Kitchen Renovation | Solid Surface Countertops

Last time I mentioned our kitchen plans it looked like this:


I had mentioned that I found a granite, called 'River White' that had some gray veining and and red speckles.  Everywhere online I found gorgeuous photos of it, the sample at Home Depot looked great, and even the little 2" x 2" sample they gave me to take home looked awesome.  I was ready to order it.

A couple days before we were going to make the order, during a quick stop to a Home Depot we don't usually go to, I got bored and walked over to the kitchen section to see if they had a counter in one of the sample kitchens with the River White.  I got really excited when I saw they did, but it quickly turned to panic.  The lovely red garnet specs actually made the gray veining a light lilac color.

  
Not the look I was going for.  I know that you can pick your slab and all that, but the possibility of getting some purple veining was too much a risk for me.  Mike was happy because he's not that big of a fan of granite and our second choice was solid surface, which he prefers.

Up until I found the River White granite, I had fallen hard for Corian's Rain Cloud which is the solid surface equivalent of carrara marble.  I had actually wanted the carrara marble look, but knew I could never live with marble, so I was sold on the Corian Rain Cloud.  Whenever we told people of our kitchen renovation people always asked if we were getting granite.  I know it's the common upgrade and always a selling point, but I was going for the look, and not so much the "status".  Also, granite has more maintenance that I'm not going to lie, I'm not always the greatest at.  Since Rain Cloud is the highest price point of Corian, we could have gotten granite for cheaper.  The River White was actually cheaper per square foot, but there are some things you should be aware of when trying to get the actual costs.

Here's some things that I found out during our research, based on Home Depot's costs:


Rain Cloud is actually a directional design since it has veining in it.  This increases the cost because they count area of the corners twice.  We have 2 of these corners.


Mike had emailed requests for quotes and this was actually mentioned in the email.  When we went to order the counter tops, the woman said she made a mistake and that would have to be added on.  After talking to the manager and showing the email, (which was from the same woman we were ordering from), we came to an agreement of only adding about $150 for this mistake.  It would have originally cost us $600.  ALWAYS GET THINGS IN WRITING! 

So, after changing my minds and going with the Solid Surface 'Rain Cloud', our new design board looks like this:

I ended up ordering the rug already, and decided on a different style.  I also bought the Target tray, and it was on clearance, woot!

Two weeks ago a couple guys from the local company Home Depot hires out to came by to measure the counters.  Since Mike's done this before, (back in high school he worked for a counter top shop), and he was aware of all the right questions he took the time off work to meet them.  He also begrudgingly took photos for me!

They used corrugated plastic strips to layout everything.



We even got to see what the overhang would look like, instead of imagining it.


Last Thursday was two weeks, to the day, since they measured and they scheduled to come in the morning.  Mike took the morning off and stayed during the installation.  He even sent me a midway photo with the air compressor thingies set up.


He then sent me some of the completed photos:



Over the weekend we installed the backsplash, so I only took a photo of a close up of the counters to show the pattern.  I'll have better photos during the reveal.


Not only do we love the amount of space we've gained with the new counters, we love the pattern and look!

3 comments

  1. Wow! Your counters look so good! They are beautiful and I do like that better than the granite with the purple in it. :) Nice choice! Your kitchen is coming along soooo nicely.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Morgan!! We're so close! Now I just have the daunting task to fill everything, all while organizing it, agh!

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  2. UNBELIEVABLE! Totally my dream kitchen. You must have loved designing each aspect, and it totally shows. I had not choice but to feature you in the Spice Up Your Kitchen Awards, thanks so much for linking up! :)Lynnwood Quartz Contractors

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