Too funny. I think of grey speckled granite commonly see in our mountains. If I could only use granite I think the grey with minimal graining would stand the test of time in the PNW.

Any installer worth his salt will put whatever color laminate directly over and in contact with your existing tops. If someone passes over your house because you don't have solid surface they don't deserve it anyway. Ignoramuses 😂.

There is a ban on quartz coming to Australia in 2024.

I have laminate too.

I would get laminate if my wife would let me... Cost and utility can hardly be better, and price is also great. But it just doesn't have that romantic appeal of stone or wood I guess 🤷 We have wood countertops and I have mixed feelings. Looking to change to something a little more water/heat proof and low maintenance.

My last kitchen had laminate tops which still looked good after 25 years. My new kitchen has got it again so I’m hoping it will last as well as before.

@@krjohnson29 What is it that you don't like? Do you have it sealed? I have so many questions.

@@barbaraeaton9266 I don't think our wood countertops were done in the greatest way. I think a house flipper did it himself. So it probably isn't the greatest example. It is sealed somehow, but I'm not exactly sure with what. But yeah, what I am not liking is all around the sink area it's gotten black stains. And a couple of places where a too hot item has been mistakenly placed it has burned rings. We tried just sanding the marred sections them off and re-sealing but it doesn't look the same. I probably need to do the whole thing but that seems like an enormous amount of work. I think it would definitely be better if they were not around the sink. And I've seen examples of ones that look a lot more natural (ours looks like it was sealed with polyurethane or something like you'd seal a deck). Those strike me as possibly easier to maintain. We're looking currently at quartz or granite on the island with the sink and wood the rest of the kitchen. Deliberations are ongoing though.

Hey! Thanks so much for watching my content. I hope your project goes awesome for you. I started the reno on the rental, so stay tuned!!

Well, those are all great choices. I'm thinking quartz will be the least and porcelain the most.

Hi Sherri - I'm with you on the speckled granite, it boggles my brain! Silestone and Caesarstone both have quartz countertop options that look like soapstone. I haven't decided which one I'm putting in my kitchen remodel yet, but the honed finish on the Silestone version is REALLY hard to tell that it's not real soapstone. Check them out, and good luck with the kitchen design on your new home build!

Honed Nero mist granite looks just like soapstone.

Im always suspicious of words like "luxury", however, I've personally ordered high gloss laminates that look every bit like a stone top. They are easy to clean but also easy to scratch. There are newer laminate products on the market now that are more durable and manufactured with out the particle board substrate. This is probably what they were showing you. Very nice indeed. Luxury even. lol

You can order gloss laminate. This is usually a special order and will cost a little extra, but it is available. In my last house I ordered mine with a gloss finish. It came from Arbotire. But many of the laminate makers have them.

Yeah. I should dedicate a video to that. Thanks for the idea.

Thanks so much!

This is a great video idea. Thank you.

Great idea. I do plan to talk a little more about some of the less popular countertop options.

Hey! Thanks for watching! And yes, sinks and wood are going to get moldy.

​@@MTKDofficial we had wood counters in our old house. My grandparents had them on their farm. It's not for perfectionists but I've never seen issues with mold. If you leave water on your countertops long enough to cause mold, you're not keeping a hygienic kitchen. The benefit was my countertops were my chopping boards (except meats, that's best chopped on a stone chopping board) with the expectation of replacing the counters every ten years. We oiled every 6 months. If you want absolutely no staining or cut marks or burn marks, it's not for you. You do wood wanting those marks.

Who makes it? Formica? Arborite?

Great input about Marble. Thanks for sharing and watching!

Excellent choice. Very durable. Just not very popular.

Thanks for sharing that link. That is a really nice detail. We are seeing that more and more. Definitely screams custom!

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Zp2ZlbaBppfTgI0.html

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Zp2ZlbaBppfTgI0.html

Seems pretty niche?

@@MTKDofficial We bought it for its high durability, and it was marketed to us by our local countertop vendor as superior granite, quartz, quartzite, marble (basically it's like marble but with superior durability and low maintenance), for less than marble's cost. It is also forged, which we thought was pretty cool. We installed it in our workshop sink, but now are trying to decide whether to stick with it again for our main kitchen. What I heard is that it's supposedly one of the newer options, not yet as popular.

Should be.

Hey thanks so much! The paint is called Midnight something...lol. The name escapes me.

Is that possible?

@@MTKDofficial yea just go through all the grits of sandpaper and polish it. Aluminum and copper are more reflective but i'm not sure about durability

I'm thinking it can. But I can't recall if I've ever seen it.

I'm getting more and more requests for this. It's on the short list for sure.

Check this one kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Zp2ZlbaBppfTgI0.html

haha. no worries! Dekton comes in lots of colours and patterns (white to black). If you have wood make sure to seal it underneath and the cut out too. Just to help protect it. But don't seal the top obviously.

Home Depot! Ikea ... I'm not a fan. House I bought has an IKEA stove, big, ugly, only one burner works, oven just stopped working also. Ikea cupboards which are all glass even the shelves. It's horrible. So hard it's brutal.

It's in the past. lol