Stainless steel countertop questions
crl_
9 years ago
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Fori
9 years agocrl_
9 years agoRelated Discussions
DIY Stainless Steel Countertop? Help with faucet hole!
Comments (5)Hahah Hollysprings - Oh goodness no! I didn't bend it or make it. Sorry if I was misleading (new to posting here). I bought the rectangle pre-fab'd and am hoping to put a drop in prep sink. It was a "bone yard" piece at a manufacturer near me. There's damage on one corner, but not significant. I don't have to put a sink in it, but a little prep sink would be nice, and I can make it work in my existing kitchen, so figured I'd do as much of it myself as possible. Davidro1 and lazygardens - thanks for the advice. I am getting to the googling now....See Morestainless steel countertop alternatives
Comments (7)Have you checked with the kitchen forum? If you're near the SF bay area, the company that did my stainless counters (Industrialists--I recommend them unless you're in a big hurry) would probably be able to give you a ballpark quote by email--if you're not needing an integrated and/or custom sink, it might not be that bad. While there are some companies such as Elkay that custom make stainless counters, I don't think that there is a difference between a metal fabricator who makes counters and someone who fabricates metal counters. :)...See MoreStainless Steel Counters
Comments (43)Our sink was an off-the-shelf, 18 gauge undermount sink. Our fabricator welded it into the countertop, and you really can't tell that they were ever separate. No seams, nice clean lines. You can judge for yourself! It's true that you can't integrate just any sink. It has to be a certain thickness and quality in order to weld it onto the countertop, and the sink manufacturers' specs don't necessarily tell the whole story. The sink may have been made out of 18 or 16 gauge steel, but after it's stamped and stretched into shape, it may no longer be that thick. When we first met up with our fabricator, he was complaining about having just welded a Franke sink into a countertop, because there was so little material to work with, the sink having been thinned out quite a bit during manufacture. The sink we ultimately went with happened to be in the fabricator's shop already, so we bought it off him, and he knew he could weld it....See MoreStainless steel countertops
Comments (14)Yes, we have stainless countertops in our mostly-done kitchen remodel. We did an integral sink as well, which turned out fantastic. There are some pictures here: http://forums.thathomesite.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0517363630476.html?13 Note that we repainted our walls since these pictures were taken, they're now a light blue-gray, not too far from a robin's egg blue, and I think the color combination you're describing would work well. Our backsplash is white subway tile, and we have a refinished Doug Fir floor (the original 1914 floor!), so we definitely have a similar palette to you -- I applaud you on your excellent taste ;-) We got a pretty wide range of prices - I think the highest quote we got was something like 2.5 x the lowest quote (and the one that we eventually went with). The highest quote was from an architecture / interior design firm, the lowest quote was from a company that primarily does stainless steel fabricating for commercial/industrial applications (ducts, hoods, stainless tables, counters, etc.). We got less hand-holding with them, but were very happy with the product. Only bobble was that I told the fabricators that the subtop would be two layers of 3/4" plywood, which of course is actually less than 3/4" thick. They made the lip maybe 1/16" less than 1.5", and because plywood is thinner than its nominal thickness, the lip obstructed the top drawers. I fixed it by adding another layer of thin (1/4") plywood on top of the subtop, but could have saved that step if I had just explicitly specced the dimensions of the lip as 1.25" or whatever. As far as how the counters are working for us, we've had them in place for about 9 months or so, and we love them -- they're pretty much bulletproof. Having said that, they are prone to water spots and you do need to accept that brushed stainless will show scratches. Lots of restaurant kitchens use brushed stainless -- see if you can get a look at some of their counters, that should give you a good idea of what to expect. I have a friend -- an architect -- who has stainless counters and he said once they got pretty thoroughly scratched up, he did a pass with a random orbit sander to change them from brushed stainless to a more matte finish. He said they turned out well -- I haven't seen them in person, so can't comment. Possibly something to think about though. Anyway, I'm happy to answer any other questions you might have, just let me know....See Moremaxmillion_gw
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9 years agoFori
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