I've had very positive experiences with SS counters. I had an 8' SS island in our last kitchen, with the clean up sink (integrated). I loved it - so easy to care for. In my new kitchen I have a 10' run with SS again, with the integrated sink again - still love it. I have/had a marine edge on my SS counters, important if you are using it near a sink I think. Main pros are the look, the easy care and clean-up. Cons - not particularly cheap, and SS counters do develop a patina quite quickly. I quite like the patina, some may not.

We have stainless counters to each side of our range and love them. We were prepared that they would scratch, and they certainly do, but I can appreciate the 'patina' and the appearance with the scratches. Some people get more of a brushed finish, but ours was just plain ol' stainless sheets formed for us my the local sheet metal shop, also our HVAC person. (DH made the underlayment for the counter to the size and thickness we wanted and took it to the shop to have it wrapped. Then DH brought it home and dropped it into place...Easy.) The under $20/sq ft price was a plus for us, too! Without an integrated sink, there's not much to it, so I would recommend a sheet metal shop over a specialty counter fabricator for the better price.

Ours is 18 guage, or is it 20, and I think it probably would've been better to use 16, as we have a couple of tiny dings...But they're not enough to bother me. To see if I could like the counters after they were scratched (wasn't sure I was a 'patina person'), so I just looked at the paint counter at Home Depot...I figured ours would never get that much abuse, but I wouldn't mind if ours ever looked like theirs, so I'd be OK with the appearance.

You can set hot things on it (pans off the stove or out of the oven, and small appliances like the waffle iron or panini grill), and I sometimes roll dough on it. We just wipe it down with a damp cloth to keep it clean, and nothing stains it.

We don't have a marine edge...I'm not sure I'd want the raised edge to go up and over to wipe them off, but others, like Sochi and Igloochic love it.

I had stainless steel 2' x 2' countertops on each side of my stove in my last kitchen. I loved them. We put rock board under them so they didn't transfer heat to the wooden cabinets, and they made for great landing spaces for hot pots. They were shiny-spotless at first and quickly developed a patina that looked great in its own way. I would do all SS countertops this remodel too if I had the chance, but I couldn't make economic sense out of covering up perfectly good granite.

(On another topic -- Sochi, my Karbon isn't installed yet. Waiting . . . waiting . . .)

rc

Thanks for the responses. Another question...how many different counter-top materials can you have without going overboard? I'm thinking soapstone around the perimeter, 2 islands, maybe with marble, then ss on either side of the range. Too much?

It's said you can't be too rich or too thin. I'd like to add have too many favorite countertop materials!

Two different countertops seem almost the norm here, three quite common, and I'm sure I have seen four or more and the kitchens look great. I have three, may end up with four as I still need to have a small island built.

I have 4 cabinet finishes and 3 countertop materials. :-) Go for what you love. The 3 you've chosen are classic kitchen surfaces each with their own strong pluses and purposes, and seem like they'd go together fine.

If I'm reading your username right, there are sure lots of us Puget Sounders on the forum lately!

Rhome, where are you??

So. Kitsap. :-)

Our stainless countertop will *hopefully* be in in a week to two weeks. So tired of waiting!

Our kitchen island has a stainless top. Due to getting a stainless counter and not wanting to be too matchy-matchy, we're replacing that stainless top w/ butcher block (and to warm the place up a bit) but my point is that the 8 or so years we've had w/ the stainless island top have been FABULOUS DAHLING. It's hard to scratch in any noticeable way (beyond the tiny light scratches which are the patina for lack of a better word) - which is to say most people don't think to just start cutting on it and they'd have to cut pretty hard I think, to hurt it - and it doesn't easily dent unless you get the cheapest option (18 gauge, I think. You want to get 14 gauge which is tougher) and it's reflective and bounces light around beautifully. It's like a chameleon - it changes appearance depending on wall and ceiling colors and lighting and time of day. If you're going for the more period look, it looks so nice w/ marble and wood.

Bla bla bla...I'm always sticking out my two thumbs up re. stainless countertops...kind of a broken record here! Lol! Let's just wait and see how much I like it when it's IN!! ;)

Just realized that I could share where we got our stainless counters done, if you're interesting in having a sheet metal shop do your counters, as we did. You can email me through 'my page' if you'd like.

sochi and anyone else w/ experience -

My stainless counter will be around a sink, but I really don't want to get a marine edge. Is there a reason stainless would be more prone to water spilling on the floor than other kinds of countertop materials, cause of how slippery it is or something? Oh jeez...i can't believe I'm only getting around to asking this now! I hadn't considered whether water might sort of "stick" to certain materials better and quickly slide off others. I'm trying to give it a more period look - kind of like zinc would have been in a buttler's pantry - and that would have been a thin metal (more like an inch as opposed to the standard 1.5") and would not have had a marine edge.

Thanks!

Theresse, I don't have the marine edge...and don't have it by my sink, so my opinion may not count, but I have had the coffee maker decide to empty its contents onto the stainless counter instead of into the pot. I don't think it's any different than any other material for liquids. I'm just not a fan of the marine edge for myself, so if my whole kitchen was in stainless, I'd still have the regular edge. HTH

My metal countertops (copper) don't have a marine edge either, and I can't say it troubles me any. They are just like any other flat counters -- pour enough liquid on them and it flows off at some point. :-)

thanks, rhome. I would LOVE to have your info. And any more you might be able to give me.

I'm sure that SS is not more slippery than any other counter. I think you only hear of it with SS counters because it is relatively easy to do. The marine edge I have with my current counter is far more discreet than the one I had in my old kitchen. I prefer the look of a regular edge, and suggested to my husband that we do without the marine edge this time, but in the end we went with it, and I don't regret it. I don't think we'd seriously consider having a clean-up sink without ME now, too convenient. The one I have now is barely visible to the eye but holds back the water. Perfect.

(I guess I'm a messy cleaner-upper, without the marine edge there is always water on my floor and all over my pants half the time. Never with the edge).

I guess the marine edge would prevent that wet tummy thing that happens at the sink. ;-) But I just like sweeping things off without going over a speed bump...and I just like the look of square edges. Positives either way, I'd say.