Does anyone have photos of their cumaru floors? Gardenchick1, you posted photos way back in '07 of your cumaru floor. Unfortunately, the link to photobucket said that your photo had been deleted or could not be seen. Anyway, I couldn't open the photos, and I'm dying to see your floors, since I'm considering installing an engineered cumaru floor. The only sample I've seen is by Mullican, and it's lovely. But I'm worried that it will look too "stripey" and what I'm really looking for is gorgeous color floors that don't look too busy. I have lots of my art work on the walls, and I want that to be the star of the show, but I want the floors to be unique in themselves. Am I making sense? Can anyone help out there?

My countertops are solid surface that isn't as thick as Corian, but is the same kind of material. It may be a local name because when I google it, the fabricator I used is the only one that comes up under that name. I used this material because they had a blue that I liked . . . I didn't really like the Corian blues, and in my color scheme -- cream cabinets, yellow walls, blue counters -- it was important to me to get the blue color right. My integrated sink is a lighter blue, speckled. The integrated sink is one of the things I like best . . . absolutely NO place for yucch to collect. It almost never looks dirty, but when it gets stained, a quick swish with soft scrub does the job. To solve the problem of not being able to set hot pans on the countertop, I had the area next to the stove inset with tile the same color as the cabinets. I also have one long serving counter done in the same tile so the area by the stove doesn't look out of place. It has worked perfectly . . . I'm thinking my next kitchen will have the same thing. I've liked my solid surface counters a lot. My make-up table is the same product in matte white. I get lipstick and other makeup on it regularly, and just soft-scrub and it comes off. You know the pitfalls -- you may be cleaning more often -- but if you love the look, it will be worth it.

If you want a "heat proof countertop" buy Stainless Steel. Otherwise use a heat trivet. As far as manufacturers of S.S. - LG is a good product very similar in make up from what I can tell but they do not guarantee the installation where as DuPont does. In other words, if your fabricator screws up your installation with LG Hi-Macs you are out of luck because they do not "guarantee" their fabricators work. If on the other hand your "licensed" fabricator from DuPont screws up on your installation, DuPont will cover the problem. You can make sure your fabricator is a licensed "CFI" (Certified Fabricator Installer) by going to DuPonts Corian website or by calling 8004CORIAN. The big issue on this is around the seams in the countertop. DuPont covers them, LG does not. Not trying to say one product is better than another. If you need to save a few bucks by all means look at the imported S.S. Just make sure your fabricator knows what they are doing because the manufacturer doesn't have any "investment" in that regards. P.S. Granite shouldn't crack from heat but when you place a hot pot onto sealed granite it breaks down the sealer and then you can get a stain which is not easily removed if it can be removed at all. Therefore you should always use a trivet. P.S.S. I have also seen Quartz products damaged from heat exposure. It can become "whitened" and once that happens it is permanent.

steph2000: In about two hours, I'm going to refinish two separate solid surface countertops, so I have some familiarity with this. The gloss level of solid surface is determined by how high of a grit I continue to in my progression. On today's refinishes, I may start with an 80 or 120, depending on how beat up the tops are. I start with a used paper first, because if you're not a spotless cleaner, your top crud will clog my paper. I'll go to 240, 320, and 400. I may finish with a red Scotch Brite pad or a 500 Abralon, depending on color, particulate, matte or semi-gloss. I may go to a gray Scotch Brite, which is about 800. It's very seat-of-the-pants and "artsy". I've got 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, and 4,000 Abralon in my arsenal along with MB 20 granite polish, which will all make solid surface look like a car in a showroom. This is a picture of a Corian Nocturne (solid black) making a transition to a lower LG Hy-Macs Cork top on a lanai pass-through I did last week. I stopped at 500 Abralon for both. (I recycled the granite about a year ago.) Topical products like Countertop Magic do a great job of making water bead on countertops and add gloss, but don't remove scratches which can only be done mechanically. The more glossy the surface, the more perfect the solid surface seams have to be. The adhesive polishes more quickly making a glossy line the higher the sheen. One of the biggest advantages of solid surface is making ultra sanitary cove corners nearly seamlessly. You can have a seamed undermount stainless steel sink with solid surface. I've had a single bowl "D" shape in my kitchen for almost 3 years and my wife and I love it. Try the Karran Edge E-540 for a super quality large single bowl.