From your description, it sounds like your wood counters didn't take much more care than
my laminate counters do (no cutting, no hot foods, etc.) My dream counter top material is soapstone, but if I ever remodel or build a kitchen, we'd probably go with concrete.
Not exact matches
However, I am more careful than I was with our old granite
counters and I use hot pads and trivets for hot pots and pans like I
did in our old house with
laminate counters.
I think it we
do that
counter over that marble effect
laminate with the edge looks great!
That said, Kevin and I have had (smooth, minimally patterned)
laminate counters in all of our previous homes, and we don't remember ever seeing any scratches on them - even after cutting things directly on them.
I
did a post with some of the «marble» samples we looked at as options, here: http://rindymae.blogspot.com/2013/05/counter-samples.html For anyone else looking into
laminate options, I also have a ton of pictures of kitchens with
laminate counters on my Pinterest board here: http://pinterest.com/rindymae/kitchens/
For me the countertops are often one of the first things to date a kitchen and I worry if we
did splurge on the
counter I couldn't change it out for a few hundred bucks like you can with
laminate.
Not only
do the
laminate counters look drab but the dated appliance and lack of a backsplash made this kitchen a prime candidate for a makeover.
However, since I have no experience with any kind of
counter top except good old
laminate, it
does really help to know others opinions of some of the newer options.
Although under mount can technically be
done with
laminate countertops, we were strongly warned about it, because the seal is basically just clear silicone and if water gets under there - it will swell the
counter tops.
Laminate and ceramic
counters are the only types that
do - it - yourselfers should install, provided that they're good with their hands and have the required patience.
wait,
did i read that correctly???
laminate counter tops???? really??? looks amazing!!
I have hideous matching
laminate cabinets and
counter tops... I wonder if I can
do this to the cabinets as well?
I am in the process of taking the
laminate off... what
did you
do with the left over glue on the
counter top?
We just used a Rustoleum kit to
do our cabinets and will be moving on to a kit of some kind for our
laminate counters.