experience with wood counters?
springplanter
9 years ago
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Annette Holbrook(z7a)
9 years agoannaship1
9 years agoRelated Discussions
wood countertop?
Comments (10)Miffy, try the kitchen forum...quite a few there have beautiful wood countertops, and have dealt with the potential of water in various ways. We just got our wood (sapele) for kitchen countertops and will seal it with Waterlox. No doubt there will be some maintenance down the line (light sand and recoat?), but it has a great reputation for sealing out the water. In a previous kitchen, we made maple countertops and sealed with polyurethane, and that worked just fine as well. In our current laundry room (which doesn't have a sink) we used the most affordable countertop of all...Ikea's butcher block, oiled once when new. When it gets soiled, especially from liquid detergent spills, I scrub it with Seventh Generation All-Purpose spray cleaner, and it comes completely clean. Ideally, you'd oil it from time to time, though I haven't and after 8 years of light use it looks like new. In a kitchen, you would oil it at least annually, I think. If you coat with polyurethane or Waterlox, I suspect your finish will last for many years. My dining table was finished with polyurethane probably 30 years ago, and only recently, after heavy use for all meals, crafts, and homework, have I started considering refinishing. To me, that's heavier use than my laundry counter gets....See Morereal life experience with quartzite counters?
Comments (22)This is a year old, but I saw it pop up, and for anyone looking for info on staining with white quartzite, I have rare experience that I wish I came across a year ago. :) So... My quartzite...it won't etch. But, it is thirsty. It soaks up oil and water and does not always evaporate it back out. It was sealed with tenex proseal 2x. I can only guess that quartzite is very very sensitive to the type of sealant used, so be sure your fabricator knows what they are doing. I think that is the key. I have read that people with my same stone have had great luck with granquartz. Anyhow...my stone had some fabrication damage not related to the water and oil staining, but the inner parts that were not damaged have staining issues. And here is the puzzling part. Although the same slab, and identical in look, not all sections of my counter perform the same. The sample I took home from the granite yard, and the middle of my island? Truly bullet-proof. I cannot get them to soak in oil or stain. The middle of my island is pristine and still looks new, despite seeing the most food action. However, the perimeters are extensively stained. Water and oil. It just soaks it up so quickly. At first, I would poultice a spot out here or there, but it became so frequent and extensive, I just quit because I don't want to live with acetone paper towels on my counter every single day. I got the quartzite because I wanted the look of marble without the upkeep, but I cannot imagine that marble is harder to take care of, as the water and oil stains happen so quickly and are so hard to remove(or won't come out). And, darker stains bother me more than etching would...Here are a few pics: See all those darker dots? I placed a kitchen towel down as I washed a few pots. I placed them down on the towel, and when I came back to dry them off and put them away, these water spots were there. That was about 8 months ago. All the way to the left, by the range-do you see that darker area? That is oil staining. I have splatters from cooking, and I wipe them down quickly, but... I share this info as quartzite is touted as a surface that does not stain, but mine did. Many people here have great luck with this stone, so I really feel that my experience could have been different if my fabricator knew what he was doing. Perhaps some of this stone is super porous, or perhaps the issues may have been due to the wrong sealant, or even another chemical my fabricators used. They ruined the edges during fabrication, so perhaps they compromised the inner areas as well. I cannot say for sure...Just be sure your fabricator does not think this is just regular old granite, like mine did...it is different. I hope this helps someone!...See MoreCalling allison0704 and other wood countertop owners!
Comments (9)@kharamarie...Thanks so much for the compliment! I worked tirelessly to research my choices, with much help from this forum. To answer your question, I ordered the CT through my cabinet company, which was Wood-Mode in the Chicago Merchandise Mart. I suppose they added a finder's fee, but by then I didn't care. Head's up: it was expensive. Craft-Art is somewhere down south, Georgia maybe, so a local company did the templating and installation, subcontracted by Wood-Mode. One more thing: for aestheic reasons, I wanted the plank style, against the advice of Craft-Art, who said that edge grain would be "harder." They seem to be right, as one drawback to my plank style application is that it dents and scratches rather easily, so it's best not to drag things across the counter (ask me how I know!). Also, if you drop something heavy on it -- say, a large silver tray you are polishing a week after the CT installation -- you'll get a ding. Fortunately, these are blips I can live with, as I view my kitchen as working space and use it constantly. I'll admit I was aiming for a showpiece kitchen, but this is primarily because it's the first room you walk into from the condo's front door. Weird layout, I know. Good luck! Angelina_101 Here is a link that might be useful: Craft-Art web site...See MoreExperience with Lemurian blue kitchen counters?
Comments (5)I had never heard of Lemurian Blue granite, Wow! It is beautiful. I will admit though that the first phrase that came to mind was "Its a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." This granite is intense, busy, in you face--that is what makes it attractive. But that is also what would make me tire of it, in about 2 days. How do you decorate around this? How do you put anything on the counter without it looking instantly like "too much"? So, think carefully--does this granite reflect your decor style as you know it to be? Or just as you think you want it to be?...See MoreSuziKD
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