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#41
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Counter tops what material?
Dan Espen wrote in
: Jim Yanik writes: Dan Espen wrote in : I have a corian cutting board. It does get scratches, but not real bad. that must do wonders for your knive edges.... Corian says "They are less damaging to knives..." than concrete.... 8-) Yes, I believe them. wood is far more benign to knife edges,IMO. and I've read that plastic cutting boards retain bacteria much longer than wood cutting boards. wood wicks away moisture while the plastic traps it in the grooves. Plus,I just like wood....so I guess I'm biased. :-) YMMV and all that. -- Jim Yanik jyanik at kua.net |
#42
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Counter tops what material?
clipped
wood is far more benign to knife edges,IMO. and I've read that plastic cutting boards retain bacteria much longer than wood cutting boards. wood wicks away moisture while the plastic traps it in the grooves. Plus,I just like wood....so I guess I'm biased. :-) YMMV and all that. I can't imagine that plastic would harbor bacteria longer than wood. With fine scratches from knives, either would harbor bacteria unless cleaned properly. Any time that I cut meat on a cutting board, I use a 3M scrubber and soapy water for a quick scrub. Rinse quickly with cold water, wipe dry. Salmonella and e-coli are a little scary. |
#43
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Counter tops what material?
"SteveB" writes:
"Dan Espen" wrote in message ... Jim Yanik writes: Dan Espen wrote in : I have a corian cutting board. It does get scratches, but not real bad. that must do wonders for your knive edges.... Corian says "They are less damaging to knives..." Yes, I believe them. Would that lead one to conclude that Corian is soft? No. It's not soft. What do you have against Corian? My cutting board is 4 years old and the scratches are invisible to the eye. I can feel them with my fingers. I guess if I spent more elbow grease with a scrub pad the scratches would disappear. I'm not worried about it. The plastic acts like teflon, it's easy to cut on and the sharp edge of the knife sinks in just enough that the knife stays sharp. You can feel the cuts but they're hard to see. The plastic is quite hard. It easily breaks glasses dropped on it. It will not scratch if you drag a pot or pan across it. You'd have to use something hard and sharp and press down with force and then move it. It's also very repairable and has a lifetime guarantee that I can attest to. I am not being paid by Corian. Not yet anyway. |
#44
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Counter tops what material?
"Dan Espen" wrote in message ... Jim Yanik writes: Dan Espen wrote in : I have a corian cutting board. It does get scratches, but not real bad. that must do wonders for your knive edges.... Corian says "They are less damaging to knives..." Yes, I believe them. Would that lead one to conclude that Corian is soft? Steve |
#45
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Counter tops what material?
"Joe" wrote in message ... On Mar 24, 11:07 am, "S. Barker" wrote: My wife is doing research of what is a better choice for a countertop in our soon to be remodeled kitchen. She can't seem to come up with unbiased facts on the internet. There is the Corian camp, the granite camp, and a quartz camp. All seem to think what they bought, sell, or install is the best. Here are some facts that should affect our decision. #1. and probably foremost important. We are not yuppies and will not buy something just because everyone else is #2. We ACTUALLY use our kitchen and sometimes in a very haphazard way. These activities include canning, cookie cutters, vegatable chopping, cast iron cookware, and an absent minded wife occasionally setting hot pans on the counter. (she told me to say that) #3. We have 6 grandchildren that are in our house often. #4. Just suffice to say the kitchen gets hard use in our family and we are not afraid to USE it and get it dirty. Any unbiased thoughts out there? thanks steve barker All the B.S. aside, Formica and similar laminates will be around years from now after all the yuppie fads have met the landfill. Short of using as a chopping block, nothing much bothers it, and the $$ are best of all. My kitchen remodel will have Formica (replacing 30 YO stuff). I might even use faux granite just to impress the neighbors G. Joe Did the faux granite laminate, and it looks really nice. And a lot cheaper, too. Several brand names out there now beside Formica and WilsonArt. Steve |
#46
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Counter tops what material?
"Dan Espen" wrote in message ... "SteveB" writes: "Dan Espen" wrote in message ... Jim Yanik writes: Dan Espen wrote in : I have a corian cutting board. It does get scratches, but not real bad. that must do wonders for your knive edges.... Corian says "They are less damaging to knives..." Yes, I believe them. Would that lead one to conclude that Corian is soft? No. It's not soft. What do you have against Corian? My cutting board is 4 years old and the scratches are invisible to the eye. I can feel them with my fingers. I guess if I spent more elbow grease with a scrub pad the scratches would disappear. I'm not worried about it. The plastic acts like teflon, it's easy to cut on and the sharp edge of the knife sinks in just enough that the knife stays sharp. You can feel the cuts but they're hard to see. The plastic is quite hard. It easily breaks glasses dropped on it. It will not scratch if you drag a pot or pan across it. You'd have to use something hard and sharp and press down with force and then move it. It's also very repairable and has a lifetime guarantee that I can attest to. I am not being paid by Corian. Not yet anyway. What do I have against Corian? Nothing. I wouldn't use it on a kitchen counter because it scratches so easily, and not everyone uses a cutting board like they're supposed to. Other than that, it's good stuff. I prefer granite or laminates, but that's just me. I do not like Corian for anything but bathroom tops. YMMV. And probably does. Steve |
#47
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Counter tops what material?
so many want granite, cause it lasts forever and looks good.
the same folks who complain of dated kitchens..... guess what that forever granite is a fad too, something else will come along and date the kitchen. geez i am old enough to remember before all this yuppie must have everything new............ i seriously doubt we as a nations standard of living can continue like it has in the past. heck our country is a wreck, jobs going overseas, its not sustinable and medicare and social security are going belly up the days of new shiney everything are coming to a end |
#48
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Counter tops what material?
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#49
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Counter tops what material?
On Mar 24, 9:18 pm, "S. Barker" wrote:
Thanks Mike for a very informative reply. steve "mike" wrote in message ... On Mar 24, 9:07 am, "S. Barker" wrote: My wife is doing research of what is a better choice for a countertop in our soon to be remodeled kitchen. She can't seem to come up with unbiased facts on the internet. There is the Corian camp, the granite camp, and a quartz camp. All seem to think what they bought, sell, or install is the best. Here are some facts that should affect our decision. #1. and probably foremost important. We are not yuppies and will not buy something just because everyone else is #2. We ACTUALLY use our kitchen and sometimes in a very haphazard way. These activities include canning, cookie cutters, vegatable chopping, cast iron cookware, and an absent minded wife occasionally setting hot pans on the counter. (she told me to say that) #3. We have 6 grandchildren that are in our house often. #4. Just suffice to say the kitchen gets hard use in our family and we are not afraid to USE it and get it dirty. Any unbiased thoughts out there? thanks steve barker Testing tends to rank quartz (like Silestone) contertops on top, and I tend to agree. Quartz does not stain. Test it yourself, as they let you take home samples for free. Granite can stain especially if you leave a drop of oil or peanut butter in spot unnoticed for a great length of time. We've had a number of "help, my granite is stained" posts here. Once granite is stained, there's not a lot you can do. Quartz, like granite can take an accidently placed hot pan. Again, test it yourself. You can build small matchstick fires or leave a smoking hot cast iron pan on quartz with no damage. Both quartz and granite have a slight possibility of cracking from thermal shock, but it's not a big risk (but don't get in the habit of misplacing a 700 degree pan). Only a metal countertop will perform better here, but metal scratches easily, and is spendy. Quartz is very hard. It's like granite without granite's softer components that make it porous and cause it to require periodic sealing. Both will have great longevity against scratches. Quartz has a higher bending strength for bigger overhangs, and quartz has no microcracks or chips that might be a source for breakage either during fab or use, like granite does. Quartz' lack of pores makes it virtually impervious to molds, mildew, bacteria, fungus. The only advantage granite has over quartz is natural grain flow beauty, but then again, that can be a liability when trying to make seams disappear. Other random thoughts: Concrete is WAY too prone to cracks and chips for countertop use. Marble is too prone to acids and stains. Tile tops are cheap but a joke. Everyone I've known that had them loathed them (grout, mildew, not smooth, hard to clean). No matter what countertop you get, you have to use cutting boards to save your knives from being dulled from hard materials and from possibly damaging counters just from high force divided by small area of the knife edge. One test you may want to do that I never got around to is taking equal sized samples of quartz and granite, and just bang them with a hammer a few dozen times with increasing force to see what happens (with eye protection, of course) Anyway, don't take my word for it. Get samples of quartz and put it thought the wringer. Right now, Silestone has the nicest looking patterns, but then you're stuck with Home Despot and 100% payment in full before work begins. We remodeled our kitchen three years ago. The builder had installed cabinets made of fiberboard. I had new tile put down on the floor, counter top and back splash after we moved in. Many things to like about tile. Unfortunately, the grout started leaking into the fiberboard cabinets and they swelled up.....that was why we had the remodel job. Now I have one half inch plywood cabinets - but the counter top is laminate. I chose Wilsonart...it is a dark blue speckled. I am careful - I have some left over tile which I use for hot pans. The re-modeler was able to save the tile back splash so all my tiles match. Laminates may be out of vogue but they cost less and they don't leak. |
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