We got a cultured granite double sink top from a local vendor, as they had the only 42" neo-angle showerpan around and we wanted it to match in our small master bath. Price back in 2003 was $850 which included installation. We have bevel-edge sinks which added $100 to the price. I consider this worth it as it really reduces drips (I'm a splasher, LOL). This is a dark beige cultured granite, which most people mistake for Corian. It's a little glossier, however. We priced Swanstone but this was a bit cheaper, plus Swanstone didn't have the bigger showerpan. We're very happy with it, clean-up couldn't be easier.

I am doing a kids' bath, and I'm doing granite. If you do a remnant, you can get it really cheap - in my case, a couple of hundred cheaper than the cultured marble (plastic) - which, if white, looks nice and lasts forever - won't stain, either. But with a double sink, 72" long, I am getting granite for $450-800 including the sink cutouts (I haven't settled on one yet), and the plastic was $900+. Also, in Chicago, there is a HOBO store (an outlet type of store) that sells prefab bathroom granite tops for no lie, $179 a piece. Look around! One of the Home Depots in the Chicago area also had precut/prefab pieces for $25 a square foot.

I'm with Kevin, above. Stone slab countertops aren't going away, if for no other reason than that they can be more economical than laminate or tile. A good tile-setter here in LA will charge $125/linear foot or more for installation. If you shop right, you can find prefab 8' long granite countertops for as little as $150, with installation and minor fabrication for a few hundred dollars more. It won't be the finest workmanship at that price, but still, you can get a basic 8' countertop with 4" backplash for $600 or less, installed, while the tile-setter's labor alone will be twice that, without adding in the cost of tile, mortar, grout or hardibacker. Unless you're buying prefab laminate counters at the big box store, toting them home yourself, and doing your own templating, cutting, and installation, you'll be hard put to match the price of those prefab stone counters. Special-order laminate costs about twice as much as prefab stone. So much for "In depth" reporting at CNN.

Dyan--I apologize for all the assumptions here. We taught our kids the skills of DIY and when they have a project we help! When a family is working it often helps to get NEW ideas. You sought some 'out of the box' new ideas and were slammed with ugly just because. It's quite sad. Why posters ASS-U-ME daughter hasn't thought of the obvious and that isn't where they want to go RIGHT NOW I don't know, but I guess it's a horrid sin! This is for sure a site where 'no problem is too small' is NOT a thing!! I love your post mostly because it points out the fallacy that double sinks are fab and counter space is not needed. Due to the other work they did I am confident they can shut off the water so no one 'accidently' showers the electric appliances!! You got a couple great ideas--no idea if daughter already thought of these on her own and knows it won't work for her...glass in the bathroom makes me nervous. I would gravitate toward the cast off counter top with tiny rubber legs vs mirror.