I guess I'm most concerned with the installation process. Since it's a DIY, I'm not sure how easy it is to glue and tap and lock to install the floor. I have seen the comparison of laminates and Wilsonart seems superior (the guy at the flooring store had samples). I was impressed! But now that the time has come to install, my concern is the installation. I don't want to screw up my floor! It just seems that so many laminates lock like the Armstrong, so it seems like it's an easier process. I've never installed a laminate floor. Is the Wilsonart easy to do, for a beginner?

It is to "seal" the raw end cuts so moisture will have a hard time penetrating the core. Very wise thing to do on any laminate product. And some pieces may have to glued to run underneath a door jamb.

Hi JaneinColorado, I'll take some pics tomorrow when it's light out when I don't have to use the flash and can hopefully get a better picture for you. It doesn't really have much veining, it's more of splotches of gray, white and black. We just did a normal edge and I colored it with Sharpie to take away the small bit of brown and white that was showing. I'm sure it would look good with a rounded edge too and it would be nice not to have any seams on the edge, but in our case it was much less expensive to go with the traditional edge profile. It worked out because I actually prefer the look square edge anyways :) Another option that I considered was the Formica basalt in a honed finish. The dealer near us had the Wilsonart soapstone in stock, so I was able to go and see a big piece in person. It's so hard to tell from the tiny samples, so it was helpful to see it in person. We were in a hurry so we just went with the Wilsonart, but I'm sure the basalt would have been pretty too.

Hi Kitchen people, Well, we installed the countertops Friday evening. There was a nice symbolic end to the process--the back corner wasn't sitting flat on the cabinets so I paused, smirked, and jumped my cute little "self" up there to put weight on it. DH was very amused. Jump down. It was all done! Well, except building a backsplash and about a dozen other small projects and the floor to lay... but well, it felt "done" for a minute. IN fact, yesterday we both declared that we felt like we actually relaxed and enjoyed some free time. wink, wink. And we weeded the garden of 6 weeks of weeds and DH mowed the grass finally. THen we settled in for a 10 hour downpour. Photos of said countertop and kitchen to come soon. Glad we didn't build it ourselves. Oh--and the seam doesn't show--it's under the stove edge. DH figured out how to change height of stove to the right height. Phew. Good DH, good.