertops are among the the best you can get now. I just gutted the Master bedroom and bath and had a contractor rebuild. I wanted recycled top, but it would have cost 1500 for top only. The only thing we left when we gutted these rooms was a marble shower we had installed 20 years ago. We didn't use it for 18 years, so it was like new. The grout was still like new, they thought we had just installed it.

The problem was getting the vanity top to co ordinate with the marble shower and the rest of the room and not look piece mill. I chose Absolute Black granite. The vanity is solid cherry. I had to buy a half slab, which might have done 3 vanity tops. I could NOT find a small piece. I live in California. The half slab of 1.5 inch thick Premium Absolute black was 800 bucks. It was 900 to fabricate, ( cut sink hole and one faucet hole) do bull nose edging, and make back splash and install. So that 45 inch counter top cost me 1700. I might have been better off with the recycled top! Geesh! Was I in sticker shock.

My daughter had fancy stone top put in her kitchen. It was 6 years ago. She has a large, large kitchen, and about 4 counters. Her counter ran 4,000 without installation I think.

When we were looking for 2 half wall caps we went to a stoneyard and chose from the left over pieces they had sitting around. It does limit your choices somewhat but we were able to get any one there for $100 and they had hundreds of pieces. They charges us $200 to cut and finish it and DH installed it so our total out the door was $300. We got a beautiful piece and a lot of "look" for $300. When you only need a small piece looking through the scraps can be a very good idea. If you can't find one you like you can wait and keep going back to look - sooner or later one will show up.

[colliegirls]

On 1/23/2015 Abrowneyegirl said:

On 1/23/2015 brii said: A friend of mine has soapstone. I've never seen it in person before. Hers Is black. She put it in the bathrooms too. She oils it every few months

Soapstone is gorgeous! I love the feel of it too. Extremely durable material.

Is that the material our science labs had on the counters????

[151949]

On 1/23/2015 kalikokty said:

On 1/23/2015 happy housewife said:

There really is a reason HGTV exists - it is to sell expensive ideas to gullible homeowners that make them feel they must have these trendy upgrades. Then in a few years the upgrade is passe and they are selling hard on something else. It is unfortunate that so many people fall for what is really no more than hype.

AND BTW - I have always worked in hospitals where there were granite countertops and almost every one of them has been either cracked or downright broken.They do not last forever as some of you seem to think.

Almost everyone I know has granite, and none of them have had ANY problems with their granite cracked or been "downright broken". So, you're WRONG.

This wasn't an opinion - it was a statement of fact.

[geegerbee]

Even if granite cracked, it can be pretty easily repaired. I have a seam in my granite and you would never be able to find it. Some other fabrications are not easily fixed---corian for example.

[colliegirls]

I cannot imagine any of my countertops cracking. Do people sit or sleep on them??? How would that happen????

[kalikokty]

On 1/25/2015 happy housewife said:

On 1/23/2015 kalikokty said:

On 1/23/2015 happy housewife said:

There really is a reason HGTV exists - it is to sell expensive ideas to gullible homeowners that make them feel they must have these trendy upgrades. Then in a few years the upgrade is passe and they are selling hard on something else. It is unfortunate that so many people fall for what is really no more than hype.

AND BTW - I have always worked in hospitals where there were granite countertops and almost every one of them has been either cracked or downright broken.They do not last forever as some of you seem to think.

Almost everyone I know has granite, and none of them have had ANY problems with their granite cracked or been "downright broken". So, you're WRONG.

This wasn't an opinion - it was a statement of fact.

My statements are facts - and you're still "downright wrong."

[brii]

For granite to break, you'd have to really abuse it. And it must be a very cheap piece of granite to crack.