My kichen vision is blowing up, feeling lost

2 years ago

Ive had this mids eye picture of a bright white kitchen (and house). My vision is bad and I cant do dark things, they sort of disappear. Light, and light colored things are much easier for me.
So it was going to be the ol white walls, white countertops warmed up with lighter wood slab cabinets.
The builder for my small house (1200 sq ft) upped the already crazy high price at the last minute by 100k. To stay on track for a fall build...I digress. Lets just say my budget is 0.
Im a slob. I hate to clean. Corian sounded the best for staining, my chief concern, and can be refinished.
Desgners seem to do Glacier White. Great. Thats picked.
Go to builders tiniest of tiny kitchen shop and my choices are, ENVI quartz. Full stop. They havent had any one do corian in years, they could find some and price it blah blah.
Ok, look at the quartz. The all white looks really dead. Like clear coated paint. Everything else is fake marble and not really white, and not sure how this would look with white walls?
Then I google quartz for staining. See a picture of a round tea ring from a mug. Areas where the resins have been dameged by a cleaner, no acids! Like I cant let my lime wedges sit on the counter? Red wine on glass bottoms from pouring? A sloppy wet tea mug? Coffee? It sounds like a disaster.
I know myself enough to know that I will be extremely sad and resentful if I have to baby some countertop. Id happily do formica but Im already worried about the house appraising.
So do I go with granite? I can wipe a sealer on twice a year altbough I dont care for how hard and cold it is. I can suck it up for not so eady to stain.
There arent really white granites? Do I turn hard left for a black granite? I can find almost no pictures of light wood cabinets, white walls and black granite.
Or do I stay the course and insist on getting them to do white corian and hope I dont get price reamed just because its not something they do?
Thought I had it figured, now Im lost

Comments (10)

Mrs. S
2 years ago
In your position, I would just go with butcher block. It is/can be inexpensive, and beautiful. Many say Ikea has nice slabs. Search for all the threads in here with the search terms "butcher block countertop". In this forum, I've read that people have great success using Waterlox to protect it.
Sherry Brighton
2 years ago
Get the builder to give you credit for the cost of the counters and use the Corian you want. The bigger question is what are you getting in return for 100K more?
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Marie Schatz
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
The butcher block is an idea but.....Im already having trouble "matching" or at least choosing lvp flooring color that looks ok with cabinets. Was going with maple but all the kardean choices in my buildef set price are oak. Adding a 3rd wood might be just as complicated. Then
darbuka
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
For someone who’se not fastideous, as Marie has very definitely stated, I would not suggest butcher block…no matter what is applied to it.

Marie, I hear you, and agree about quartz. It’s fake, platic-y, and dead looking, compared to real stone. And, it’s not fool proof, as you noted.

While not a fan of plastic counters, in your case Corian sounds like the perfect fit. Just because your builder hasn’t had a request for it in years, shouldn’t mean he wont honor your request now. If it means that much to you, stick to your guns.

As for granite…the lighter granites tend to be more porous, and need more frequent sealing. Doesn’t sound like a fit for you. However, if your builder can get his hands on some honed Virginia Mist, that should suit you. Except for being on the dark side, it has a lot of depth, and is impervious. It should be able to handle your ”sloppiness” without a problem.

Another choice, would be quartzite…a very durable real stone, (unlike quartz), available in many very light, whiteish patterns. Quartzite tends to be more expensive, so it may not be in your budget.

Did you really mean that the builder upped the costs of your build, by $100,000?? Or, was it $10,000? I know the cost of materials has increased a lot, but $100,000 on a 1200sq. ft house, seems out of line.
julieste
2 years ago
I am doing something somewhat similar. Natural maple slab cabinets. Still deciding on countertops but have also contemplated plain white corian. I spent a long time last night reading up on corian on this forum.

What I really want to mention though is my floor. I am doing Karndean Rigid Core French Oak (already have it installed throughout the second floor and like it). I think it will be just fine. Take a look at it.

I too am wondering how a 1200 sq. ft. house can increase by 100K.
circonium
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I totally understand not wanting quartz for look and feel, but I have had zero problems with staining. I am surprised you are seeing so much about stains; I chose it for that reason and have been satisfied. It's definitely held up better than the white Corian I had previously, which got scratched up and discolored near the sink.
Holly- Kay
2 years ago
I had Corian in my current kitchen before I renovared. I hated the color but loved the material, I never had a stain on it and it looked perfect when we removed it.

Would you consider purchasing from a different builder? Post COVID is a crazy time to build or remodel but we all do what we have to do regardless of increased pricing and inconvenience not being able to get the products we want but a 100K increase is exhorbitant. you could find a great contractor who could totally redo a fixer upper for those dollars.
Therese N
2 years ago
Laminates have greatly improved. It sounds like if you choose that it will be right for your lifestyle and if fabricated well, won’t significantly affect appraisal. Matching all whites is tricky, so I’d recommend considering a light grey just to give a break and contrast, but still keep it light.
M Miller
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I do not think butcher block counters suggested above would be right for you given how you’ve described what you are looking for in color (white) and low-maintenance.

But you should not be locked in to one type of counter. It’s a free country with choices for everyone. That’s crazy you only have one choice. I agree with the other commenter who said to carve out your counters from the Scope of Work, find a Corian dealer, and hire your own Corian contractor to fabricate and install.

And yes, what made a $100k increase???
MizLizzie
2 years ago
I dislike granite, removed mine and went with quartz. Haven’t regretted it a minute. Now on my second quartz kitchen. That said, nothing looks more simple and elegant than a slab of creamy Corian. Stay your course! You’ve made a great choice and it shouldn’t be hard to find a fabricator.

My kichen vision is blowing up, feeling lost

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Mrs. S

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My kichen vision is blowing up, feeling lost

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