Corian countertops - is it worth it to upgrade to in new house?

[scottygirl]

We just put in BEAUTIFUL Santa Fe granite in our kitchen for $3500 out the door. This included an undermount sink and cooktop cutout as well as a bumped-out sink area. We have light cherry cabinets and I must say my kitchen looks very classy. I personally don't like the look of Corian, but everyone has different taste. If you go with laminate, make sure it is a darker color with a speckled pattern so it will hide scratches. It is very easy to add upgrades! We added $30,000 to the price of our house when we built 7 years ago. Spend the money on the elevation, garage (3 car) and basement(deeper). Those are definately things you can't change easily later. Good Luck !

 

[rt2dz]

Linoleum, regardless of how much it's upgraded is a BIG pain in the rear to remove.

If you ever decide later on down the road to put in wood or tile, you're going to either have to deal with it on your own, or you're going to pay $$ in labor to have it taken up. I've done it before and it was one of the most labor-intensive things I've ever had to deal with.

I just wanted to say I totally disagree with this.

When I had my house built it came with all carpeting downstairs. Something I seriously did not want. But because the builder wanted a small fortune to put in the wood and tile, I had them put linoleum down. After I closed on the house, I went in and ripped up the linoleum. It was not at all hard to remove.

I then preceded to lay wood in the family room myself (again, something I didn't find that difficult) and put in the tile in the rest of my lower level (and upstairs bathrooms), and again, didn't find it that difficult. I also had never done either before. And, yes, it does look good. Although, in the interest of full disclosure, I did have to get my dad to cut certain tiles--I just kept breaking those that needed a rounded cut.

However I do agree that you should not have the nice counter tops and laminate floors. I'd upgrade the floors, if not right away, before too long, even if you don't do the counters, but especially if you do do the counters. Is that clear?

 

[lecach]

Would it be tacky to have wood floors in the kitchen and laminate counter tops? We cant do both. If we do Corian the floors will have to be linoleum. If we do wood floors the counters would have to be laminate. Which would you choose? The wood floors in the kitchen/breakfast nook are $1700. The corian is $4000. So the wood is definately easier. Another option is tile but with the slab foundation I would think tile would be colder to the bare foot. Plus its also very slick when wet and the grout gets dirty so easily.

Also - if anyone has wood floors in their kitchen - are they hard to keep clean/maintain? I would worry about scratches.

 

[clarabelle]

I personally would go with the wood.
If you add the wood later you would either have to do the prefinished kind -or go through that whole sanding- staining process.
Also I think wood floors are just soo nice looking
I have hardwoods in my kitchen.
You need to wipe up water and not let it stay there. Also if an appliance broke and your kitchen flooded you would probably have to replace the floor (they warp when they get flooded)
Mine does have a few scratches and dings in it -but I personally think that a worn wood floor still looks better (it has character!) than some other floorings.
Good luck!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Would it be tacky to have wood floors in the kitchen and laminate counter tops? We cant do both. If we do Corian the floors will have to be linoleum. If we do wood floors the counters would have to be laminate. Which would you choose? The wood floors in the kitchen/breakfast nook are $1700. The corian is $4000. So the wood is definately easier. Another option is tile but with the slab foundation I would think tile would be colder to the bare foot. Plus its also very slick when wet and the grout gets dirty so easily.

Also - if anyone has wood floors in their kitchen - are they hard to keep clean/maintain? I would worry about scratches.

That's what I had at first! I had wood floors and formica.

I can only wish that everything in my house was as easy to take care of as my hardwoods and that includes in my kitchen! I LOVE them!

Just make sure not to let water sit on them. I've had ice cubes sit there until they're dried up and no damage was caused, but I wouldn't make a habit of it.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I just wanted to say I totally disagree with this.

When I had my house built it came with all carpeting downstairs. Something I seriously did not want. But because the builder wanted a small fortune to put in the wood and tile, I had them put linoleum down. After I closed on the house, I went in and ripped up the linoleum. It was not at all hard to remove.

Then you were lucky, because it was a major project for me!

It was the glue that was so hard to get up. We ended up having to rent some sort of heat gun to soften it and the fumes were horrific. The only thing I can think of that was almost as bad, was removing ceramic tile from the floor.

Who knows - this was back in the middle 80's - maybe things are done differently now.

BTW, my whole paragraph was about removing the linoleum; I have never put down wood or tile, so I don't have any experience at how hard it is, or isn't to do.

 

[sm4987]

The tile route is a great option. I've seen Uba Tuba and Absolute Black tile counters and they look awesome. You have to really look to see the grout lines!

I don't know where in Texas you are, but Floor & Decor has some great deals. That's where I got my Travertine.

That is where I got mine from! I'm in the DFW area and I just couldn't pass up the deal on Santa Ceceila when I saw it, so that's what we did. With the backsplash ( and it's beautiful with an inlay) I spent less than $1000 on everything. The bathroom is next on my list!!!!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

That is where I got mine from! I'm in the DFW area and I just couldn't pass up the deal on Santa Ceceila when I saw it, so that's what we did. With the backsplash ( and it's beautiful with an inlay) I spent less than $1000 on everything. The bathroom is next on my list!!!!

Their prices are good, aren't they? We went with every intention of sticking to a budget and getting ceramic tile and I made the HUGE mistake of wandering over to the Travertine and ended up getting it instead. Blew my budget!!

I just love that stuff! It has such a soft look to it. The one we picked had some black veining in some of the pieces, so we used Absolute Black granite inserts. It turned out really nice!

 

[Puffy2]

I would put in granit (sp?) instead and yes, I would upgrade now - it will cost more if you decide to later (because they charge extra for tearing out the old, etc...) - you will like it better and if you sell the house, granit is a stong selling point.

 

[PlutoPony]

Would it be tacky to have wood floors in the kitchen and laminate counter tops? We cant do both. If we do Corian the floors will have to be linoleum. If we do wood floors the counters would have to be laminate. Which would you choose?.......

Also - if anyone has wood floors in their kitchen - are they hard to keep clean/maintain? I would worry about scratches.

If it's floors or countertops, absolutely do the floors!! We have had wood floors and laminate for 8+ years and the combination is fine. Just now we're changing the counters to granite (as well as new cabinets, appliances, etc - it's a mess right now!). While I'm not wild about the wood in the kitchen I don't see an alternative I like better so that's the only thing we're not changing in the kitchen redo. We've been advised in this remodel to make sure and get the cabinets we like (even if it's more $) and compromise on counters if necessary as they're the easiest thing to change out. I would also recommend looking closely at lighting in the kitchen and make sure you have what you need. That's something else that's easiest to do up front at least from a wiring standpoint (this is from current experience).
Good luck!

 

[clarabelle]

I would also recommend looking closely at lighting in the kitchen and make sure you have what you need. That's something else that's easiest to do up front at least from a wiring standpoint (this is from current experience).
Good luck!

Yes yes!!
It is much harder from what I understand (more expensive) to put in those recessed lighting cans later. I would love more lighting in a couple of rooms in my house.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Yes yes!!
It is much harder from what I understand (more expensive) to put in those recessed lighting cans later. I would love more lighting in a couple of rooms in my house.

Electricians are soooooooooo expensive! I had no idea until we ripped out a wall oven/microwave combo and installed our slide-in range with overhead microwave.

Our wiring wasn't sufficient and the estimate was $1k! NOT in the budget!

Thank goodness for firefighters, because there is always one that does something as a side job and we were able to get a licensed electrician from DH's department to do it for 1/4 of the price, because DH worked as his helper.

One thing that DH did do on his own and did an awesome job at, was the under-cabinet lighting. That comes in so handy when you're cooking! We purchased xenon strip lights from Home Depot and they worked out like a charm!

The wiring is all neatly inside the cabinets. Not one wire shows; he even managed to wire them together and have the final plug go behind the fridge! I was impressed, considering he has no clue when it comes to remodeling!

 

[720L]

I would do the wood floors for sure--like I said before you can get formica countertops that look really nice, IMO. It wouldn't be tacky, I saw a lot of that in the Parade of Homes. I wouldn't do granite countertops with linoleum floors, that just wouldn't look right. I have dark floors in my kitchen which I love, but they show everything. My old house had a light wood and I never had a problem with dirt showing. Wood floors are easy to clean.

 

[Sandy22]

Also if you want an undermounted sink you cannot do laminate.

I haven't read through all the posts so I don't know if this had been mentioned yet but you CAN have an undermounted sink with laminate - but you can't retrofit it, you have to do it when the counters are being installed.

 

[Freyja]

I´d do it. We just moved into our new house and debated countertops for a long time. Hardwood, laminate, corian or granite? We ended up taking granite and I´m so happy. Don´t think there´s a big difference in quality between corian and granite, just love to know that they will last forever and ever and ever.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

I would go with quartz countertops - they look and feel just like granite, but are more durable and resistant to staining and scratching. This is the brand I have in my house, and I'm thrilled with it:
http://www.caesarstoneus.com/catalog/collection.cfm

Mine is the "Carmel" color. It cost less than granite - I think we spent about $4500 for the entire kitchen, and we have a lot of counter space. That was also through the builder too, so it's probably less to do it on your own.

As for floors - I wouldn't do wood or laminate in a kitchen. I've done both, and the water damage was awful. My last house had laminate, and our fridge broke down and defrosted on it's own - needless to say, it leaked and ruined my laminate floor. Same thing in the house before that with the dishwaher. You never know what could happen in a kitchen. We are now looking at vinyl plank to put in our house. I kid you not, this stuff looks and feels just like wood, but with the durability of a commerical vinyl. You can check it out here:

http://amtico.com/home/view_product_search.asp

Armstrong also makes it, but it isn't cheap - it costs about the same as a low-grade wood floor. You have to see it in person - it's amazing! As soon as we save the money we are going to install this in our entire downstairs and bathrooms, since it's waterproof.

 

[Melrosgirl]

We put Corian in a couple of years ago and really love it. I do not recommend a super dark color as scratches will show. I would put Corian in again. The seamless sink is a great idea. We LOVE it. (We have some scratches and were able to buff them out in a couple of minutes with sandpaper. Very easy.) With our color you can't tell the scratches are there unless you get to eye level and are very anal like me, lol. If I were you, I'd do the upgrade now.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Also - if anyone has wood floors in their kitchen - are they hard to keep clean/maintain? I would worry about scratches.

FYI....Wood floors are not hard to maintain but a pain to maintain is more appropriate. You have to clean daily or in the case of the kitchen everytime you eat. Our last house we installed hardwood throughout. It was beautiful...but it shows every speck of dust, dirt, etc..

In this house, we have ruined ours, well the dogs have. It is entirely scratched up. We moved in the brand new "spec" house in April, we got the puppies in July. It took them 2 months to ruin the floor. Granted this hardwood isn't the best but dogs are hard on hardwood. Also if you ever, ever plan on having an indoor dogs the water bowl would kill the floor.

I would never get hardwood in a kitchen again. Tile all the way!!!

 

[Melrosgirl]

I just read through all 6 pages, lol, and I have to laugh when people "argue" over what is better for their kitchen. On every internet board I've been on, people get so worked up over what is better corian or granite. Why? It's a countertop! OK, semi-vent over!

 

[clarabelle]

I haven't read through all the posts so I don't know if this had been mentioned yet but you CAN have an undermounted sink with laminate - but you can't retrofit it, you have to do it when the counters are being installed.

Sorry - I was not trying to give out inaccurate info. I was told that and I have never seen it done. I also thought I had read it somewhere.
I don't really understand how it would work with the laminate.