Have you considered solid surface, such as Corian? It has several advantages over quartz.

Before you choses a surface you should look for inspiration images that use your other materials. Find looks you like before you go any further.

Do your own investigations, independent of fabricators trying to sell you a particular product or brand.

I love my Corian.

Either is fine. The only thing I have seen in new homes that I really like are quartz counters and farmhouse sinks. When I wanted to refresh my kitchen I wanted a cast iron farmhouse sink. It seemed best to get some kind of stone or solid countertop. My 18 year old laminate was worn and I did like the quartz so I went with it. I have a smallish L shaped kitchen with a small island. I did not do the island - it has a butcher block top. Since my kitchen is not too big, the expense was more reasonable.

Are you able to undermount the sink with laminate counters? If not, that alone would send me right into the arms of quartz.

I have heard on the forum that you can under mount with laminate, but I don't know if I would feel comfortable with that. Laminate has a particle board base and particle board swells if it gets wet - and it doesn't return to its former state when it dries - it stays swelled up.

I did keep my cabinets. I know some say don't put expensive counters on old cabinets, but mine are very sturdy and I think good for another 15 years. Quartz (not to be confused with quartzite) needs very little care - it does not need to be sealed. I do use hot pads and use common sense, but quartz is very durable.

I agree with Jillius...the undermount sink option would make me dismiss laminate without a 2nd look....and I would never trust an undermount in laminate...some do it but I would worry about it constantly so definitely not worth it to me. I have Corian and love it so maybe check it out as a 3rd option.

Agreeing with others here... what about Corian? That or ceramic would be front runners for me

If you have the budget for it, go for the Granite/Quartz/Corian, etc. over the laminate. Certainly, if you want to do a farm sink, no question, you couldn't do the laminate.

Years ago, there used to be a membrane/gasket that was used on laminate countertop cutouts whenever someone wanted to do an under mount sink with laminate. I'm not sure if it's still available. It was a disastrous idea and if it's still available, stay away from it.

My current house was built in 1997. The Quartz countertops are original and still look brand new. We have used and abused them, put down pans right out of the oven, spilled wine, koolaid and turmeric and all came clean. We just bought a house in the mountains, also built in 1997. The laminate countertops were the first thing we pulled out, they were chipped, burned and stained. The previous owners were a retired couple who used it only on weekends for the first 10 years.

If you're on a budget, don't discount laminate. There are very nice modern overmount sinks out there; you just have to search. I'm in the minority here but I chose laminate because I like it. My old laminate served me well without damage after more than twenty years and so far I'm very happy with my new choice.

"Are you able to undermount the sink with laminate counters?"

Yes. I would stake my reputation on any of these. No gaskets.

You can get undermount sinks in laminate now. When I priced laminate it was the most expensive of all of the options. I ended up with Corian witch hazel on the sink and prep side of the kitchen and used new to me granite on the sides by the stove. (DH tends to pick hot pans up off the stove and put them down next to it. Corian cannot take that kind of heat.) The Corian is a breeze to take care of. One of the things that I most like about it is that you can put wet things down on it and not worry about the surface. I think you would have to work really hard to get something to stain it. Everything just wipes up. It is super easy to clean.

I would take laminate over my Corian. I really don't like it at all. It just always seems very dull & plastic to me. It scratches easily & I'm just not a fan of the color of mine either. Have you looked at granite? You can get granite for the same price as some laminates & most is cheaper than quartz.

Very interesting Joseph! I wasn't aware of that company. Thanks for posting that link! I'll have to look further into those here in Canada.

Lynn-in-PA, I want to know more about your laminate and sinks please.

Bring a glass to the store and try setting it down. I decided against quartz and granite because I hate that "clink" of the hard surface, and I could picture things breaking on it. I also read a few threads on here about quartz chipping on the edges. I got Hi-Macs, which is a knock off of Corian with, for my taste, better colors. I love it! Our old countertop was laminate and I liked that, too. I abused it something awful because I knew we would be renovating, and it stood up to everything.

So I took a look through every picture I have saved and all of them have either a quartz or marble counter. There are several laminate options that look very similar, but the more I'm looking at them the more I'm beginning to worry about scratches. I have always had a laminate that hid things well, and I don't think the high gloss on something like the FormicaFX marble option will do that. We have 4 children, we're going to be abusing these counters. However, I'm not a bit worried about more dishes breaking as well.

I hadn't even looked at something like Corian before. I suppose that may be another option we throw in the mix.

As for undermounting a kitchen sink, as was posted above, there are several options for that. However, my husband has his heart set on a stainless steel apron front sink. We have found that Kohler makes a top-mount option of the vault, which would give us a similar look.

Some of the new solid surface patterns are very nice - don't seem to have that plastic look that turns a lot of folks off. The one I am considering looks a lot like quartz. Here's an example: Livingstone Raindance

Missouribound, thanks for asking.

Our sinks are the Kohler Vault sinks. The main is the Smart Divide with unequal-sized bowls. The other is their prep sink.

The counters are Formica, White (yes, just called White) with their Crystal finish and the Ideal Edge on all exposed edges. We had them laminate the underside of the small overhangs above the cabinet drawers and also fold the laminate over the back edge that is underneath the backsplash. They also ran it entirely on the underside above the dishwasher and in my little "tunnel" where I like to sit and prep at the island.

Hi-Macs was triple the cost of our Formica. When I took home the Formica samples, I took a knife to them and the Crystal finish held up the best against my knives.

I have seen many a beautiful kitchen that had laminate as well as Corian. Either is / can be awesome.

Do what makes ya happy.

If you find a low cost solution that still makes ya happy, go for it.. does not matter what it is.

R

Thank you Lynn. I think what you've done looks as good as granite or quartz and with less problems. Rather than hi-jack this thread further, I will PM you.

I am a laminate lover that now has granite in the kitchen. In the neighborhood we built in we had to choose granite or quartz (or marble or quartzite) to match the quality of the homes. We asked if we could downgrade to "fancy" laminate but they wouldn't let us. I wanted Formica 180FX in Travertine Silver. They did allow us to put it in our bathrooms and we love it. The reason why I love laminate is that it's quieter, not ice cold, and it really is extremely durable. We've never had a laminate counter get scratched, chipped or stained. I feel more comfortable with laminate because it's much cheaper than the granite & quartz patterns I like so if I were to ruin it or want a change after 10 years I wouldn't mind so much. We will never ever be replacing our granite unless the whole counter cracks in half, haha. It wasn't cheap and it's heavy and a pain to remove. I hope we like it forever!

Quartz is great I've heard but it's not necessarily damage proof, it has its faults as well. One of my new neighbors (we both moved into our new homes 3 months ago) got quartz and it was installed with weird streaks and a few scratches on it that couldn't be removed by hand. The installer had to buff it out somehow. Another neighbor got a different quartz and I think it stained from some sort of kid's paint or maybe food. It's only 5 months old maybe. Hopefully the stain can be lifted.

I loved only one quartz I looked at for my kitchen...I'm not a fan of the marble-look quartz nor do I like the speckled options or the ones with glass chunks/glitter and I think the reason why I didn't favor most of the quartz choices were that they didn't have the depth or glow of natural stone...they were just missing something. Some of the Cambria options looked like swirled melted plastic or crayons to me (one of the popular choices here on Houzz). The one I liked was from Caesarstone but when it came down to choosing we went with granite (I love discovering new details in it daily) partly because it was around $1,000 less and we had to budget for many upgrades and since I knew I would be happy with either counter I chose to save money.

All counters have pros/cons but I consider laminate to be extremely durable.

Hello Kimberly Ray,

Congratulations on the kitchen remodel!

One of the advantages of quartz countertops is that they offer superior strength and durability. Quartz will give you the timeless beauty of natural stone, with a harder and more durable surface. Cambria Quartz is also nonporous, and has been certified by NSF International (the Public Health and Safety Organization) for food and splash zones in commercial kitchens. That's the same certification as stainless steel. There's no safer countertop for food preparation! For a full list of advantages when selecting quartz, we invite you to visit our website.

Regardless of your choice, we wish you the best of luck with your kitchen remodel!

I have solid surface on my island with undermount sink, and laminate in a fun color/design on my perimeter counters. We remodeled our 1965 house two years ago and never would consider one of the stones or quartz for a house of this era. I love the solid surface - you should definitely consider it. Mine are Formica brand, not Corian which has become kind of the generic name for solid surface. I figured with the laminate counters, they were inexpensive enough that I could go with the crazy blue and not feel terrible about replacing if I need to.