Corian countertops--Opinions anyone?

[Kingofalldems]

Thinking of getting corian. Would like some kind of stone but since my cabinets are old I think it may be too heavy for them.

[NMDemDist2]

1. i loved my corian, but it does take a bit of different care than tile

i loved em though and we have them at work in a very high traffic commercial zone and they are holding up beautifully

[Kingofalldems]

5. Thanks for responding. It's going to be a tough decision.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. It is what it is

It is plastic trying to look like store.

That said, it is serviceable and easy to care for. I have heard it is prone to cracking if the inetgral sinks were not properly fabricated, but that is a vendor issue, not the material itself.

I'm not sure it is any lighter than stone. It is pretty heavy, dense material.

I would suggest you rethink the capacity of your "old" cabinets to support heavy countertops. Particle board covered in laminate is not a whole lot lighter than stone or quartz. And no counter is so heavy it would collapse base cabinets.

[Kingofalldems]

4. Thanks, I was just going by what the brochure said

as regard to weight.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

3. Corian is good

On your cabinets, when I do kitchens, I have the supplier/manufacturer come out and do a estimate for cost. OK so, when they come out to measure for my counter tops ,they will determine what may have to be done to prepare the cabinets.So sometimes we add a little wood ,brace it up a bit. If you are thinking granite for example which is the next step up from corian, and there is not much of a difference in weight.The last old kitchen I did the cabinets are over 100 years old. No alterations had to be made. The client went with granite.OK so when they do the estimate,they will say what you got to do to prepare your cabinets or your base cabinets to receive your new counter tops.They will not install the new product over sub standard material.OK so on kitchen remodels I set up the deal between the client and the manufacturer.I prepare the existing cabinets or install the new cabinets. I have a kitchen remodel goes back about ten years,I do work out there every year. The kitchen looks like it did the day I finished it. They have corian. A light color. Looks great ten years later. The company you buy it from will come out and do repairs. And if you got a place close by that manufactures granite, they do the same.

Home Depot's mark ups on corian and granite are astronomical. What might come at a cost of say$3,000 or $4,000 at home depot might be $8,000 0r $10,000. I wouldn't really care to know,but a high strung client went off on her own because she would not or could not wait! They decided to wait ! But they sure are nice courteous people there at the home depot remodeling special order desk! And that commission!

And you can get Chineese grainet if there is a dealer near when you live!
It looks pretty good, I really can't say how it holds up!I worked on a building recently that had chineese kitchens! I mean the cabinets and the counter tops came from China!What you call a up scale Chineese kitchen I suppose! Although actually ,those kitchens did look pretty good. I don't know if the Chineese use arsenic in their stain or polish or not!
What I do know is that the price was pretty cheap!

What else I know is I would not try to sell Chineese cabinets in a high end remodel! Unless of course they were to tell me, anything would look better that what is there!

The age of the cabinets shouldn't be a problem at all.Or if those cabinets were that bad, you would be spending your money on cabinets not expensive counter tops. That is because you can always change counter tops.
It's like they say, you can always get a hot dog,if you want the full course meal ,you will have to wait for it.

You new counter tops will completely change the way your kitchen looks.
Your going to like the way it looks!

Good luck with your project.

[Kingofalldems]

6. Thanks , my cabinets are close to 20 yrs old and we now have

laminate counters which seem quite heavy to me. Are you saying avoid Home Depot? That is where I got my brochures. I honestly would love to get a natural stone but I saw Corian as another option. Is it your experience that local shops are cheaper and/or better than Home Depot?

[CC]

9. My experience is that local shops are

cheaper than Home Depot or Lowe's. What Home Depot (and Lowe's) does is contract out the work to local shops. HD may pay them less than you would pay them but they are charging you more. When I got my counter tops the difference in price was $20.00 a square foot and it was the same company. Luckily for me I was warned before I got any more than a quote on the price of what I wanted. Also had I gone with HD or Lowe's the same local company would not of been allowed to do any counters for me for 90 days afterward because of their contract with the store.






I got Zodiaq manufactured stone counters so can help on to Corian question.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

10. On the corian or granite

I buy the counter tops from the same place home depot or lowe's does at contractor prices. Some suppliers do not sell to the general public. But that is not always the case. The suppliers/manufacturers have show rooms where the products are demonstrated. Where it is about granite ,you buy that in slabs and they manufacture the counter tops. They will also come out to your house and measure. And they always have cool ideas that you would never think of.On the hundred year old house I did for example. I remodeled the whole house. OK so the kitchen was last. My cost on the counter tops was $3,5oo add $200 mark up . Home depot's with their design was closer to $8,000.Ok ,so I gave them a really good deal on the counter tops.

Corian is a Dupont product,and granite comes out of a stone quarry. You need to do a little research and find out where and how to have the work done. Removing the existing counter tops is the biggest part of the job on your end. Perhaps adding a little wood to tighten it up. The new material slips right over the cabinets ,presto changeo. Where you buy the product also does the install. And where home depot buys the product,the same applies. home deopt will sent it's people over to prepare the cabinets according to the supplier's specs.

OK, say you were to buy a load of cabinets from home depot, and say because of how much you spent you decided to go with pre fab. counter tops ,say in stock at home depot. Maybe wait two years for what you really want. If the sales rep. at H.D. has a conscience ,after having already made a very hefty commission off of you, may tell you your contractor can get you a much better deal on counter tops than H.d.can, if you got a contractor. Or on the sly ,(note on the sly you know, the rep tells you I am not suppose'd to tell you this!So they may recommend one. They recommend contractors that they sub contract out to. I don't know anybody in the business that would except a contract from home depot or lowe's, but some of them play that game.It's a big bull shit game,pardon the pun.

What they don't tell you is that you can buy direct.Not in every place but in some places. There is where you do the research.
I believe a poster brought that to mind. Do the research,find out what your best bet is.

Good luck with your project.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

7. Good info.

:thumbsup:

[NNN0LHI]

8. I would get a skilled carpenter out to look at my cabinets first thing

Thats what I did. Then right before I had the new counter-tops installed I had him come and remove my old counter-tops and do any carpentry work to the cabinets that was needed before the new tops were installed.

That way you don't have to let the condition of your old cabinets dictate the type of counter-tops you have installed. Then clean up the old cabinets and use Old English on them. They will look good as new. No one will notice thousands of dollars worth of new cabinets if you get a nice counter top. Everyone's eyes will be drawn to the counter tops if they look good enough.

I don't think Corian handles slips with knives or heat very well. Granite is harder than your knives and hot things won't hurt it either. And it looks really good. Just don't drop anything made of glass on it. No second chances.

Don

[Warpy]

11. They're not for me

because I use acid dyes on my wool and acid + Corian is a bad idea. In addition, I do like to swap out countertops once every decade and a half or so as I get sick of them.

It's Formica for me. Not only is it cheap enough to swap, it's remarkably durable and kinder on dropped dishes than solid surface counters are.

However, solid surface counters can add to the value of your house if you don't please yourself and stick to a very neutral color.

[Kolesar]

12. Formica is kinder on dropped dishes than solid surface counters

That's a thinker!

Can you integrate a flush sink so that I can get water to run from the counter into the sink? I saw grooves on the Corian-type counters at "the" Home Depot--that would be cool, too.