Home

[Reever]

I keep telling my dear sister that she is making a mistake purchasing the gaudy Formica countertops (laminate) - buyers today want stone. engineered granite Quartz or soapstone are popular in my area. For some reason she thinks laminate counters wear better and look better than granite. I told her to re-think her position.  Does anyone still use Formica ? I haven't seen it on any of the HGTV shows.

[sheilababe]

I'm sure it still exists somewhere but I strongly agree that she should reconsider.  Quartz is very popular and wears better than granite.  We have it and I love it.

[Sooner]

---

@Reever wrote:

I keep telling my dear sister that she is making a mistake purchasing the gaudy Formica countertops (laminate) - buyers today want stone. engineered granite Quartz or soapstone are popular in my area. For some reason she thinks laminate counters wear better and look better than granite. I told her to re-think her position.  Does anyone still use Formica ? I haven't seen it on any of the HGTV shows.

---

@Reever  Do you own the house together?  If not, you don't get a vote!    

You can't save people from themselves.  I have learned this the hard way.

[stevieb]

I guess I agree with your sister and prefer the 'gaudy' laminate counter materials. If you haven't looked at them lately, you might be surprised to find that there are many options and configurations that aren't 'gaudy' at all. I'm neither concerned with what buyers want nor certainly with what HGTV 'designers' are choosing. What's 'on-trend' isn't always going to drive my choices. For what it costs me to put new laminate on my counters, I can change it out every few years, which is something you'd never be able to do with granite, etc... The good news is, if I chose to do it, it would be a purely aesthetic choice, because it is, indeed, very durable and low-maintenance too. Each to their own.

[Snowpuppy]

Formica has come a long, long way in style & design.

You didn't say if she is remodeling to sell or remodeling and staying. If she's redoing the entire kitchen high end then I agree to complete the look with countertops.

If she's only replacing countertops and the rest of the kitchen, cabinets, flooring, appliances aren't high end then she's better off with a conservative budget choice.

[nana59]

After over 20 years, my Formica countertop still looks brand new.  If I was going to replace it, I would choose Formica again.  I'm not interested in maintaining any other kind of surface....the next owner can do that!

[libbyannE]

We've had quartz for more than a decade. Love it. Granite isn't as popular as it once was, probably because if its often aggressive patterns and the need to periodically reseal it. We did not want a heavily patterned stone for the kitchens in our home, which is why we went with quartz. It's about the same cost as granite, depending on what granite one is considering. No maintenance required, I should add!  But you're right that buyers want stone of some kind.

[Scooby Doo]

Laminate is very popular.  It's not all like the old fashioned Formica of the past.  They have high definition laminate now that looks like the real deal.  You can get special edges made that also makes them look more realistic.   The way they design the laminate is to take a HD photo of the stone, and then duplicate it.

It also depends on the neighborhood you live in.  If most homes have laminate and you install quartz, you won't get your money back.

I don't live in a "granite" neighborhood, and so I installed a high end HD laminate in my kitchen this summer.  It looks very much like granite, but of course you won't fool everybody.   I also had it wrapped with the pencil edge instead of the old fashioned rolled edge.

It cost about half the cost of the lower priced granite.

If you go to the Wilsonart website, you can see all the different patterns and colors.  

I chose Bianco Romano.

[KathyPet]

have you seen some of the newer Formica choices? Formica has come a long long way in the last few years and there are currently many good looking options.  Don’t be so quick to turn up your nose unless you have been to a home improvement store and seen the latest innovations in formica