Counter intelligence — Replacing those tired old tops? There are lots of choices

I've been looking for laminate in all the right places. I've seen a mountain of granite. And I've got solid information on Corian and other solid surfaces.

I hadn't paid a lot of attention to countertops until I decided to replace the ones in my kitchen, which were 20 year old. Soon after, I began noticing the style and type of counters wherever I went: friends' kitchens, ladies' restrooms, fast-food restaurants, checkout lines in grocery stores.

I visited numerous showrooms, including Chris & Dick's, Lowe's, Home Depot, the Roth Concept Center and Legacy Granite in Centerville, to name a few.

In a column in February, I asked for opinions from Deseret News readers. What do you have in your kitchen? Are you happy with your choice and why?

About 40 of them flowed in, telling me about their countertops of granite, quartz, tile, cement, laminate and solid surface. (No slate or soapstone owners responded, although I hear these are the Next Big Thing in elite kitchens in other parts of the country.)

There were glowing accounts of good choices, there were horror stories of remodeling jobs run amok. And I realized that there is no one countertop that is going to suit everyone.

I changed my mind from laminate to granite to quartz to solid surface several times. In the end, I chose the Wilsonart high-definition laminate. I could have been happy with many of the options. But the major factors in my decision were my budget and what would "go" with the rest of my kitchen.

I have a large kitchen with a lot of surface to cover, which drives up the cost. I have a peach-toned floor with a busy pattern, which narrowed my choices. Also, I consider my kitchen as more of a workplace than a showplace. And I don't have time for a lot of maintenance such as sealing and oiling. I was also keeping my beloved 20-year-old cabinets, and wasn't sure if they would hold up under the weight of heavy stone.

I also wasn't concerned about whether the material was "natural" or "man-made." Granite, lauded for being natural, still requires a sealer, which is not natural.

My total cost, including the drop-in sink, came to about $2,500. When I was placing my order, Stephanie Wade, a customer-service representative for Accent Surfaces, patiently went through the math with me to show that for $700 more, I could use Simplicity (a solid surface similar to Corian) and get a cool-looking seamless sink and some fancy edging to boot. But the Simplicity colors seemed drab to me.