Any choice you make will have both advantages and disadvantages. We got Corian countertops about 15 years ago and are very pleased with them. They are easy to keep clean, and look as good as new.

I would caution against undermount sink in the kitchen. The reason: If you carry a heavy, very hot pot or pan to the sink, which we do often, you want to place it on a surface that will not be harmed. We have a top-mounted stainless steel sink (Franke), which has held up very well. But of course a lot depends on your cooking habits and personal taste. Good luck with your kitchen project.

Wow, that could be a very lengthy response!

I would first recommend you use the search (on the bottom of the page) to look up numerous threads that deal with the corian vs granite vs soapstone vs etc. There are also threads that deal with sinks.

I am not sure I undertand the word of caution against the undermount sink? Buy a heavy gauge stainless steal sink (at least 18G) and you will be fine! How many people do you know who had to replace a sink, ever? I do not know of any. Even the cheapest ever sink that we had in the old kitchen (20 years old) was absolutely fine. Undermounts are really handy in cleaning the counters because you cna just sweep the crums into it :)

As far as solid surface countertops go, you should be aware that they are not heat resistant and that heavy hot pot mentioned in the above post will damage it.

Do you mean man made solid surface? There are a lot of quartz countertops options that could be classified as man made ast they contain are about 10-7% resin to keep the crushed stone togehter. Common brands are Zodiac, Cambria, CeaserStone and some others.

Zodiac groups their stone into A, B, C, etc price ranges, Cambria sells all at the same price. Not sure about Ceaserstone.

Then there's Corian, and Lowe's has a brand called LC Mac or something like that..not sure!

Than there's Formice, Wilsonart and others.

we have granite and love it :)

Hi, Sistertrace. Since no solid surface is absolutely perfect but the common ones are very good even at their worst, aside from price--a biggie--the best way to start narrowing down is really just by your own preference on appearance. Very shiny, slightly, or matt? A lot of granites are coated with plastic; is that okay, or do you want a more earthy feel? Does function rule over all? Would the black-gray-greige-beige-brown-gold-cream range suit you or would you prefer sunshine yellow? In other words, the place to start is probably with the picture in your mind, then appreciate the virtues and accept the limitations of the materials that suit it. Don't get buffaloed by the overfussing about lack of perfection you'll run into in some discussions. Have fun.

Our kitchen has LivingStone solid surface counters--a Corian-like product. Our sink is a huge, integrated Corian sink. I LOVE the counters; although Corian is not perfect for everyone, it's a good fit for me. I do not place hot things on any counter, never have. The integrated sink means no more gross sink caulk (sorry guys, all my life every kitchen I lived with had gross sink caulk), and the satin sheen (not sure what it's called) and warm, resilient feel appeal to my senses.

Definitely search for GW for pros/cons of the different solid surface. None are perfect, and the ones that come close are (to me) $$$.

Interesting caution about undermount sinks. How much weight should a sink reasonably be expected to hold? I think our largest pot is 12 quarts and guess that's about a quarter or so of the water our kitchen sink would hold if filled completely. I like undermounts because of the "free" additional depth and the lack of a rim.

We have corian with an undermounted *stainless* sink--love it. We do have sink caulk but no problem with it so far, with a slight positive reveal.

NO downsides to our experience with corian--I esp. love it because it's very forgiving. Stains can be discovered a few days out (say, under a bag or something) and they come right up.

We got ours polished a bit to a light sheen, not the usual corian matte--with the color of the material (corian green tea) it looks like water--really beautiful, if plastic can be beautiful :)

One thing I'd recommend is getting bigger samples from whatever company you are interested in rather than trying to judge from the tiny samples. Big samples show the movement over a larger space, which is esp. important with the more recent corians that have veining. They cost, but you can then have a nice inventory of trivets :)

Thanks for the tips! I have been reading up on the threads regarding solid surface counters and also checked out the finished kitchens board. Regarding my new kitchen, I will have a stainless steel undermount sink. Cabinets will be rustic pecan from Dynasty Omega. Hardwood floors in a medium to dark finish. Island countertop will be butcher block. I will not be installing granite as it is too expensive. (We are a couple of hundred miles from the nearest granite yard so mileage and time for templating and installation will kill us before the price of the granite is even considered.) That is why I am going with solid surface. I prefer a matte finish rather than shiny and am leaning toward darker, earthtone colors with a stone look. I know about the issues with the heat but have never had anyone in our household set a hot pot on the old yellow/gold laminate counter so I don't anticipate that as a problem. (My KD says you can't use griddles or the George Forman type of grills on solid surface without a trivet or hot pad underneath. Anyone have experience with this?)

We have Corian Flint with a Moen Stone undermount sink. The only issue I have is that with the dark color scratches can show. That may or may not be an issue for you.

As for the sink, we put tons of heavy pots in there. I honestly don't feel its a problem with today's sinks. I mean you can fill your sink up with water to wash dishes, so what's the difference? I have a negative reveal on my sink and love it. I can't imagine going back to the drop in.

I usually don't sit hot pans on my counter, maybe its the layout of my kitchen, but I can easily dump hot water into the sink from the stove and if I need to place a hot pan on the counter I just use a trivet.

I had white Corian for 15 years (with an undermount ss sink) and loved it. But one day I placed a hot pot on the counter and it cracked. I had been told that Corian was easy to fix, but what I didn't know is that you have to have "replacement parts", i.e. leftover Corian that matches your counter so the workers can cut it to size to replace the cracked area. Well, 15 years after buying the counter top, I had no Corian just hanging around to use. And the shades that Corian comes in have changed. So now I have new counter tops...granite. Lesley

A clarification about my caution about an undermount sink: If you have a heavy pot of boiling water in which you cooked a pound of pasta, it is easy and convenient to rest it on the "lip," the edge of a stainless steel overmount sink, before you pour the contents of the pot into the colander in the sink. With an undermount stainless steel sink you cannot rest the pot on the edge of the sink if your counter top is heat sensitive, say, corian. You would have to put a trivet near the sink opening. As I said, it depends on your cooking habits and personal preferences. For us, this was an issue that steered us away from undermount.

Dark colors in Corian show the scratches far worse than light colors will, and everything scratches it. It's sorta like your stainless sink. THe first scratch or two will kill you, but if you wait long enough, the patina of scratches becomes virtually unnoticable.

I wouldn't bet that granite is all that more expensive than Corian. Most of the granites have come down in price quite a bit, and usually all of the major players (granite, quartz, plastic-i.e Corian) are all about the same price or very close when choosing a basic color and basic edge. Our major fabricator only charges $1 a mile one way if it's more than 25 miles from the store for extra milage, so don't rule out other choices just yet unless you truly don't find them attractive or functional for your particular kitchen.

50 quarts?! Isn't that about 100 pounds when full? I can't imagine lifting anything like that in the kitchen, except perhaps with help to install it. Do you have a pot filler and siphon to drain it, or are you a strongman competition winner?