Copper counter or SS counter owners...question!
analysisparalysis
13 years ago
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igloochic
13 years agotheresse
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Compost bin: on counter or below counter?
Comments (34)Ahhh... wow. Never know what you'll find when you google. There was a thread - many threads no doubt, on this subject but at least one to which I contributed a couple years back. I googled and found this on pinterest, which I've never even visited; it's my kitchen!: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/44543483788641019/ Let me report that a couple years forward I consider my long-standing compost issue a complete non-issue now. All those years buying expensive compost buckets that break, being given wacky devices with filters and odor soakers and the rest .... all nonsense. For me, the solution was simple in the end. I have two sinks. Next to one is built in an open shelf, into which I set a plastic square food-service type bin. They're cheap, about $5 for the container and the same for the cover. They are, therefore, easy to replace for little money, but being plastic and a heavy duty good quality plastic at that, just don't need replacing. I think I have replaced them once in a couple years? Or maybe I just thought about it ... I do find that the opaque and not clear bins are better. Having an open shelf for the bucket makes it easy to just stuff the container in there off the counter when I am overtaken with a rare fit of cleanliness. I usually grab it back out within 5 minutes, but it's easy when the shelf is open like that. I have three bins total, a 4qt one and 2 2qt ones. The 2 qt ones fit, end to end, in the space as pictured on pinterest. It's the top of a totally groovy, very expensive rev-a-shelf double bin trash pullout. The cans are stainless steel and hence worth their weight in gold, evidently. The small sizes work great for me, I think the small container is 10L and the larger is 20L. Here's the piece. On top of that plastic shelf you can make out above the section the bins pull out of, is where I set the two smaller food service bins. Wow, Look at all the products this company has. The bins are called Camsquares, but any food service store will carry them for cheap. My cabinet is taller than the pull out bins need so as to leave space up top on that plastic shelves to set the compost. Those go at the food cleanup sink, the larger bucket at the prep sink. I prefer smaller bins for all of the above and just to take it out more often. Smell is *never* a problem unless I forget that third container back there! Which is just as well, how else would you know there had been an oversight? Do search the archives on GW on this topic. The subject has been explored for years. Some folks have some pretty imaginative solutions, with drawers that have overlids, and inset circles into the counters, etc. For the long haul, I recommend simple=good. Grunge happens and builds up and I think it's better to have cheap, easy, replaceable with time. I scrub my bins every time they come back from a compost dump but still, eventually they get a little grubby. I have nothing invested in plastic tubs, so that's easy to just change out....See MoreSS sink reverberating in quartz countertop!
Comments (6)Quartz countertops are basically inert, therefore incapable of soaking up anything from plumber's putty. This is not the case with natural stone. I'd use silicone. Most importantly, the "teeth" on the sink clamps are not to dig directly into quartz. Have your installer hot melt/silicone 1/4" thick strips of wood to the bottom of the top for the teeth to dig into. Make sure the cut-out has the minimum radii in the corners and while it doesn't have to be polished like an undermount cut-out, it certainly should have all the meanness knocked off the edges. Here is a link that might be useful: Fab Manual This post was edited by Trebruchet on Thu, Apr 24, 14 at 18:07...See MoreWhat Material is YOUR counter top?
Comments (58)Pllog, Well, we are in both in CA, as some would say! ;) I do agree with your comment about granite being the standard because of its perception as being a luxury item. FrmrsDghtr, WOW!!! Love what you were able to do!!! RosySunnyGal, Our counters are Floating Blue which is a mostly turquoise in white cement matrix color. We were able to pick our slabs at the factory when it was still here in the Bay Area years ago. We have several KDs in our area that had samples of Vetrazzo, Icestone and Fuez to look over. IF you are looking for the wow factor, these will do it. With that in mind, I do recommend that you really like your countertop color because it is a very prominent part of your kitchen. They also aren't cheap and I highly recommend that your installer be someone who knows how to work with this material. Our installation fabricators claimed they did and we had multiple problems with them that we finally had to hire a second company to fix. We looked at all of the green countertop materials, and this was the one that my DH and I were able to agree on despite the price. BTW, I don't include quartz or C-stone in this category. I do recommend that you do an online search for recycled glass companies because there are several others besides the three I mention above. The ones that I have ran across are: Gilasi in the Chicago area, Urbanslabs in SoCal, Vetrazzo is now in the Atlanta area, and more that I have seen around the US. I do recommend if you can using one that is near you because of the weight and shipping cost of the slabs. If you are interested in knowing more or seeing some pictures of my counters, please, PM me....See MorePrices of your countertops--all countertops
Comments (23)I am in the central valley in California and I have been getting granite bids for a little over 100 sq ft of counters including an island. Will have an undermount sink. Granite is creme bordeaux with a bullnose edge. Prices have ranged from $3975 to $6500. Interestingly some of the ones using the prefab out of China which does somewhat concern me are not the lowest. This is because of the larger island that requires a fabricated slab. I was all set to go with the $5000 job which meant I was buying 3 slabs and hiring the fabricator seperately. The fabricator is the one who did the kitchen for the guy selling the slabs. I would have about 1/2 slab left over in this case. That is when I got the low bid which at first really caused me to wonder. I had not seen their shop so I went by. I was really surprised they actually have a showroom. Got to talking to them and found they just opened this location and had another location somewhere in the Bay area. Their displays did look good. They do their own fabricating from full slabs and don't use any prefabs. Now I have a quandry....See Moreanalysisparalysis
13 years ago
Circus Peanut
13 years agoNo, no, the shine is buffed off almost immediately and turns into a nice warm glow that gets darker as the metal patinates from raw copper to brown. The copper doesn't reflect half as much as my old polished granite counters, which had the mirror shine.
Here's Mr. Glaring Shiny Ceramic Tile on Mr. Glowing Copper under direct overhead lights:
Circus Peanut
13 years agoAha - AP, I wanted to show you what they look like new, and dug up a pic of them freshly installed. After installing, you will likely want to give them a first buffing with an orbital sander and beeswax, which hones that raw salmon shine.
Honestly, the only drawback to these counters is the need to not let water sit on them for too long so that green verdigris doesn't form. And even then, the green has its fascination ... ;-)
Just installed:
theresse
13 years agomaxmor
13 years agoigloochic
13 years agochriskakev
13 years agoformerlyflorantha
13 years agotheresse
13 years agoanalysisparalysis
13 years agoformerlyflorantha
13 years agoigloochic
13 years ago
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