Creative Countertops

[mamabear]

Would you share the ways that you have topped your kitchen countertops? Wood, stone, tile, laminate, etc...
Thank you.
mamabear

[Ross]

I saw a book in Home Depot describing creative uses for concrete that included countertops with and without built in sinks etc. Kinda sorry I left it there.

[Chas in Me]

Originally Posted by mamabear

Would you share the ways that you have topped your kitchen countertops? Wood, stone, tile, laminate, etc...
Thank you.
mamabear

We have tile right now, but B. is fed up with grout flaking off. There is a Formica countertop on order for her.
I did a kitchen for some hippie friends back in the 70's who had no money. We made a countertop out of laid fibergless. They put wood cutting boards on it as work surfaces.
A lot of old kitchens I used to work in had linoleum surface. It would clean, but after a whils the finish surface would wear off. Another product common in old kitchens was oil cloth. Again, it would clean, but would wear out. I also did a kitchen counter with plain wood boards. I oiled it and caulked the seams real good. Didn't last cause they wouldn't keep it dry.
Wow, your question sure triggered some memories.
Chas, starting to worry about his short term memory, up here in Me. LOL

[65284]

I built our cabinets and breadfast bar from oak. I used 3/4" plywood for the tops and covered that with the same ceramic tile I used on the floor and put an oak band around the edge. The same tile is used as a backsplash all the way from the counter top to the bottom of the wall cabinets. After the grout was well dried I covered it (the grout) with a good polyurethane. It was kind of tedious but it still looks nice, and has held up very well.

[annie716]

I've seen some beautiful polished concrete counter tops on HGTV shows their site should have some how to articles. I also saw, I think tile that looks like granite, it had molded corners, edges & back splashes. I don't know how much it costs yet but I'm holding out for that when I find it. Think it's even something I can do myself!

[donsgal]

Originally Posted by mamabear

Would you share the ways that you have topped your kitchen countertops? Wood, stone, tile, laminate, etc...
Thank you.
mamabear

Personally I would prefer wood over any other material. I have also seen broken plates and broken tiles set it higgly piggly and it was very attractive.

donsgal

[Farmerwilly2]

Stained concrete, steel troweled finish, recessed for a wood cutting board. Putting one in this house when we get to it. One additional feature is to cast threaded inserts on the one side to secure grinders, presses, ect. without having to use clamps. Use stainless mesh (I learned the hard way) and thin rebar and be sure to seal it well. If you own a router or a shaper you can make some nice strips to give the edge a custom look. Never tried stamping it, but I guess that would be a nice option also.

[fixer1958]

When we bought our house it had a toilet, sink and shower, all upstairs and that was it. 2 story log house otherwise unfinished. A wooden tent with some plumbing and some electric. No money but had to have it. There were several stacks of 2x6 tongue and groove pine boards in the basement. Estimate for the kitchen was between 10-15K. I learned to make cabinets. They are just boxes with doors. I can make a mean raised panel door now. The countertops are also wood. I got a 1/2 pickup load of kiln dried red oak for $100. I cut them into 1 1/2"strips with the same size of pine strips and doweled and glued them all together for the counters and an island that is 4x14'. I've got some floor tile inlaid for hot pans. No stain but put 5-6 coats of clear floor urethane. Nothing will get through that finish. Don't have much money in it but dowels, glue and a mortgage. That was 16 years ago. It's still there and the counters look the same as they did then.

[Ramblin Wreck]

The farm has a concrete based counter top that I got at Lowes. It was extremely heat resistent and fire retardant, and you can also chop meat on it if you want. Son #2 took out two kitchens while growing up (well, most of us would argue he's still not grown), so I am very leery of materials that will burn!

[vicker]

We don't have counters yest, but I've gottem my hands on some nice persimon boards. I have them drying now and intend on making our counters with them. Persimmon s the North American version of ebony. It is very light colored with a very small black heart that shows up as a thin black stipe in some of the boards, and is very hard and impact resistent. It is also suppose to polish up very nicely.

[ET1 SS]

wood.

[oz in SC]

In this house we have black granite.
We have it honed to resemble slate.
We also have a custom granite kitchen sink.
The backsplash is some sort of handmade subway tile.

Prior to that we had ceramic tile.The grout that was used was a 'new,improved' sort of acrylic grout.it stained badly after a few years.

Did I mention Mrs oz works at a ceramic tile and stone fabrication business?


In the barn we are going to have stone again,not sure what sort,it depends upon the rest of the layout.

[sisterpine]

Lets see, first we had flakeboard, then plywood, then plywood with regular stick down floor tile on it (lasted 5 years at least) just a few months ago I laid marble tile for countertops and even though i would do the "lay" differently should I do it again we both love it. Built and island and used the same tile...very pretty. Used very dark acrylic grout and sealed the grout and stone about 10 times! Marble is soft and will scratch and stain so sealing well is important. sis

[dezeeuwgoats]

I've twelve inch granite tiles sitting in my garage waiting for my countertops - I bought them at auction, got a smoking deal. I can't WAIT to have stone countertops! I love the warm look of wood though, and the practicality of stainless steel. I have an 'island' that is stainless steel - a workbench I bought from Sam's Club. I really like being able to cut and put hot pots directly on it. Probably if looks and cost didn't matter - I'd go stainless steel. But I have a herd of dairy goats and handle a lot of milk - that's the thinking behind that.

Niki

[Ann Mary]

We are going to put down blond oak flooring...very hard, durable, and the space between the boards is very tight...and it looks country.

[quietstar]

Got the Tauton book and plan polished concrete counter tops in the new Harvest kitchen. The struggle I'm dealing with is gathering enough green glass to crush and add to the surface for polishing later. It's a job to drink so much of that imported beer in the pretty green bottles but somebody has to do it....glug..glug...Glen

[CatsPaw]

I wouldn't use wood, simply because it won't stand up to water, scorches, harbors cracks for crumbs and such and it soaks up germs (as in never cut raw whatever on a wooden cutting board unless you sanitize it before cutting anything else on it.) What ever I end up putting on mine will have a large removable wood cutting board though.

Good thing about concrete is you can be completely creative with it's shape. put things in it, draw your name in it, cat prints, whatever.

[Maura]

We considered granite and concrete, but they are quite heavy. We have tile. 12" floor tile because it would be easier to keep the grout lines straight using two tiles across instead of four or five. THe grout lines have to be sealed. It looks very nice, and I can take a pot from the oven or range and put it right on the counter.

[ET1 SS]

Originally Posted by CatsPaw

I wouldn't use wood, simply because it won't stand up to water, scorches, harbors cracks for crumbs and such and it soaks up germs (as in never cut raw whatever on a wooden cutting board unless you sanitize it before cutting anything else on it.) What ever I end up putting on mine will have a large removable wood cutting board though. ...

On the other hand, I have worked in pizza parlors and they each had great wood table tops on the prep tables.

You can clean it to be pretty,

You can kill the germs.

And we think that the butcher block look is great.

[kmaproperties]

we used porcelin floor tiles. porcelin is the same all the way through and can take more heat and abuse than ceramic.