It is hard to beat the price and serviceability of laminate tops. Not to mention the fact that they can imitate just about any other material's looks. That said, I'm a wood guy; I've lived in 3 homes built on wood foundations, prefer wood decking and flooring. Its hard to beat butcher block tops. They are sometimes cheaper than laminate, they age well and cuts and scratches give them character, and they exude warmth.
My favourite counter surface is the island in our kitchen. Recycled regular glass compressed into a solid unit. It can be scratched but it is beautiful and is underlit by LED 's. The other kitchen counters are icestone, which as mentioned by Lloyd, need occasional maintenance. Also the bath countertops are a compressed ground up stone with some kind of binder (not cement) and they are totally indestructible.
I renovated the kitchen in our previous house and used Ikea laminated beech wood countertops. We wiped the water from around the kitchen sink and in 20 years had no sign of rot, delamination or staining. Annual ritual of sharpening a cabinet scraper, gently scraping and truing the surface, sealing with Tung oil followed by monthly bees wax treatment. It was a bit of an obsession. "you love what you care for". Warm, easy on the eyes, stuff did not break, easier on the elbows. We have since downsized to a new townhouse with glaring white fashionable congealed snot countertops. Ugg. Hate'em. Ikea now sells an "improved" countertop with beech veneer over MDF. Looks good enough but the veneer is too thin to maintain, so, useless.
Man you’re such a spoil sport. (Tongue in cheek; helpful piece.) We used local granite in our first house - Hudson Valley farmhouse built in 1932 - then inherited a Formica kitchen in the 1868 village home that followed. Never got around to an upgrade. Now in Maine, our 1970s log home came with granite again. Question on silicosis risk. Is there much of a move in that industry to go to 3-D printing or the like, to get human lungs out of the cutting process?
One material you didn't mention was linoleum, I have used it several times in different projects with good results. It was more popular for counters in the 40's, and as you know, Alvar Aalto used it on his tables. My favourite was a large circular table with a lazy susan built into the centre, surfaced with linoleum, commissioned for a family cottage near Barrie. As far as I know is still in use.
We've got soapstone countertops and it's fine. But when our new house budget was not going to allow for a 48" x96" soapstone island countertop, I built the top out of a sheet of 3/4" prefinished maple plywood left over from my construction of the kitchen cabinet boxes. I laminated the maple plywood to a sheet of 3/4" sheathing plywood and attached a strip of 3/4" maple to cover the raw plywood edges. I figured it'd be OK for a year or two until we could afford to replace it with soapstone. That was eight years ago. It still looks pretty good.
We have all soapstone counters in our kitchen. Quebec material, all natural, needs an occasional application of mineral oil. Waterproof and non-slip. Repairable if it gets a scratch or scuff.
We chose Caesarstone in 2012 for an apartment renovation of kitchen and bathroom counters for its durability and (most important for us) reduced retention and spread of bacteria, especially in the bathroom. The problem of silicosis wasn't on our radar then. The counters are in perfect condition and need no renovation for our purposes. Now, silicosis could be controlled by proper safety enforcement and possibly enhancement of processing techniques. There could still be a problem of dust-spread when making field adjustments to fine-fit a pre-fabricated countertop. Effective masking seems to be the best line of defense for field-work, and automated cutting should resolve 'factory' produced silicosis.
Lloyd, you wrote: "Notwithstanding the Australian complaint of 'persistent lack of compliance,' that kind of argument usually holds sway in the USA, so it likely won’t get banned. But reading reports like Deadly Dust: Engineered Stone Is Making California Workers Sick suggests that designers shouldn’t be specifying it and consumers shouldn’t be buying it"—but the whole argument is that YES, it *IS* all about compliance! Why have rules at all if they're not being enforced? This is the same argument to be made about a whole host of things in the news these days: illegal immigration, insider trading by Congressional representatives, defamation, and political corruption, to name but a few.
I find it quite amusing that you think that a 93% natural stone countertop is somehow LESS safe, practical, and sustainable than is one that's just ~66% (Silestone) but then go on about how Portland cement that's used in Icestone is "bad", or that the vast, vast majority of Formica and plastic laminate options on the market are made out of petroleum-based distillates.
Wood is a lousy option for countertops, which is why butcherblock is used on islands away from heat and water sources, because refinishing them is more easily done than when wedged into corners and around sinks. And all that cutting, forming, shipping, and installing with wood counters is no less carbon intensive than most of the other options. It's almost like you're trying to justify your personal preferences to the exclusion of the vast majority of the homeowner populace.
Quartz is great; sealing is a once-a-year process and can be tied to specific dates that make it easy to remember, like one of the solstices or a birthday or anniversary or holiday. And engineered stone, Silestone, and Icestone all are great. Your top pick of cork? Give me a f—ing break, Lloyd. Do you really think the world could produce 404 million square feet of the stuff to cover *just* the demand for engineered stone alone? No, it can't—and don't even try to defend a comically niche market alternative as something the masses should be adopting in their own kitchen.
You constantly go on and on about using less stuff, about the upfront carbon costs associated with building, but then you say that a countertop that will last a couple hundred years is somehow worse than one that has to be even MORE rigorously maintained and will require replacement several times over in the same timeframe? What an utter joke! It's almost like you think we should be using nothing at all, going camp commando with a spit over the fire, or perhaps nothing more than a wood block like Southeast Asian wet markets use.
Engineered stone is here to stay, and will remain the favorite. Period.
Another recycled glass alternative is Vetrazzo. Expensive but incredibly beautiful to my eye at least. Love the cork idea even more, though-- will look at that one next time a remodel is in order.
Oh, I just recall a home, where the owner wanted to change the 2 or 3 year old kitchen layout & wanted granite counters to replace the marble ones. The marble was disgusting as juice spills had marked it so it looked like the bottom of a dumpster. I didn't get the job as I suggested Coian rather than granite.
My favourite kitchen I designed around about 2001, we installed a 2nd hand SS sink that has 16" drainage tops on either side built in as one unit. I had small pieces of Corian (30"?) next to those & the rest of the counter on one side (4' 6") was butcher block. The counters on the other side of the kitchen were all Laminate.
Nowadays about 75% of my work is Dr Offices, Pharmacies & Compounding Labs, I almost exclusively use Laminate. I've looked at other surfaces but for cost, flexibility, durability, cleanliness, and, as you point, out low impact Arborite is my go to.
It is hard to beat the price and serviceability of laminate tops. Not to mention the fact that they can imitate just about any other material's looks. That said, I'm a wood guy; I've lived in 3 homes built on wood foundations, prefer wood decking and flooring. Its hard to beat butcher block tops. They are sometimes cheaper than laminate, they age well and cuts and scratches give them character, and they exude warmth.
My favourite counter surface is the island in our kitchen. Recycled regular glass compressed into a solid unit. It can be scratched but it is beautiful and is underlit by LED 's. The other kitchen counters are icestone, which as mentioned by Lloyd, need occasional maintenance. Also the bath countertops are a compressed ground up stone with some kind of binder (not cement) and they are totally indestructible.
I renovated the kitchen in our previous house and used Ikea laminated beech wood countertops. We wiped the water from around the kitchen sink and in 20 years had no sign of rot, delamination or staining. Annual ritual of sharpening a cabinet scraper, gently scraping and truing the surface, sealing with Tung oil followed by monthly bees wax treatment. It was a bit of an obsession. "you love what you care for". Warm, easy on the eyes, stuff did not break, easier on the elbows. We have since downsized to a new townhouse with glaring white fashionable congealed snot countertops. Ugg. Hate'em. Ikea now sells an "improved" countertop with beech veneer over MDF. Looks good enough but the veneer is too thin to maintain, so, useless.
Man you’re such a spoil sport. (Tongue in cheek; helpful piece.) We used local granite in our first house - Hudson Valley farmhouse built in 1932 - then inherited a Formica kitchen in the 1868 village home that followed. Never got around to an upgrade. Now in Maine, our 1970s log home came with granite again. Question on silicosis risk. Is there much of a move in that industry to go to 3-D printing or the like, to get human lungs out of the cutting process?
One material you didn't mention was linoleum, I have used it several times in different projects with good results. It was more popular for counters in the 40's, and as you know, Alvar Aalto used it on his tables. My favourite was a large circular table with a lazy susan built into the centre, surfaced with linoleum, commissioned for a family cottage near Barrie. As far as I know is still in use.
We've got soapstone countertops and it's fine. But when our new house budget was not going to allow for a 48" x96" soapstone island countertop, I built the top out of a sheet of 3/4" prefinished maple plywood left over from my construction of the kitchen cabinet boxes. I laminated the maple plywood to a sheet of 3/4" sheathing plywood and attached a strip of 3/4" maple to cover the raw plywood edges. I figured it'd be OK for a year or two until we could afford to replace it with soapstone. That was eight years ago. It still looks pretty good.
What about paperstone or richlite? Color selection is not great but they seem more sustainable than most options.
We have all soapstone counters in our kitchen. Quebec material, all natural, needs an occasional application of mineral oil. Waterproof and non-slip. Repairable if it gets a scratch or scuff.
I saw that news and was so sad. I love my Caesarstone counters!
We chose Caesarstone in 2012 for an apartment renovation of kitchen and bathroom counters for its durability and (most important for us) reduced retention and spread of bacteria, especially in the bathroom. The problem of silicosis wasn't on our radar then. The counters are in perfect condition and need no renovation for our purposes. Now, silicosis could be controlled by proper safety enforcement and possibly enhancement of processing techniques. There could still be a problem of dust-spread when making field adjustments to fine-fit a pre-fabricated countertop. Effective masking seems to be the best line of defense for field-work, and automated cutting should resolve 'factory' produced silicosis.
Good Lord, what a waste of writing space.
Lloyd, you wrote: "Notwithstanding the Australian complaint of 'persistent lack of compliance,' that kind of argument usually holds sway in the USA, so it likely won’t get banned. But reading reports like Deadly Dust: Engineered Stone Is Making California Workers Sick suggests that designers shouldn’t be specifying it and consumers shouldn’t be buying it"—but the whole argument is that YES, it *IS* all about compliance! Why have rules at all if they're not being enforced? This is the same argument to be made about a whole host of things in the news these days: illegal immigration, insider trading by Congressional representatives, defamation, and political corruption, to name but a few.
I find it quite amusing that you think that a 93% natural stone countertop is somehow LESS safe, practical, and sustainable than is one that's just ~66% (Silestone) but then go on about how Portland cement that's used in Icestone is "bad", or that the vast, vast majority of Formica and plastic laminate options on the market are made out of petroleum-based distillates.
Wood is a lousy option for countertops, which is why butcherblock is used on islands away from heat and water sources, because refinishing them is more easily done than when wedged into corners and around sinks. And all that cutting, forming, shipping, and installing with wood counters is no less carbon intensive than most of the other options. It's almost like you're trying to justify your personal preferences to the exclusion of the vast majority of the homeowner populace.
Quartz is great; sealing is a once-a-year process and can be tied to specific dates that make it easy to remember, like one of the solstices or a birthday or anniversary or holiday. And engineered stone, Silestone, and Icestone all are great. Your top pick of cork? Give me a f—ing break, Lloyd. Do you really think the world could produce 404 million square feet of the stuff to cover *just* the demand for engineered stone alone? No, it can't—and don't even try to defend a comically niche market alternative as something the masses should be adopting in their own kitchen.
You constantly go on and on about using less stuff, about the upfront carbon costs associated with building, but then you say that a countertop that will last a couple hundred years is somehow worse than one that has to be even MORE rigorously maintained and will require replacement several times over in the same timeframe? What an utter joke! It's almost like you think we should be using nothing at all, going camp commando with a spit over the fire, or perhaps nothing more than a wood block like Southeast Asian wet markets use.
Engineered stone is here to stay, and will remain the favorite. Period.
Another recycled glass alternative is Vetrazzo. Expensive but incredibly beautiful to my eye at least. Love the cork idea even more, though-- will look at that one next time a remodel is in order.
I also had a soapstone surface long ago. Nice stone although you definitely need a cutting board since it is relatively soft
I wonder if Icestone could be made with the cement used in C-Crete, the folks who are doing carbon-positive concrete. That’d be a win.
Oh, I just recall a home, where the owner wanted to change the 2 or 3 year old kitchen layout & wanted granite counters to replace the marble ones. The marble was disgusting as juice spills had marked it so it looked like the bottom of a dumpster. I didn't get the job as I suggested Coian rather than granite.
My favourite kitchen I designed around about 2001, we installed a 2nd hand SS sink that has 16" drainage tops on either side built in as one unit. I had small pieces of Corian (30"?) next to those & the rest of the counter on one side (4' 6") was butcher block. The counters on the other side of the kitchen were all Laminate.
Nowadays about 75% of my work is Dr Offices, Pharmacies & Compounding Labs, I almost exclusively use Laminate. I've looked at other surfaces but for cost, flexibility, durability, cleanliness, and, as you point, out low impact Arborite is my go to.