As the kitchen continues to become more of the heart of the home, kitchen countertops are getting their fair share of attention.
”Today, people are very choosy about the types of countertops they want in their kitchen,” says Welton Pryor, owner of General Countertops, a cabinet and countertop maker in Chicago. ”They know that they will have to live with the choice they make for quite some time. Countertops have become a big part of the kitchen.”
Countertops, often the focal point of the room, are updated for a number of reasons. First, they`re among the highest traffic areas of a home. Exposure to water, heat, knife edges and food waste puts kitchen countertops through a workout nearly every day.
Second, styles and tastes change, so you may want to revamp countertops purely for aesthetic reasons.
Third, kitchen renovations are one of the best investments a homeowner can make in a home, say the experts.
”Countertops are not inexpensive, but there is a return there,” says Tony Lichwa, president of Allied Cabinet Corp., a countertop manufacturer in Chicago. ”They`re a good investment as the kitchen continues to sell the house more.”
And to satisfy all the homeowners updating kitchen countertops, a wide range of countertop choices has been made available in recent years.
”There is much more to choose from today,” says Lichwa. ”Ten years ago, you had laminates and that was it.”
What follows is a look at the more popular countertop choices for homeowners considering kitchen improvements.
Decorative laminates
About the most popular and affordable kitchen countertop option is decorative laminate, most commonly known by the brand name Formica.
Laminates are basically a wood-fiber product coated with a micro-thin layer of printed color. The laminate usually is cemented to a piece of wood pressboard, which is cut to conform to the size of the countertop you need.
The key to decorative laminate is its cost. Including labor, laminate countertops sell for about $20 a linear foot, or a total cost of $700 to $1,000 for a medium-sized kitchen. Adding a radius or peninsula (a half-circle at the end of the countertop) or other special features can raise its cost.
In addition to affordability, decorative laminate also offers great variety. There are literally thousands of colors and styles and patterns available, ranging from white to black to fake butcher block and wood-grain veneers.
”Laminates are available in almost any color imaginable, so you sure can please anybody,” says Lichwa.
Still, ”despite the number of choices, white and almond are consistently the most popular colors,” Pryor adds.
Laminates also need little maintenance-just general cleaning with a non-abrasive cleaner.
Depending on how hard they are used, laminates have an average lifespan of about 15 years, although some can last for decades. But unique or offbeat laminate colors can quickly go out of style. Hence, you`ll probably replace your laminate countertops if you spend a couple of decades in the same home.
If the old countertop is in good shape, it can simply be re-laminated with a new color, experts say. If the wood underneath the laminate is in bad shape, however, the entire countertop is thrown out and a new base is constructed. That can add about $2 a linear foot to the cost of the countertop.
”Sometimes it`s more economical to replace the wood rather than make minor repairs and put new laminate on it,” Lichwa says.
If the countertop is in good shape, do-it-yourselfers can make the re-laminate option even less expensive by removing it themselves and bringing it in to a laminate shop.
Most tops are held down by screws, which can be accessed from inside the cabinets beneath the countertops. Such work may require the removal of a sink, which may require some plumbing skills.
Some home improvement stores also sell ready-made replacement laminate tops that work well in modular kitchens.
Such countertops are a standard 25 inches wide and a 1 1/2 inches deep. If you have an older or custom kitchen, or your countertops don`t measure up to the above standards, you will probably need to have the top professionally made.
Butcher block
Another countertop option is butcher block, which is much more expensive than decorative laminate but will probably last the lifetime of your home, says Robert Collins, a vice president with J&D Brauner, which specializes in butcher block material and furniture.
”The durability of butcher block is very good,” says Collins.
”Everything we sell is a solid wood, an inch and one-half thick. It`s either Hardrock Maple or Red Oak, both domestic woods that are considered hard woods.”
Butcher block also has an natural aesthetic quality to it, Collins says.
”The beauty of real wood never goes out,” he says. ”We`re not trendy.
(Butcher block) lends itself to so many different things. It`s not really contemporary, it`s not really traditional and it`s not really country, but it fits in all those categories.”
Butcher block countertops usually come in three finishes: A raw wood form that allows the customer to stain and lacquer the countertop to match cabinets; an oil-finish; and a polyurethane lacquer finish.
The oil finish must be polished with a penetrating oil-such as linseed oil-at least once a week for the first five weeks when new; and then every two or three months.
The polyurethane lacquer finish, which is water- and stain-resistant, requires just regular cleaning.
If, after years of use, the butcher block countertop has minor scratches or burns, they can be easily sanded out. ”You just sand it out with some steel wool and oil, re-coat it with a polyurethane lacquer, and it`s brand new,” says Collins. ”With a little maintenance every decade or so, you`ve got a lifetime product.”
The cost of butcher block is roughly $32 a linear foot for the standard 25-inch-wide counter, Collins says, or about $159 for a standard 60-inch-long counter. The cost of putting new butcher block countertops in the average medium-sized kitchen would start at about $2,000, experts say.
If your old countertops were a standard 25 inches wide, often you can save a few dollars by installing the new ones yourself.
”We keep countertops in stock up to 72 inches long,” Collins says, ”so you could walk right out with one. Anything larger could take a few weeks to order.”
For an additional cost, Collins` company will also do some custom cutting. ”We do some custom edge trimming and we`ll also cut lengths, radiuses, bull noses and double and single bevels,” he says. ”We can also go wider than the standard 25 inches for islands, etc. But we don`t miter countertops, and we don`t put in sink or stove burner cutouts. We let builders or contractors or homeowners handle those tasks.”
In addition, Collins said most butcher block countertops come with a one- year unconditional guarantee against defects such as splits and splinters.
Solid surfaces
A more expensive-but increasingly popular-choice by homeowners are solid surface countertops.
Corian, which is manufactured by DuPont, is about the most well-known solid surface brand name. Formica also makes a solid surface product, called Surell. Others include Fountainhead and Avonite.
The major advantage of solid surface materials is their durability. Because they are literally solid and a non-porous material, dents and mars in solid surfaces can be sanded out. And, because they are stain- and scratch-resistant, they offer easy maintenance.
”Durability-wise, (a solid surface countertop) will last forever,” says Lichwa.
Another attraction is their aesthetic qualities. Solid surface materials
”have a more luxurious look and feel to them,” Lichwa says. ”They have become a selling point for homes.”
Pryor says he had one customer who selected Corian and ”when she later sold her house, she said people didn`t mind paying extra because they liked the Corian that much.”
Options include a wide range of colors and patterns such as color and wood inlays. Even coordinating solid surface sinks are available.
The caveat to solid surface materials is their price-as high as five times-plus the cost of laminated countertops. They start at around $100 per linear foot and can go as high as several hundred dollars per linear foot.
As more companies produce solid surface products, however, the prices are getting more competitive, experts say.
And because of the work involved in installing them, solid surface countertops should be put in only by professionals.
Other materials, options
Just about any material can be used for a kitchen countertop, experts say. For example, marble and ceramic tile are options.
”You could have a countertop made from just about any material in the world, if you wanted to,” Lichwa says.
For owners of older laminate countertops, more affordable options are to have the countertop mended or have its color changed. Such work is handled by so-called countertop and cabinet refinishing firms and the process is slightly similar to auto body work. Such firms also ”repair and paint” appliances, tubs, wall tile and even cabinets. The work is done in the home without removing the countertops.
Here`s how it works: Damaged countertop areas-such as worn, chipped or burned sections-are mended with a filler, colored to match the surrounding area and then given a protective coating.
Old countertops that are in good shape but are in outdated colors can be completely repainted to give them a new look, says Howard Coles of Chicago`s Countertop Services.
”We get a lot people with kitchens three generations old,” says Coles.
”They have an avocado green refrigerator and an orange countertop. They want everything color-coordinated.”
A small repair on a countertop costs about $125, Coles says. To re-coat a medium-sized countertop with a new color starts at about $250. Such work would take about half a day to complete, and two days to dry. Most refinishers, such as Coles` company, offer a warranty on the work.
