We've had corian in our bathrooms for 25+ years now. They are okay. Corian is much better suited to the bathroom where there isn't much to stain it. We have it in our kitchen, sink and counters. It was the considered the best at that time. I can tell you that our sink and counters look like HELL now. Besides staining everywhere, our sink cracked and there are cracks around our cooktop. Two months from now we'll have all that replaced and I'll never have it again!!!

We have Swanstone, the same matte finish as Corian but slightly higher heat resistance and more sink colors. Have had Swanstone bath vanity sinks since 1990 and they are perfect, no problems despite heavy abuse with cigarettes and hairdye.

In 2003 we put Swanstone counters and drop-in sink in the kitchen. Love it! Invisible corner seams, so easy to clean up even when I'm working with pastry dough and throwing flour and oil around everywhere. No staining, even with stuff like saffron or blueberries.

There is one stain that's more difficult to get out, though: rust from can bottoms in the sink. They come out, but it takes a couple of weeks to fade completely - which they do - the sink still looks new.

How does Swanstone compare in price to Corian??? Does anyone have Quartz?

Most solid surface mfgs are cheaper than Dupont's Corian and Zodiaq products. Dupont charges a premium 1) because they can, and 2) they rate high in customer satisfaction with both vendors and customers.

Swanstone was cheaper for us because price per linear foot included the simple 4" coved backsplash and straight edge that we wanted anyway. 2003 prices cost us $3300 for 25' of countertop including 2 corner seams.

Like Dupont, Swanstone insists upon certified installers for kitchens, less trouble and more consistent results.

With the popularity of natural materials, it's rare that I do a Corian (solid acrylic plastic) countertop anymore. And, it's usually actually more expensive than granite, which more people happily switch to once they find that tidbit out. The only bonuses to Corian are the inconspicuous seams and the integral sink. You will still have seams, it will just be very hard to tell. Not all colors have the "invisible" capability. It scratches, and the dark colors show the scratches far worse than the light colors. While the material itself is non porous, and it won't stain, the minute scratches in the material will grab and hold on to many different stains such as coffee, grape juice, tomato paste and tumeric. Yes, you can scrub the stains away with a soft abrasive cleaner which gently removes the top layer of plastic, but most people prefer an easier care regimen.

Quartz countertops are 93% quartz by weight, but only about 46% by volume. The other component is acrylic (plastic)resins which give the slabs color and hold the quartz crystals together. It is more heat resistant than the plastic solid surface counters like Corian, but it is definately NOT recommended to place hot pots on any counter material. It will have seams similar to granite, and you can use the undermount sink of your choice. It also comes in some gorgeous colors that don't really exist readily in Mother Nature, like a bright royal blue with mirror specs.

Granite, being Mother Nature made, has a wide variability. There are literally thousands of stones being quarried and sold as granite, and not all of them are equal in functionality for a kitchen. Some will need to be kept sealed and babied somewhat, and some are completely bulletproof and don't require much upkeep at all. This is why it's important that you test the granite you are interested in personally. Granite has the ability to achieve a higher shine in polish than quartz does (because of the acrylic component of quartz) and is less consistant in color from one square inch to the next and from slab to slab. It has natual variations and voids and fissures that are part of owning a natural material. This doesn't make it any less sanitary or suitable for countertop usage.

There is a countertop material for everyone out there, and different people have different priorities about what they want functionwise from their countertops. Just don't dismiss any one type of countertop without actually seeing it in person and investigating it yourself.

I replaced my Corian. I did not like it. Actually, I hated it. It scratches, and removing scratches is NOT the easy fix you expect. My sis wouldn't listen to me and went with Corian to save a few bucks. She is regretting it now

I had corian in my old house in the kitchen and bathrooms. It was such a big mistake in the bathrooms. It stained quite easily with makeup. While I found it easy to maintain in the kitchen, I did not like the look or feel of it at all. It is, afterall, plastic. I much prefer the natural look and feel of granite.

I have Corian in my kitchen now. It was installed in 1983 and is a really nice material for a kitchen if you don't mind plastic. My pattern doesn't show scratches and the integrated sink is the most fabulous sink I've ever had. In a bathroom, it won't matter, but in a kitchen, having something that is gentle on glassware is nice.

I don't really like the look of Corian in many cases, although the whites can look really good. Mine is extra ugly. But I've abused it in the 3 years I've had it and it doesn't show it. So while I've always believed it was bad for a kitchen due to scratching, scorching, etc., I've changed my mind. Good stuff functionwise. Appearancewise, really depends on the room.

I'd get something more interesting for a bathroom, just because it's a smaller area and easy to DIY an update should "something interesting" become "something dated".

I have had this one for about three years. Like the intergrated sink and being light the counter doesn't show scratches.

I have had my vanilla corian for about 3 years and I still love it. I also have the sink. I think if given the chance I would choose it again. It is not a pain to clean. The man who installed it came to my house to give measurements for my bath,saw my kitchen and said, this still looks good. Yes I do have some scratches but it gives it character and you can only see the scratches when you look at it from a certain angle. I did go with granite for my bathrooms and bar area-because it was cheaper and I got remnants of granite and my friends husband had just bought the granite store-so I got a really good deal. Also curling irons can hit granite and not burn.But if you like corian-do it

I put corian in my previous house and loved it so much I installed some in my new home as well. I think it feels better to the touch than the other brands of solid surface. My "premium" grade tumbleweed corian was cheaper than my "budget" (uba tuba) granite, and it was only on this forum that I learned that isn't the case everywhere. I didn't like the way the white integrated sink stained with tomato-based products however, and have a stainless undermount sink in the new house.

OLD:

NEW:

Hmmm...interesting to read other people's experiences. I have Corian in my master bath. It's about 5 years old and has held up really well so far; I don't baby it at all. It's a creamy white with taupe-ish "flecks". I think it was called Rice Paper.

My dad has had a Corian coutertop and sink is his kitchen since it was remodeled about 15 years ago. The only problem with it is the tea stains around the drain in the sink. It is a light peachy/taupe kind of colour and is in pretty good shape considering how much use it gets. I was considering it for my kitchen until I figured out even a mid-grade granite will be cheaper. In my area all the synthetic corian/quatrz materials are about the same price as high grade granite.

I had corian in my old house. It was considered an affordable option to granite, which was all very expensive at the time. While I found the corian easy to keep nice looking (I washed it with a dilute bleach solution), it looked and felt like plastic (which is exactly what it is). I did not care for the synthetic look and feel of it at all. I adore the natural look and feel of real granite, which is what I have now.

I'm not showing you my Corian because it's pink.

But, I do have it in my kitchen. It was installed in the 80s. It is pink with speckles and has a pink sink. It is somewhat dated. However, as a kitchen material, I've been impressed. It looks like plastic and wears like, well, plastic I guess. It doesn't chip dishes, the sink keeps hot water hot, and it cleans up great. The sink can get icky because we tend to let things sit, but it always comes clean. Scratches don't show except on the sink divider where I rest cast iron to wash, and even those buff out with a light scouring when I feel inclined (rarely). I've treated it badly because I planned to remodel but it still looks new.

I would absolutely recommend it for a kitchen IF there was one out there that looked right to you. Needless to say, pink does not look right to me. Some of the whites look pretty nice. But stay away from the pink! :)

I think it would be great in a bathroom.

We had Corian in our previous house's kitchen, and I loved it enough that I'm planning on solid surfaace in the one we're remodeling right now.

I really liked the integral sink; no seams or grout at all, and very easy to clean. We lived with it for 12 years before we sold, and the sink stayed white and new-looking with just an occasional soft-scrub cleaning. I also like the lack of seams and the ability to buff out any minor scratches.

I do prefer the depth and patterns available in marble and granite, but I'd worry about scratches, and of course any stains if I were to forget to re-seal often enough. So the Silestone is for me a great compromise.

There is a lot of backlash against synthetic and/or plastic materials right now, in various areas of life. The key areas that I hear about constantly are in food containers, as well as construction materials (indoor air pollution, etc). Although these hot spots have not directly named/discussed Corian at all, I think the general public's awareness of "natural" vs "synthetic" is only going to increase over the next few years/decades. People are replacing tupperware with pyrex; throwing out nonstick coatings; no longer using their BPA drinking containers; avoiding formaldehyde, resins, VOCs, etc in building products; just looking for greener or organic materials in general. This trend is currently going up, not down.

So if resale value is a concern, I personally would shy away from Corian or any other plastic/acrylic countertop. It is just so visually PLASTIC.

Of course, this consideration all depends on how much you buy into the crunchy-going-mainstream stuff. Or rather, even if you don't buy into it yourself, it also depends on if you think OTHER people, such as a potential future buyers, are likely to be sensitive to the whole synthetic/plastic thing.

Okay, Fori, now I want to see your pink Corian!

My parents have LG Hi-MACs, which is like Corian. They have the seafoam quartz color, and they really like it. My mom is really having a hard time adjusting to the white integrated sink instead of stainless. She feels like she has to really baby it and clean it all the time. However, I have a cast-iron white sink (Kohler) and I don't find it any harder to keep the acrylic sink clean. Of course, I haven't really put a lot of tomatoes in the acrylic sink.

Here, the Corian type stuff is SO much cheaper than natural materials. I did find a granite wholesaler who could get the common granites for about the same price, but most places around here will charge double to triple the price for acrylic. However, the DuPont plant is less than a mile from my house, so that probably has something to do with it.

I'm of the group trying to keep plastics at a minimum (I worry about that darn DuPont plant... the smell is atrocious sometimes). I try to be BPA free, and use glass instead of plastic when it comes to food. I don't have non-stick pans. I use vintage Pyrex instead of newer tupperware/rubbermaid. But I do have some plastic stuff, like ziplocs and saran wrap, and I'm sure there are other plastics in my kitchen.

I don't see the counter the same way that I see plastic food containers though - I'm not heating food in the counter. I feel like plastics are a problem for food when heat is involved, and otherwise, I'm not going to stress about it. So a "plastic" counter wouldn't bother me, but it wouldn't be my first choice. I personally wouldn't choose granite either.

Ehhh corian...yuck yuck yuck. I take a look at plastic counters in a kitchen when I'm purchasing and immediately knock major money off the price. I've had the stuff and I hated it. It feels like plastic, looks like plastic and preforms like plastic (which means it scratches and stains).

I've had it, too, and had relatives who had it, and I also have a yuck reaction to it-- and I think that it is around the same price as quartz, so it's hard to understand how it will stay around. Quartz seems to have all the benefits without any of the downsides. JMO.

Oh-- and to my eye quartz doesn't look plastic at all, at least not the nice ones. I think it looks much nicer than Corian.

C'mon guys--it's a bit harsh to declare Corian the epitome of bad taste after so many on this thread have said they chose it, presumably after looking at and feeling it! If you want to marvel at bad Corian, maybe I'll attach a closeup of mine.

Quartz does lack one excellent benefit of Corian--its softness. Clumsy people with delicate glassware do better avoiding surfaces with no give like quartz or stone.

Oh, when I wrote Corian might be great in a bathroom, I did NOT mean MY Corian...just had to clear that up...here is a closeup of my dirty (yes it's been cleaned since!) pink sink. Functions wonderfully while looking like something Barbie would barf in. Scratches aren't permanent (won't get them in a bath anyway--it takes cast iron to make them) and neither are stains (although rust stains from ignored cast iron take some effort, as they would on any surface).

(By the way, off topic, anyone know if you can get a sink like this in stainless steel? I want the recessed faucet deck in my new sink and counter which won't be Corian...)

I once put Corian in one of our homes, but the it was considered quite high end. Now it's what the bathroom counters in every motel is made out of. That would cause me to think twice about ever using it again, but your mileage may vary.

I've read that the plastics are "greener" than what occurs in mining the granite and quartz. I may be wrong, but that's what I've read lately.
That being said, I also wasn't impressed with the Corian I've seen on display. If I'm going to get into that price range I would likely go granite or quartz.
But, I can't afford any solid surface, and have to go the laminate route, boo hoo. There's always tomorrow, or next decade.
I comfort myself with the knowledge that maybe I won't break as many glasses as I surely would with a solid.

Never liked plastic counters - laminates as well as corian.

In my head the analogy works like this:
Corian:Stone as Paperplates:BoneChina

Hey fori I didn't say it was in bad taste, I just said I hated it :) The question was "do you like corian" and I think it's fair to share both answers (good and bad). I hate the stuff, HATE it.

I actually have the "original" corian in the rental we bought. It's yellowed with age (it was the height of the counter top world in 1976...cutting edge maybe even) but frankly it's lasted better than the 1890's corian we took our of this house. But still...it's plastic to me. Old plastic, new plastic, it's all plastic. Especially the pink stuff ;oP (I've seen far worse pink corians that yours my dear!!!)

Fori, my monitor must not be doing your Corian justice - it only looks very slightly pink! I'm assuming its pinker than I think.

I really like the way my parents counters feel. It's really not as bad as people make it out to be. Sure, it may not be your taste, but I don't like a lot things that everyone seems to like.

I for one love my corian! We have a small kitchen with not a lot of counter space. I couldn't justify spending how much it would have cost to do granite, yes it was more than the corian. I really love the integrated sink, not at all hard to keep clean. Here is a pic of the day it was installed, 4 years ago.

The color is matterhorn, and I have no complaints at all. And to clarify I do have granite in two of my bathrooms.

Laura

A bit more smitten with Richlite and Icestone (neither of which I would likely ever be able to afford) these days but I liked some of the solid surface products we looked at (Meganite particularly impressed me). As to stone being bone china - some but many types have become rather de rigeur (from an aesthetic perspective a laminate may serve a design better than some granites).

Melanie, I have been wanting the LG Hi Macs Azure Quartz since I received my 4"X4" sample in the mail. I absolutely love it. I took a knife and scratched all over it, and there are very fine scratches, but you have to really look for them. This sample to me which is 1/2" thick does not feel much like plastic to me, but I don't know how to describe it. Do your parents' c-tops feel plasticky to you?

In any case, I am happy to hear that your parents like their Hi Macs.

I love the look of granite as well, but I have a friend who has had hers for only two years, and it has these little pits in it. That would bug me. I love Blue Pearl, but I don't know how bulletproof it is, and I NEED bulletproof in my house. I just go back and forth. Pretty soon, I will have to actually make a decision. *sigh*

Waaay back when Hubby and I were in the first stages of our kitchen remodel, we were certain we hated granite and wanted corian or silestone. The thing is, once we actually started looking at samples and doing a little research (this was before I found this forum) we could not find a single one that we even remotely liked. Then we started going to granite yards and fell in love. So granite it was, though not your typical granite by any stretch of the imagination. It's been in for over a year now, seriously abused and still looks as good as it did the day it was installed.

We have corian in our PA house, it came with it. I've never been a fan of the look of corian so wish we could change it, but since this is a temporary house (moved here for DH's job) they'll stay.

It's white, so it stains easily. The sink is constantly a disaster. The stains disappear with a cleaner that has bleach, so that's good, but since I use all natural cleaning products everywhere else in the house except on my counters, I don't like it.

since it's white it shows every speck - so I don't like it because of that either. (I'm sure non-white ones are much better.) These are the only corian countertops I've ever had and I wouldn't get them again, but it's more a personal preference - I prefer the look of natural stone. I agree that corian looks way too plastic-y.

I agree with mavmamma's points about synthetic materials not being "green" in terms of off-gassing, etc. but natural stone isn't really green either since it's taking the earth's resources. That said, I chose soapstone for the counters in our summer house because I didn't like the idea of chemicals on my food prep area (it's not synthetic, and doesn't need sealers like granite.) Plus I love the look.

I don't have one of the colors you mentioned, but I do have photos:

I LOVE our counters. They are LivingStone brand, which is virtually the same as Corian. The integrated sink is Corian brand. We are a young family w/4 year old and one on the way. I don't have time/patience for counter maintenance; DH and I both work outside the home and we do most of our own cooking. I wanted a light color with a matte finish. I didn't want laminate (too many bad experiences w/seams lifting etc). I didn't want to deal with keeping sink caulk clean. I didn't want something that would shatter dishes as I am a klutz--now that we have an unforgiving tile floor, I am especially glad we considered this b/c I have knocked many things against the counter in the course of working in the kitchen (and they are still intact, vs the tile where everything explodes into a million specks). An additional plus--our counters actually let some light thru, so the few base cabs we have (as opposed to drawers) are easier to see into.

I can understand the appeal of natural stone and I agree it has depth/beauty that "plastic" doesn't capture; we looked at it, but in the end LivingStone was a better choice for us, financially as well as daily life. I embraced the choice of doing what worked best for me, not what is most popular. Our neighborhood is mostly starter homes, and few of the 1970s kitchens have even been updated. We not only updated but completely changed/improved the layout, which I think will have more impact for resale than natural stone counters. Secondly, we don't know when we might have an opportunity to "upgrade" so doing what works for us was the best choice.

We've had our new kitchen/counters/sink about 1 1/2 years and I have had zero problems. The one "stain" I got was from an orange piece of junk mail paper where water was on the counter and the paper was left in the puddle for a few days and allowed to dry. Bleach took it right out.

Can anyone tell me what it cost to refinish/re-buff a Corian countertop? I have a bid of $75/hour, estimating 3-4 hours. Our 48 sq ft of Corian is mostly fine -- just knife cuts, etc. in some areas.

BTW, this is in a vacation rental condo kitchen on Maui with 86% occupancy. The Corian is 8 years old and other than this problem (due to careless guests) the countertops and integrated double sink look like new.

Here is the cocoa brown you asked about.

chisue do you have the Maui color installed? ;)

If you use cutting boards and wipe spills, there will never be scratching or staining of Corian. If you don’t want to baby your countertop then Corian is an excellent choice and looks beautiful to boot.

We are FINALLY about 6 weeks from demo, and we'll be putting in Glacier White Corian counters. I can't wait (for the whole thing).