Did you see the post today/yesterday from Old Skool showing her finished kitchen? If I remember correctly, hers are white.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

We have a white granite for our countertops. Because it has a bit of pattern to it, it hides a multitude of sins...which is a good thing b/c I'm kinda messy.

I hae Misty Carrera Caesarstone. Before that I had white Corian. I love white, love being able to see the messes, love it's neutrality for decorating.

My counters are black granite on the island and white marble on the perimeter. Different materials, but same idea. I think it;s a classic combination in lots of possible mixes. Nothing not to like in my book.

We have polished white Calacatta marble everywhere and we love it! I'd rather know I have crumbs and wipe them off than be surprised by guests finding them later :-) !

The one thing about white counters is the light for working is fabulous, we don't even have our pendants up yet and the recessed cans are plenty enough light. During the day, I don't even really need to turn the lights on because the counters bounce the light from the windows around so much. However, they can almost be blindingly bright when the sun is on them, but I love it because sun is a prized commodity around here.

Wouldn't change them for anything! Good luck!

alku05,
I've seen your kitchen on this website a few times. It's beautiful! I've heard lighter granite is more porous and thus stains easier. Do you find that to be true? We drink a lot of tea and tend to leave rings.....would it be possible to clean something like that off?

Peemps, no matter what stone you're considering, get a sample and stain test by putting drops of everything you can think of on it, letting it sit overnight, then rinsing it off.

It is true that lighter stones tend to be more porous than darker ones. That's why most light stones are resined when they are milled. The resin fills in those pores giving the stone a virtually stainproof surface. To find a resined slab, ask your stoneyard, and look on the edges of the slab for varnish-like drips or an amber coating.

Our counters have resisited EVERYthing that has been dripped on them and left to sit overnight or longer, including marachino cherry juice, cherry pits, strawberry hulls, red wine, hot sauce, and tomato sauce.

Here is a link that might be useful:

kelleg,

I have white zeus Silestone, which is very white. While I wouldn't recommend Silestone, I do love the white countertop. A couple of things have marked the countertop, but came out completely within a day or two.

The only thing is that every crumb shows, so you have to keep them very clean for them to look clean. The other things is that when I had a crack in my original slab, the filler that is used to repair cracks didn't conceal the crack at all. I had no choice but to replace the slab, which might not have been the case if I had a different color.

Elizgone, is that why you wouldn't recommend Silestone? Or another reason?? What white countertop would you do?

Unlike most of the GWers who have Silestone, I've had a very bad experience with it. My slab cracked a month after I got it due to thermal shock. The heat that caused the crack was not extreme by any means and I just don't think that it is the indestructible product that I thought it was.

In addition, I had major problems with the fabricator when they fabricated the replacement for the cracked slab. The edge on the replacement was different than the original edge and there were marks (from the sander) all over the edge. Silestone would take no responsibility for it. In the end, I ended up with a decent countertop, but it was only because my installer did what she could to make it right at her expense.

I haven't looked into the other products too much, but I would probably look at Caesarstone if I had it to do over again. There is someone here on this board that works with quartz and I believe that he recommended Caesarstone. You might want to do a search if you haven't already.

Good luck!
Elizabeth

alcu05,
Thanks for the advice! I wasn't aware of the resin process and I will definitely test some samples.

We had plain old white corian in our last house (installed by previous owners) and I honestly hated it. It just never looked all that clean unless I muticulously scrubbed and toweled it dry. If you go with a white, get some movement to it with a mixture of white/cream colors.

We had LivingStone "Volcanic Ash" installed eight months ago. It's like Corian. The color is basically speckled with an overall white/light feel. It has mostly white with other neutrals--dove greys, light taupes, tiny specks of black and yellow and some darker greys/taupes...I LOVE it. The kitchen feels bright. The thing that I've noticed is that I don't always see spills and crumbs. The pattern does an excellent job of hiding stuff. I wipe it off at least daily but it's quite forgiving if I miss anything.

This is a photo from our still-not-quite-finished remodel:

alku05- what is the name of the granite you used? I love it!

It's called Andromeda White. It looks very similar to the much more available Bianco Romano, but with less movement.

Yes. "Linen" Corian, which I love. Tiny specks hide any little crumbs at a distance, but it's easy to clean, no seams (we don't have any around-the-corner counters), and coved backsplash is easy to keep looking good.

Here is a link that might be useful:

i am working on a export manafucture of stone products, we can supply many kinds of white countertops, bathroom stone sink,onyx vessel sinks, farm sinks, bathtubs and stone toilets, vanity top, stone tile and so on. Anyway, all of our stone products can be custom made according to your required size or specific design. If you need any more information, please contact me. Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.chinasink.com

SPAM!

I have had Danby Marble in my kitchen for 7 years and it still looks great. If you want white countertops, white marble is the only way to go! I am not one for the engineered stone. Especially since it is that industry that started the whole radan scare, which from the studies I have read are not at all accurate. Dirty tactics turn me off of that product and/or company. Marble has a history of use for hundreds of years. Engineered stone doesn't even cause a blip on time tested history side. Maybe it will perform well. Maybe not. Marble also gives you a truly unique look with every slab. Just my 2 cents anyway.

trobs, do you have any pics of your Danby marble countertop? Would love to see it!

Erikanh,

Sorry but I am a rookie at this forum. How do you post pics?

trobs, you need an account on a free photo sharing website. I use Photobucket. It's quick to sign up for an account. Once you're registered, at the top of the web page you'll see "Upload Images" and "Choose files." Click on choose files and browse to whatever folder your pic is in, and your photo will be uploaded to the site. Your photo will appear on your photobucket page and below it you'll see "HTML Code" and a box next to it. Click in that box and the code is copied into your clipboard memory. Then you can paste that code right into your message here on GardenWeb.

Hope that helps. It sounds kind of complicated but it's really not.