Counter tops and flooring - what do you have

[LarryPQ]

Quote:
Would never happen from this group. Mostly because:

My kitchen before:


My kitchen after:


Note how in the old kitchen, you cannot open the dishwasher and oven at the same time *snicker*

Stupidbird: I still love it!

 

[Legs]

Progress so far

from this -

to this

old

old

new

I am pleased

 

[SillyChicken]

I have so seriously thought about concrete counter tops! You guys did a great job on yours!

I hate my kitchen, we went with a basic construction package with ours with the plans to move the cupboards downstairs and remodeling the main kitchen, but I'm not sure if it'll hold up till we're ready and we won't beable to reuse the old ones. The merillat cupboards are horrible, the laminate on the sides are peeling off and look like crap~(kitchens only 7 yrs old! The countertops are laminate, and it came unglued in spots(our house isn't too hot or humid either)... and for the flooring... even though the oak board style laminate flooring in the living room is holding up beatifully, the laminate "tile" in the kitchen dining and hall, is the worst ever! It chips really badly and I'd never recommend it. (I have 4 mastiffs running around and the floor holds up to them fine, but not me!)

I got a great deal on 6" natural tumbled marble tile when I worked at Lowes (.44 cents a tile) so I bought the whole pallet! That will be used for my backsplash some day... but I'd really love to get granite counters.... but maybe concrete would be the way to go! We have tile in our entry way that we put down, the grout looks new cause we sealed the heck out of it.

 

[farmerlor]

We had a little windfall of money come in a few years ago and decided to remodel the kitchen. Luckily, handy husband could do most of the work himself. Since we have a son who has asthma we replaced all the carpet with the wood or tile at the same time. We went with some really beautiful granite counter tops that I chose. My counters aren't the granite you see in so many kitchens with the uniform pattern and bland colors. I wanted something that really looked like rock so I got a pretty honey colored stone with long striations and big bits of amethyst and pink and white quartz crystals scattered through it. Hubby did a back splash with tile in a really cool pattern using contrasting tones. All in all I'm happy with the kitchen but after we finished we found that the tile we used on the backsplash also came in an 18 inch floor tile. Sure wish I'd gone with that on the kitchen floor.

 

[EweSheep]

This is my kitchen which I remodeled six years ago. The vinyl flooring is showing its wear and tear and needed to have flooring which I have not decided yet but will try wooden floors.

I would love to have stainless steel backsplash but it probably would make the gallery kitchen much smaller but wanted something of easy to clean up and not have to worry about the water splashing in the back of sink. Maybe stainless where the stove sits and tile on the rest of the wall.

I would love to change my countertop to granite or stainless steel. It is small so it would not be too expensive. Concrete sounds good but wanted something almost non destructible with putting hot pans, cutting and what have you. In once a while I have to stand on top of the counter to access the top part of the cabinets...I know it is a danger as I get older but gotta be a better way without tearing out all the cabinets. I need all that space LOL! I need a ladder but hated to take in and out of the kitchen and so limited space.

I love my kitchen and the functionally as well as frugal space. There was a window where the sink was but we covered it up and made a fake window pane, frosted glass on the outside. It was a major job of its own. The kitchen was horrible when we first got it. Old 40's sink that was so low that you had to wash dishes from your thighs LOL, must have been a short woman LOL. And steel cabinets that we tossed out and we could have saved it for hubby's workshop but he wanted those Sears workshop pieces. The floor had carpeting with FOUR layers of lino on top of a wooden floor which we tried to save it but it was warped and cupped. Now with the vinyl we had on top of the wooden floor, with time going in and out, the cups, warped wooden floors are making their way i nto the vinyl, weaaring the shiney part out. So that is why I am considering wooden floors.

As for tile countertops, I would NEVER get them....too hard to repair and the grouts discolored or peeled over time. I've had friends with tiled countertops, they ended up ripping it out and replacing with one piece, or granite or stainless steel.

 

[Joz]

I'm re-doing my kitchen right now.... Been hanging/floating drywall for weeks (I can only get to it on the weekends, and I've fired my boyfriend because he's terrible at it, whether by accident or design has yet to be determined. At this point I don't know if I'm doing any better, but oh well. And I hate hate hate texture, and am trying to do a smooooooth finish. HA!).

As soon as I get my walls done and painted (black chalkboard paint on 2 walls up to the picture molding, cabinets on the other two, antique white trim and ceiling) my heartpine floors are being refinished, and then my Dad is coming out to help me build cabinets. Once that's sorted out, I'm going to cast my own tops out of concrete. The cabinets are going to be a warm old wood-floor color (I hope... have a lot of old salvaged bargeboard to use for the doors and faces), and I want to do a light greenish/jade color for the countertops.

And I'm going to use waxed sheet steel (will be mottled black/metallic/rusty colors) for the backsplash, so I can use magnetic spice jars and whatnot.

Those of you who have cast your own concrete countertops... did you have any sort of vibrating table set up to shake out the bubbles in the wet concrete after you poured your forms? Or do the new admixtures reduce the air pockets?

 

[OrpingtonManor]

When we made my concrete countertops, we followed the recommendations of Cheng Design (where I took the workshop). We bolted the forms to heavy duty tables. Then, used Sawzalls without blades, placing them against the side of the form, and let that shake the bubbles out. We had several Sawzalls going at once. Most of the bubbles were gone when we unmolded the countertops. The few holes that were left we filled with a slurry solution that was tinted to match the concrete. It worked well. BTW - some bubbles are cool, give it *character.*

I'll try to dig up some pics of the pour.

 

[Msbear]

wow! another good tip... stock up on the sawzalls

 

[OrpingtonManor]

Quote:
or just have lots of friends and family! borrow, then feed them well.

 

[OrpingtonManor]

Okay, here are some pics of the day of the pour...
Forms:



sawzalls in action:


unmolded:


that last one shows some of the voids (bubbles) we had to fill afterward.