A family friend is a contractor - he looked in the attic with me and confirmed the wall is not load bearing.  That’s a weight off my shoulders ....

Are the drawers you are referring to the ones that close softly - almost like a hydraulic action?  Those are nice.  What kind of flooring did you go with?  I think we’re going to wind up with laminate.  I really like the wide plank hardwood, but too costly.

Yes the soft drawers to keep my idiot children from slamming the faces loose.  Floor is red oak. already had it but had to get a floor guy in to repair and refinish.  the original cabiniets were put in before the floors were done and after removing a wall we had to have some wood added.  We also pulled up all the carpet in the house since there were wood floors under them.  Lots more expensive and I will grant better looking floor choices out there but it suits me.

Resurrecting an old thread, but newly joined member…

We re-did a kitchen and a bath, and had gone through all the choices at the big box stores and some local outfits, and thought the man-made stuff was just a bit out of our reach, but we wanted something more natural than Corian. We ended up with real granite for 2/3 the cost of the man-made stuff at Home Depot.

The secret was that we found a company that imports them pre-finished, pre-edged, in standard-size slabs. Most of the expense involved in real stone is the finish work. If you can cut down on that, you can reduce your costs drastically. For instance, using through-mount sinks instead of undermount is a real money-saver. For instance in the bath, the difference was like $300 for the one sink opening. With a through-mount, all they need is the template with the cutout dimensions and they chop an ugly hole through the stone - you don’t care because you’re covering it up! But an undermount requires a LOT of finish work and real pretty edges to make it look right. Also, having special edging or drain slots cut in really increases your cost.

Hope this helps you.

I’m in the midst of redoing countertops only, but like David said, I’m cheap…

last year we redid the island with a 12x12 granite floor tile and it’s done really well.  Small, grey grout lines are barely visible.  Put some brushed aluminum edging (actually cost more than the tile) and it’s a nice clean modern look.  The tile was $2/sq.ft, the edging wsas about $3 a linear foot, so the 3x8 island/bar cost me about $200 and a weekend all together.  It was worth the risk.

The nice thing about the floor tile is that it’s annealed (or something like that) so the surface is effectively glass.  Hot pans, red wine, whatever, no worries.  The grout is a little trickier (about every three months we go over it quick with a toothbrush) but this new teflon grout is great.  Again, no staining, but some issues with things like gravy or flour (subsequently wetted).

Steve

I really, really would like soapstone countertops.  Pluses:  they are acid neutral (no sealing) you can put anything on them heat wise, they are soft to touch, and have a timeless beauty - they develop a patina over time.  Minuses:  they can scratch, (but these can also be buffed out if you want.) You have the choice of oiling them or not (they turn dark when you oil them) and there limited colors - different vendors carry different types. 

I prefer a more natural look, and though the quartz is beautiful, I know my eyes would get sensitive to the busy grains - don’t want granite because of sealing/heat issues (I want to be able to put a hot pan down and not worry about my counter cracking.)

When we visited Woodstock Soapstone (in January) they had a gorgeous more “relaxed” soapstone countertop display.  I know someone who has ones from Vermont Soapstone, and they are also stunning in a more modern, small kitchen.  What I really like about soapstone is that you can cut it with wood tools.  There are also excellent “how to” videos on You Tube on moving, cutting, installing etc. soapstone.

http://www.youtube.com/user/paulsoapstone

They are worth looking at if you think you may want to try this yourself. 

I keep checking CraigsList to see what they have, and around Boston a place called “Buy the Bundle” carries remainders, and they do have soapstone slabs at good prices.  I wouldn’t buy granite that way, as I couldn’t fabricate it - I know I could work with soapstone.

Hestia

I installed a new countertop a few years ago using 12 x 12 porcelin tiles and used epoxy grout. With this combination there is no sealing required, but the epoxy grout is much harder to work with. Two years ago we moved, and my wife wanted to take the countertops with her.

Funny, I just used epoxy grout on my hearth, and I found it much easier working with than plain sanded grout.  I did use a mixer, and worked quickly in small batches.  It did require a bit more care with water/vinegar washing, but overall I am very happy with the results.

Hestia

After much research and deliberation, I chose Corian. It requires no maintenance. The only downsides I found were that it does scratch relatively easily. The scratches are minute and won’t be notices if you get a satin or flat finish when new. Varigated patterns (I got a granet look) also hide scratches, as do lighter colors. The other downside is that it can be melted by setting something realy hot on it. I have not had that happen in the 6 or 7 years that it has been in.

After going through two formica countertops in the previous 20 years, I wanted something that will last the rest of my life with minimal maintenance. The Corian fits that bill very well. Should it get damaged, it can be easily repaired so that the repair cannot be seen.

Another reason I chose it was because my kitchen walls do not meet at exactly 90 degrees.  The countertop builder made a wooden template of the whole countertop and went back to his shop and made it a custom fit.  It was expensive to the tune of about $3000. for a small kitchen. I figure a lot of people will spend that much on a vacation or options on a car. I will live with this countertop for the rest of my life ane consider it some of the best money I have ever spent. A local building suply place beat the big box store by a lot on price.  The builder was his employee. I am leary of big box stores arranging fabrication and instalation by outside contractors. I am not sure either party then takes the pride and responsibility for the job that the local people do. 

I have Woodmode cabinets that were falling apart and in need of refinishing. The wood was all good. I reglued all of the loose face frames and reinforced them with screws covered with oak plugs. Then I stripped and varnished the cabinets. I needed to add one base and one upper cabinet to match the rest, as part of the remodel.  I built them myself, having gotten into cabinet and furniture making in recent years.

Ideas to consider—if you are going with an electric cooktop, you can mount this so it is “flush” with the counter top, rather than sitting on top of it. This will give you a very nice more usable space when you are not using the cooktop. Actually, it should be installed so it is about 1/16” or so above the counter top to minimize a hot pan hanging over the edge damaging a heat sensitive counter top. Then use high temp silicon to seal between the cooktop and the counter top.

We did the same thing with a glass cutting board, inset it in the counter top, close to the sink, and right over the waste cabinet. Just slide the waste basket out, and brush the waste cuttings into the waste basket. Also works very well on which to set a hot pan taken off the cooktop.

Rather than cupboard doors on the base cabinets, go with full drawers (no cupboard door fronts). They are far more usable than reaching into the back of a cabinet.

For upper cabinets, do the planning as to what and where you will be placing things, and have some cabinets deeper than others to handle the bigger stuff. I made our cabinets out of solid cherry, and we have some 14” shelf depth and some 16” to handle the big platters, etc. None of ours are the stock 11” or so. Do the same things with all the drawers, some larger and some smaller, depending on what you want to put in them. I made two large drawers to fit under the cooktop. These each have 12-1/2” inside height and handle almost all of our cookware.

Consider under-cabinet task lighting, as well as ceiling task lighting. We use this more than the general kitchen lighting

Last, if you can, eliminate the soffit and add small upper cabinets. Gives a lot of storage of seasonal or lesser used items.

Countertop Update

We decided on Silestone as the countertop material for the countertop on the perimeter cabinets and wood for the island countertop.  Silestone has yet to be installed, but thusfar my experience with the subcontractors that the local Home Depot has chosen to work with is less than good…

As for the island, my wife would like wood but not butcher block.  Almost a table top look.  This is good in that I can build it, but not so good in that it will involve some long pieces and I need to do some thinking about it’s design to minimize chances of boards cupping.

Most necessary thing, that a kitchen countertop should be able to withstand constant contact with water. Otherwise cleaning the place would become a difficult job. There are several types of countertops you could use to fit inside the kitchen. You can use stone, laminates, and engineered stone or ceramic tiles.

You have several options from which to make choice from; it can therefore get extremely confusing for you. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages; therefore you will require devoting a bit of time to choose by elimination.

you can compare all materials/kinds of countertops here

hope it helps ...good luck