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Smawgunner
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 07:41pm
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I'm trying to figure out what kind of countertop to put in. It has to be inexpensive. The area is roughly 3 feet long. I don't want something cheap like Formica. I'm not crazy about a store-bought product but would like to build my own. Thoughts on this? Anyone have pics of their own they would like to share?
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Julie2Oregon
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 07:47pm
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Wood. Check on YouTube because I've seen some vids in which people have bought nice wood slabs at places like IKEA (but you could procure your own) inexpensively and then refinished them themselves by applying and rubbing in oils. The result is beautiful AND resistant!
If I add countertop space, it's what I will do.  You can also use a wood base and then apply your own tile to the top. All of it or part of it. I was looking at doing that with the one foot squares comprised of small stones that are on a backing. Simple, pretty, and functional.
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rockies
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 07:55pm - Edited by: rockies
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Do not use wood unless you love to disinfect it and seal it often. The main criteria should be how well the top resists being exposed to pathogens and bacteria. Needless to say, using tile with a lot of grout lines is also not very good because the grout will absorb things no matter how well you seal them.
If you want to build something yourself go to a sheet metal fabricator and have a piece of stainless steel cut to size. Have them put a
90 degree bend along the front edge to wrap the edge of a sheet of plywood and then glue it to the plywood. You can cut on a stainless top, spill anything and it won't stain and will resist bacteria.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 08:17pm - Edited by: MtnDon
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I don't see anything wrong with the plastic laminates from Formica or Wilsonart. Lots of styles and colors. I have a local countertop manufacturer who often has reject pieces that are quite usable. = cheap. They also will sell remnant pieces of the material. Also = cheap. As rockies indicated, easy to clean and keep sanitary. But don't cut directly on it.
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Just
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 08:48pm
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pour a 1.in. cement top seal it with a polymer 2$ a sq. ft.
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PatrickH
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 08:53pm
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Heres a pic of polished concrete I made has abalone and black glass added cheap to make durable and a 3 feet long piece you could polish by hand with diamond pads the colors and add ons are endless i just wax ours here and there for maintenance
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PatrickH
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 08:59pm
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P.S anything you use to put on concrete countertops should be food safe sealers,waxes etc.
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davestreck
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 09:11pm
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I love polished concrete. Cheap, durable and nice looking when done properly. Unfortunately concrete was impractical for my build (too far in the woods to hump concrete mix on my back) so I went with wood. Khaya (African mahogany) stained and sealed with 8 coats of marine spar varnish.
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 10:15pm - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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Here is a close up of my wood IKEA countertop,year three in a unheated cabin.
I am very happy with it.
Every summer I heat a little Howard Butcher Block Conditioner(from HD)and rub it into the wood. I let it sit overnight than wipe up the residue and buff with a microfiber towel.
Every year it looks nicer.
P.S-I think the countertop was $65 at the time. I got it for free with money I made taking Online surveys.
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creeky
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 10:29pm
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Wood has natural antibacterial etc properties. Good for the environment. Biodegradable. Safe for you.
IKEA has natural wood stuff you can rub on for a bit more water/stain protection.
I used the bamboo countertops you can buy now. Nice look. And like silverwaterlady says. Gets better looking all the time.
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 10:50pm - Edited by: toyota_mdt_tech
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Quoting: Smawgunner I'm trying to figure out what kind of countertop to put in. It has to be inexpensive. The area is roughly 3 feet long. I don't want something cheap like Formica. I'm not crazy about a store-bought product but would like to build my own. Thoughts on this? Anyone have pics of their own they would like to share?
Well, I built my own out of Formica.  You didnt want Formica, but you get the dimensions, have Home Depot cut the pressboard out on their sheet saw, include back splashes. Counters are normally 24" deep, and back splash is 4"
It was low cost, looks like stone.
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Julie2Oregon
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2016 11:24pm
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davestreck and silverwaterlady,
Those are beautiful countertops!
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Cowracer
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2016 04:48pm
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Oh I dunno about "cheap Formica countertops"
Here is my $45 closeout Menards countertop. I think it looks smashing. Cheap, good looking, sanitary, and easy. What's not to like?
Tim
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rockies
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2016 07:28pm
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Wood can be very beautiful to use but I don't think it is practical for a regular countertop. Every article I've read about types of countertops always seems to classify them as either being "good, better, best" and wood is always in the "good" category. They always say it's best not to put it around a sink and you'll need pads to put down a hot pot. For myself if the wood is "too beautiful" I'd be scared of marking it and then having to refinish it.
Butcher block is a different type of wood countertop because it's all end-grain facing up but still every time you cut or chop on it you create little grooves that can trap bacteria. It would look nice on an island that wasn't in the main cooking zone though.
I like stainless steel because its the same stuff they use in medical labs. If it's clean enough for them it's clean enough for me. If I were building a countertop myself I'd go with this option.
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tichalet
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2016 09:13pm - Edited by: tichalet
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I'd choose SS for a cabin if I could too*, rockies, but I'm not sure that'd work for Smawgunner since he specified an economical choice? [*Actually, that's not true. If money were no object, I'd fly up to davestreck's house and beg him to make me one of his exquisitely crafted counters.]
I understand why you might not wish to go the laminate route, SG, but if you haven't checked lately there are newer HD laminates out like these from the 180FX series by Formica which are quite nice and you owe yourself a look because it's not your granny's laminate. (Then again, I doubt they are as inexpensive as Granny's.)
If you do go the Ikea butcher block route, make sure you get one of the solid wood ones - beech or oak, I believe. They have some now which are just veneer and you can tell the difference by examining the corners. The solid ones aren't that much more expensive and I'd be afraid of delaminization (is that a word?) with those in a cabin which isn't climate controlled all the time.
Still another option to consider depending on what kind of cooking & how often you do it are the newer large format (36") porcelain floor tiles. If you can score a partial/opened remainders box that some tile stores put on sale for pennies on the dollar, it could be worth trying. I'm not a fan of tile in kitchens (there were tile counters in my family's beach house growing up which, as the clean freak of the family, I hated with a passion) but grouts have anti-microbial properties now they didn't used to have back then. I suspect it's still just as tedious to get the gunk out the lines if you do a lot of cooking, but the larger format would minimize that, especially since you are talking about such a short run.(3')
Also, be sure to check stone yards for remnants of slabs left over from their other installations. Surprisingly cheap, and definitely an option for you since your project is small.
Finally, depending again on how much you use your kitchen in your cabin, the most economical option that I can think of off the top of my head may be to do what this thrifty blogger did for her small cottage: she painted furniture grade plywood with black chalkboard paint and then buffed it out with food grade wax. She got a very high-end soapstone look for not much money at all and has found it to be very durable even though she does a lot of from-scratch cooking for her husband & three boys.
From her blog: "I specified to the cabinet maker that the counter top be made from furniture grade plywood with a 2" edge band. I then painted it with chalkboard paint using a slightly rough sponge roller. I let it dry, then lightly sanded it down, defining the mottled quality of the paint. I then finished it by sealing with paste wax. I have been so pleased with the results! It has held up well to everyday uses and abuses (remember we have three boys!), and when it has gotten a nick, I've just touched it up and re-sealed (I've only done this once in the last year). It shows some water spots and staining, which adds to the natural stone patina look I was going for."
You can search images for chalkboard paint counter tops, many others have done this. And it's such an inexpensive option, I think it would be worth it just to try if you like the look.
EDIT: Oops. How do I make the pictures smaller?
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2016 09:39pm - Edited by: MtnDon
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Quoting: tichalet : Oops. How do I make the pictures smaller?
Don't hot link the images*. Save them to your computer, then resize them and finally use the forum upload image feature to load them to the forum.
* hot linking, copying the image location url and posting it here, in essence robs bandwidth from the site where the images originally appear. Not good internet karma.
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tichalet
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2016 09:42pm
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Thanks Mtn Don. I don't have time to do that all now. Think I'll just remove them.
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tichalet
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2016 10:12pm
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Also, I forgot to mention this (relatively) low cost & great looking idea. A DIY zinc countertop:
URL
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fiftyfifty
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2016 10:15pm
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When I put in my cabin kitchen I plan to use Corian counters (or similar generic brand). They have integrated sinks which are great because there is no edge to trap gunk. The counters are sanitary and waterproof. Unlike stone, you can modify them with regular tools made for wood (saws, drills, routers etc.). And around here anyway, you can get them second hand for next to nothing off Craigslist.
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2016 10:31am
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TY Julie.
No offense to the Formica crowd but I know Smawgunner has a old log farmhouse over 100 years old.
I also have a log cabin just much newer.
I have tried to use recycled,products off our land and some new but rustic looking items in our cabin.
All the man made counter materials would not look rustic enough for me.
They would also look out of place.
No matter the material I would not cut on a countertop,that's what cutting boards are for.
I would never place a hot pot on my countertop,that's what hot pads are for.
It is not near any water source. I have a huge farmhouse sink with duel drain boards.
My countertop has been through five winters in a unheated cabin in Canada and looks better than the day I bought it.
Most everything I have recommended on this site I have used for at least five years in my cabin. It's been tested and I'm satisfied. I've spent thirty years gathering and storing things for my cabin. It was a lot of hard work and I am now seeing the pay off.
tichalet,thanks for the zinc link. I have a Hoosier cabinet that is about 100 years old with a zinc slide out countertop that has aged beautifully.
I have a interest in adding more zinc and distressing it to match my Hossier cabinet. Probably to a few hand built side cabinets.
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Smawgunner
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2016 10:46am
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^ true, I should have mentioned that I wanted it to look somewhat fitting. But these of been great suggestion so far. I was also thinking about locating a roll of copper and tacking it to a three-quarter inch plywood base. I'm not sure what that would cost me though.
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2016 11:12am
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That would be beautiful.
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Julie2Oregon
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2016 04:16pm
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Quoting: silverwaterlady No matter the material I would not cut on a countertop,that's what cutting boards are for. I would never place a hot pot on my countertop,that's what hot pads are for.
Exactly.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2016 10:07pm
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I got several pieces of granite countertop real cheap on Craigslist. I will have to take them to a granite countertop installer to have them cut to the sizes I need and for sinks, don't know what that will cost. I think granite is the best countertop- durable, easy to clean, attractive. Some kinds of granite are pretty cheap too, perhaps putting it in reach for some cabin builders. Some granite is really expensive but very beautiful.
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razmichael
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# Posted: 15 Jun 2016 01:16pm - Edited by: razmichael
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Bit late into the thread but ... I'm like silverwaterlady - no cutting or hot pots on the counter top. Add to the fact that our cabin is weekend recreational only and most of the cooking is done in the "outside"/deck kitchen, I went the really cheap route. Bought some 2x12 pieces, had the guy at HD rip all the edges except one then, using dowels, pocket screws and glue made a counter top. Sanding and a light coat of stain and many coats of poly, add a wood back splash and done (well, maybe a bit harder than that). Two summers and two winters (unheated) with no warping.
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KinAlberta
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# Posted: 17 Jun 2016 11:32pm
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I've used tile in both of our cabins. I like the look of it and could do it easily myself.
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moneypitfeeder
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# Posted: 19 Jul 2016 08:25pm
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Have you considered soapstone? It's impervious to pretty much everything, (used to be what all high school lab tables were topped with) and you can set hot or cold stuff directly on it. There used to be a thread at ikeafans.com about a soapstone tile countertop install that looked like a slab when oiled, but they have closed that site. Basically, they just installed the tiles joined like you would a slab with colored epoxy between them, and then when oiled it looked pretty darn seamless (I can't remember if they set the tile in thinset or the same mortar, but gardenweb still has a thread that references it-someone there might remember). 3ft of tile would be way cheaper than a slab, unless you can get a good deal on an old lab table.
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Shadyacres
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# Posted: 19 Jul 2016 10:11pm
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I got my solid corian countertop which including the sink at lowes for less than $100 bucks. It was a show model which they were tearing apart. When I was heavy into building my cabin , I would check into 3 or 4 different Lowes locations at least once a week to see what was on clearance. I saved an awful lot of money by doing this. I don't have a real good picture of my countertop on my site but it was the dark green corian. We had checked on buying a new solid top which when on sale would have set us back over $1000 so in essence we saved 90 % .
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jaransont3
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# Posted: 19 Jul 2016 10:17pm - Edited by: jaransont3
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We used some of the left over Brazilian Cherry hardwood flooring to make our countertops and then I edged them with strips of copper roofing. I finished them with several coats of polyurethane.
So have proven quite durable. However our cabin only sees about 4 weeks of use in any given year.
Here is a close-up...
We also have wood counter tops in our home in Michigan. They are nearly 100 years old (house was built in 1925) and still look OK. Not sure how many times in that nearly 100 years that they were refinished.
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moneypitfeeder
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# Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:53pm
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Quoting: jaransont3 edged them with strips of copper roofing
Really nice job on the edging! The spacing on the nailing looks perfect. Really like the use of leftovers, they look beautiful and purpose-built.
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