Whether you plan to hire a professional contractor for your new kitchen countertop installation or you plan to do the work yourself, you should know some important things. For instance, by educating yourself, you would know what to look for in a contractor, the pertinent questions to ask, and things to look for so you are not taken for a ride. On the other hand, if you want to install the countertops, educating yourself would make the process of choosing the best material, ending up with perfect, completed project, and saving money easier and more realistic. Here are a few buying tips for kitchen countertops.
For starters, the standard kitchen countertop is sold by the linear foot. Therefore, as you start the process of comparison shopping trying to find the best deals, keep this in mind. However, most manufacturers and reputable resellers will also provide price on a square footage basis, which is certainly helpful. In looking at the average kitchen, it would have 56 square feet of countertop space, which would equate to 23 linear feet. Based on those measurements, the following would be extremely helpful:
• Appearance of the Countertops – Obviously, looking at tile, stone, laminate, or other materials used for kitchen countertops in a store is difficult. The small samples do not provide a realistic impression of what fully installed countertops would look like. An excellent option would be to use any number of online sites that actually offer guides to help homeowners choose the best countertop to coordinate with the cabinets and flooring. These virtual websites allow you to see the entire room, rather than small sections. Keep in mind that if you have your heart set on natural stone, which is a great material, the veining, color, and pattern will vary dramatically from one slab to another, as well as on the same slab so if you visit a quarry and find something you like, grab it quickly.
• Moisture and Humidity – It is also important to remember that the kitchen is one room of the home that has high levels of moisture and humidity. Since countertops are around the sink, it becomes essential for only waterproof materials be used for the countertops, especially around an under-mounted sink. However, some materials can be used with no problem to include stone and quartz, which also produce a seamless finish.
• Seams – If you were to have a solid surface kitchen countertop installed, it would be fused. Because of this design feature, there are virtually no seams. On the other hand, materials such as stainless steel would have seams but the contractor doing the installation would be able to remove any visible seams through buffing, welding, or grinding. For laminate, the only way to hide seams is with a special edge that is installed between the actual countertop space and the backsplash. The goal would be to choose a material that would be seamless or material that could be installed, and then finished so no seams show.
• Finish – Some materials used for kitchen countertops are honed or polished such as engineered and granite. Materials that are honed would still show stains like materials that are polished with the exception that drying would be faster. To avoid having your new countertops permanently damaged by stains, we recommend random grain or brushed finishes. In addition, these finishes are great at hiding fingerprints so if you have children, this would be an excellent consideration.
• Precision – Finally, if the kitchen countertops were going to be installed by a professional, he or she would use exact measurements. In fact, many use templates to ensure once the countertops are installed the finished look is perfect, even around stoves, faucets, and the sink. In this case, it is strongly recommended that the installer use measurements provided by the fabricator. That way, if an error regarding precision fit were made, any responsibility would fall back on the contractor and not you. However, if you plan to install the countertops yourself rather than measure twice, measure three times.
