I was told that Corian was more expensive; however, in my neighborhood labor is the driving factor and all the prices came out within $10 of each other. Knowing what I know now, the only thing that I would do differently is to purchase a Corian that does not have a grain to it (I have witch hazel). When there is no grain there are no problems if you need a repair and the seams don't show. No repairs needed yet. So far it has been completely trouble-free and so much quieter, warmer and easier to maintain than the dark granite that I have on either side of the stove. I bought used kitchen cabinets and those cabinets surrounding the stove came with their granite intact. If your stove is on a different wall, I would consider a different surface by the stove as other people (darling husband for instance) have a tendency to pull hot pans right off the stove on to the countertop by the stove and I understand that Corian (all quartz and some granites) do(es) not hold up to heat. I would absolutely install Corian again.

I love my corian and it was within a few dollars of the other brands, almost the same color. I priced at the two installers that we have in our area and I priced at home depot and lowes (they each use one of the qualified installers). Because of a sale HD was cheapest and I knew who would do the work.

"Does anyone know how the various brands compare?"

Corian's patent ran out years ago. Livingstone is Corian under a different brand. Both are superior acrylic products, but your fabricator will pay less for Livingstone and he may share some of that savings with you.

"Is Corian more expensive because they require a registered installer?"

Years ago, Corian decertified everyone and gave everyone a window of time to go to the school and get a showroom and salesperson. They lost half their fabricators, but their warranty claims dropped by 80%. The guys who stayed were happy to have larger slices of the pie.

Fabricating solid surface isn't all that, but you've got to know and follow the rules religiously. In a decade as a Certified Corian Fabricator, I had two warranty calls, both ruled customer abuse by Dupont. The last thing you want is a solid surface fabricator that learned his trade from YouTube videos. Shop for value, not price.

I would want Corian done by a certified installer. It's a wonderful product and will appear seamless if done properly. If not? Not good at all!

I went with Swanstone back in 2003. Like Corian, you could DIY bathroom installs or sink installs, but NOT kitchen countertops. You had to use factory-trained installers; Swanstone's price included basic coved backsplash, straight edge, and installation, priced by the linear inch.

When they did the install, I have 2 corner seams due to the U-shaped layout. The installer spent over 30 minutes on EACH seam, just on the sanding. Our then-partner, who is a natural stone and wood fan who hated "plastic countertops", was sure he could find the corner seam.

He couldn't.