Did You Choose Laminate Countertops for a Kitchen Remodel?

[bullet875]

I just had my kitchen redone last December and we went with quartz (Silestone). it is burn proof. extremely durable, and look like granite (the pattern we picked...you can also get solid colors and other types of patters as well). Unlike granite, Silestone will not absorb liquids that may stain it.

It never needs to be polished or sealed.

 

[LIFERBABE]

We have tile (remodeled about 6 years ago) and I really like it.

We added a pre-fab granite desktop for about $200.

Now we are looking to expand our cabinets down the length of our eat-in kitchen and I found the 9ft slab of granite(pre fab) I will need for $750 installed.

I was looking at the Wilson HD products but pre-fab granite is a nice choice and very reasonable. Check your local builders surplus stores too.

I also found custom cabinetry there for a really great price. Cheaper than IKEA (which we would have to put together) or Home Depot value line of cabinetry.

 

[jodifla]

We used Wilsonart. I really like them....people who seem them are impressed as well. We got beveled edges, which are more expensive but make all the difference.

I wanted blue countertops for my blue and white and butterscotch kitchen, so I went with laminate since it's a bit of an "out there" choice.

The countertops we took our are laminate, and they lasted pretty well in this house for 35 years.

 

[kidshop]

We are going to remodel the kitchen next summer, and I am pretty sure we are going to use laminate. We have a lot of counter space and the expense seems huge for granite. I really like the special edges. I think the one I like best is the double bullnose.....something like that. It's fully rounded all the way under and looks great! I am not going to have a laminate backsplash, we will do a tile of some sort. I've seen that on the design shows where they use laminate. Not using a backsplash looks updated. I am hesitant on the sink, since it can't be undermounted. I like the look of undermounting, but I guess I'll get over it to save thousands of dollars! If anyone has pictures of the laminate they like, I'd love to see it.

 

[danicaw]

DH installed Wilsonart laminate in the kitchen a few years ago and its great. He did a great job with the install so it was really reasonable as far as cost goes.
With an upcoming remodel this spring we are planning on more of the Wilsonart for the main counters and quartz on the island. We are hoping this will give us the best of both worlds without breaking the bank.

 

[insync]

We installed swanstone in our kitchen about 10 years ago and it looks like corion, but not. It has held up quite well over the years and i would do it again. also got the matching sink. Laminate has its downfalls, when scratched it cannot be repaired. This swanstone, when scratched can be sanded to repair easily.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

If you're planning on selling your house in the next 10 years, I would definitely say put something in that is commensurate with the value of your home.

If you have a 400k +house, don't be doin' laminate if you're thinking of selling, because most people around you are going to have granite or a solid surface.

Heck, in some neighborhoods here, 200+ is the barrier now for granite as a must. It's gotten much cheaper because they're importing granite in mass quantities from China now. You're even starting to see it in some of the higher end apartments here.

What's going in my kitchen in 5 years when I remodel? Silestone, Ceasarstone, or Zodiaq. All the beauty of stone; none of the drawbacks.

It will outlast laminate and it's a higher end look.

I would consider engineered stone to be an investment in my property. At best, laminate's a neutral; you're basically throwing your money away if you had to sell.

When things need to be replaced/repaired in my 40 year old house (which they do nearly daily ), I look for something that's not the cheapest I can get, because when I do sell this house someday, quality materials will last longer, have classic appeal, and add to the value of the house.

Do I want Thermador in my kitchen? Noooo, but it's not going to be Roper, either.

Keep one eye on your pocketbook, but keep the other eye on your investment.

 

[kid-at-heart]

We bought our century old house in 2000. It had been "updated" in the 70s - blue kitchen (blue flowered walls, blue checked tile flooring, blue countertops, etc). We took it back to the turn of the century - 1900 - black and white ceramic tiles (high maintenance but I would do it again in a heartbeat - looks beautiful). We also decided to go with granite countertops for several reasons (on sale, Home Depot, black speckled "something or other" granite); we do not have a lot of sq footage in countertops thus the cost was manageable. We also do not want to redo the kitchen in another 20-30 years thus wanted a long lasting product that would not look outdated as the years passed. With our kitchen "update" our resale value has greatly improved. The counters are low maintenance (makes up for the floor) and they look beautiful. We will receive a nice return on our investment - if we ever sell - and if not, then we have a beautiful kitchen which will never need "updating". Buy the best you can afford without going into debt. Be true to the era of your house and whatever you decide upon will probably be the right choice.

 

[dizneyfriends]

My husband and I opted for a look a like granite top. We ended up going direct to a company that specialized in only that.

We also found Home Depot and others to be a bit
expensive.

But we ended up saving by going to a cabinet/countertop maker.

 

[jrasmom]

We just put in a whole new kitchen in April.

I chose the Wilsonart HD laminate in Deepstar Slate.
We spent a little under $1000 on it. I can't tell you how many sq. feet
we had but I can show you

upclose shot of the countertop:

and the whole kitchen

Oh, and I'm loving it. Because it has the textured finish it doesn't really look like a laminate countertop.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

When I last renovated our kitchen I was faced with the same question and I decided in favor of laminate because for the price I could replace it every ten years or so and totally change the look of the kitchen for little cash.

I agree with the poster who says you might want to consider the level of housing in your neighborhood as those small touches of 'keeping up with the Jones'" might make the difference when it comes to selling. If you overimprove you will not get your money back though.

Good luck and hope it turns out to suit you!

Slightly Goofy

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

When I last renovated our kitchen I was faced with the same question and I decided in favor of laminate because for the price I could replace it every ten years or so and totally change the look of the kitchen for little cash.

I agree with the poster who says you might want to consider the level of housing in your neighborhood as those small touches of 'keeping up with the Jones'" might make the difference when it comes to selling. If you overimprove you will not get your money back though.

Good luck and hope it turns out to suit you!

Slightly Goofy

Well, I wasn't really thinking about what the Joneses are doing and I don't really care what the Joneses are doing; but I REALLY don't want the Joneses house to sell before mine does because they did granite (which I personally don't like) and I did Formica.

I look at it more like cheating myself out of my eventual house selling value if I put in cheap stuff. I save 1000 bucks now but in 10 years my house sells for 25k less because I put in a "cheap" builder grade kitchen-that's what I'm trying to avoid.

Otoh, if everyone around you does formica and you do granite, you will probably be the first to sell, but you won't realize the profit in the granite because you can't up your house price significantly for your neighborhood because it's not a required feature.

FWIW, "the Joneses" just put in granite tile on their countertops, won't be doing that to my humble abode-but what's funnier is that they have Dacor ovens! It's like having gold plated fixtures in an outhouse!

 

[MrsPete]

I agree with the poster who says you might want to consider the level of housing in your neighborhood as those small touches of 'keeping up with the Jones'" might make the difference when it comes to selling. If you overimprove you will not get your money back though.

You're exactly right. When people use the term "keeping up with the Joneses", it's usually meant as a negative thing -- that people are doing something just for show.

Houses are different though. I'll give two examples:

My friend lives in a very expensive, fairly new house. She's had it on the market for a while, and she was consistantly hearing that the laminate countertops were keeping her from selling. Her house is huge (6 bedrooms with two master suites), and the other houses in the neighborhood have "all the upgrades". People who look for that type of house expect "all the best". Some people will say, "Hey, I'll get a bargain on the house and add the countertops of my choice" . . . but a surprising number of people are unwilling to make any changes, and they expect to walk into a move-in-ready house.

On the other hand, when we were first married, we lived in a neighborhood of 1200-1400 square foot-ish ranch houses -- nice, all brick places on decent sized lots, but definately starter houses. Except for the people who lived directly behind us: they had a two-story house that cost probably 50-60% more than any other house in the neighborhood. To add insult to injury, they'd done LOTS of upgrades themselves: hardwood floors, etc. They had that house on the market forever, and it was still for sale when we moved away. They couldn't get back they money they'd invested in the house because our smaller, less expensive houses were bringing down the value of theirs.

 

[bluedoggy]

It is a personal decision, but as a Realtor - I can agree with the previous poster - Buyers expect EVERYTHING to be done for them when they Buy. I think it is the HGTV syndrome. They see all these shows of people buying homes that are totally move-in ready, and since there is such a large inventory of homes for sale - they just keep shopping until they find one with all the bells and whistles. I have a higher end home that I have listed that finally just got an offer (after a year on the market) and the #1 thing I always heard was "it doesn't have a new kitchen with granite (or quartz). A house a block away sold for $70K more - and it had all the Upgrades. The Seller always said they didn't have the $$ to make the upgrade, but they ended up getting much less, since the Buyer "discounted" the house to allow for them to do the upgrades. You, most likely will recoup your investment on a kitchen or baths - as solid surface counters are becoming more the norm. We had our old laminate tops replaced with Corian last spring and I love them. Don't know why I waited so long.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

Oops, maybe I should have been a bit clearer.

What I meant to say is that if the majority of your homes have granite etc. you are better off 'keeping up with the Jones;".

However putting in expensive upgrades that others in your neighborhood do not have will not give you a return on your investment UNLESS you are planning on living there long term and enjoying them yourself first.

bluedoggy, you would love to have me as a client. I look at the bones. I can see potential in most anything. Even in the days when I was a renter landlords fought over me cause I could take a gallon of paint and a roll of contact paper and they could rent the place for twice the rent after I moved on. They even often let me move in for free. I would rather paint than to wash the dirt away. BTW, I pay cash too.

Slightly Goofy

 

[KandiB47]

I went to Home Depot and the lady there was really trying to convince me to buy Corian. HD has the white colors for $37 a square foot. It would be $1200 more than premium laminate. Some of these posts really have me leaning toward Corian though because it is in my price range. I think granite would be overkill for my house (besides the fact I can't afford it!). My house is worth about $250,000. I live in a neighborhood where the houses are about 15-years-old. I doubt many of my neighbors have granite.

The lady at HD mentioned the white color of Corian I picked was the color her parents had when she was a kid. It really made me think about the timelessness of a white countertop.

 

[thruthelookinglass19]

I just got done with a remodel and used the Wilsonart laminate from Lowes. It was what was in stock. It's a brown/cream granite look. I've had many compliments on it - people have actually asked if I put granite in! I have very small kitchen, but the total for the countertops (the wood to build them and the laminate) cost about $250.

Good luck!

 

[Waseller77]

We are looking at remodeling our kitchen as well. What would be a good deal for pre-fab granite? Or granite tiles? We plan to check Home Depot/Lowes, but know it is possible to find somewhere cheaper...

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

My house is worth about $250,000. I live in a neighborhood where the houses are about 15-years-old. I doubt many of my neighbors have granite.

You can tell for sure-just go on one of the local realtor websites and do a search of homes in your price range and zip code, or even your immediate neighborhood-you can see the photos and descriptions-that will give you a good idea of what's the expected level of finish treatments for your neighborhood, and what will sell and what languishes.

Here it's Jenny Pruitt, Keller Williams, and Coldwell Banker that have the good seachable websites. You probably have Remax, although they're not the easiest site to use.

I was surprised, somewhat, by the fact that *really* high end kitchens were NOT the norm for our area, even with 500K homes-they were redoing the counters with granite and the floors with hardwood or tile, but they were painting or simply refacing existing 40 year old cabinetry and the staying with the original footprint of the kitchen.

I definitely went, hmmm, maybe I need to rethink a total gut/redo of my kitchen because it may not be a good investment. It was quite an eye opener to look at the realtor sites.

 

[Belle5]

We are in the middle of our remodel but our counters and cabinets have not been ordered yet. (They will be ordered in the next day or two) Until reading this thread I had planned on ordering high end cabinets and topping them off with a top-of-the-line laminate. Having read through all this, I am second-guessing myself. Should I go with a lesser quality on the cabinetry and have either a solid surface or granite counter put in? It seems amazing to me that people would value the top surface more than quality cabinets underneath--but since a resale is probably in our future (3 years or so) I guess we should think this way????? I told DH that we could put in the cabinets I love now with a laminate counter and then re-do it with granite in a few years and he said no way. What to do...
I have to decide TOMORROW!!!! Help! BTW--my kitchen and counters are huge. Just behind my sink area the counters go two feet to the windows. Lots of sq. footage to cover!