Okay. Update on removing countertop(s). We took the first (of 2) countertops off. Abbisgram, you were correct, and there were only a few screws attaching the top. All came out easily except one which was impossible to get to without disassembling the whole cabinet, so we got out the sawzall and took care of that one. Decided for several reasons not to special order countertops. We bought a sheet of 3/4" plywood (4x8), had it cut in half lengthwise, and that will do all the new countertops. Got the first one on and will need to put the tiles and edging on. Regarding the comment from the guy at Lowes: He was correct in the sense that the cabinet was very flimsy; however, it didn't 'fall apart'. The front (where the doors are attached) is pretty standard, however the sides of the cabinet are 1/8" (at most) luan, and there is no back piece at all, just a 1x2 strip fastened to the bottom of the (old) countertop, then screwed to the wall. Thankfully, the shelf inside the cabinet seemed to help keep it all together til we got the new top on it. Once the new plywood was on though, it is as sturdy as it was before ... lol. Not sure if I mentioned that this is not our full-time home, it's a mobile home that we purchased in a resort town, so we are not there to work on it every day. Hoping to go back next week and remove/replace the 2nd countertop, then cover them. Bottom line is that it wasn't nearly as scary as the Lowe's guy made it sound. And thanks, abbisgram, for the encouragement. :) As a side note, the finished countertops will end up costing under $100 for approx. 13-14 feet of countertops. I'm not the best at taking pictures, but will try to post some when we finish. This post was edited by danandcarol on Sat, Sep 27, 14 at 22:44

You all are making good points about the laminate, because she has no plans to update the kitchen and the layout is terrible. Idrive, the cabinets are old, not vintage. They were replaced in the early or mid 80s after a small kitchen fire and have been painted a couple of times since then. Palimpsest, I like the 50s diner grooviness of the metal edge, but it's a gunk magnet (just like the rotting rim of the drop-in sink). Off to check out the laminate manufacturer names you gave me - thanks much!

Mine is on the diagonal and I can say it does not look busy. The veining is irregular, too, though it mostly flows in one direction. My kitchen has a lot going on and that was one more thing! I fretted over that, but it's fine. I'm sure you've got great fabricators...but I didn't get the warm and fuzzies from mine so I insisted on seeing the templates laid on the stone as they planned to cut them BEFORE they actually cut them. It took 4 visits for them to get it right. I am very glad I made them take that extra step. I was adamant about the fact that I wanted all the flow to go in the same direction across the kitchen. Initially, they had everything laid on the marble every which way. If they had cut it like that, I would have had seams come together like a V and that's not how the stone flows. So it meant jockeying some pieces around. It seemed like an obvious request to me, but they thought I was crazy! You can stand in one corner and look across all perimeters and the islands and see that the veins of the stone all go the same way...not zigzag at seams. You may want the zigzags, however, so be sure you plan it out that way. Plan out your pieces on graph paper and shade in your "pattern." Cut and place your pieces like you want them. That's the only way it will flow the way YOU want. (In fact, I would scale counter cutouts to an 8 x 10 print of the slab and template the print!) I apologize if I'm overstepping my bounds and telling you something you already know! :) You have a gorgeous slab! I really hope you can capture that chunk of veining in the upper lefthand corner (island?)...and I hope you get a counter out of that mid-right to lower middle-running vein. Mmmm. Mmmm. Scrumptious!!

Thanks for the feedback! Anything with green isn't going into the house ;) I was looking at a beautiful mother of pearl quartzite slab and was ready say 'order it!', when the sales person commented on the lovely green tones in it. That comment sealed the deal on the taj mahal quartzite. The trio of samples are sitting in the morning sunshine today and I agree that they are too matchy. Guess I'll be taking them into the paint store for more samples....