A View from the Top

Whether it’s solid surface, laminate, natural stone, quartz, metal or something completely different, today’s countertops have one thing in common: Their owners want them to be unique.

Anyone who has visited the selection center at a local kitchen and bath showroom can confirm that more colors and patterns are available in more solid surfaces than ever before. Designers and clients are reaching out to fabricators, challenging them to move beyond innovative edging and unusual insets to create a truly personalized countertop that can act as a focal point for a design.

Customizable designs are hot, as are materials uncommon to the marketplace. Likewise, traditional surfaces that are re-imagined to suit the eclectic tastes of today’s consumers continue to make a splash.

Design does not completely trump practicality, however, and a surface’s ability resistance to staining and chipping certainly play into its desirability. Indeed, this is considered by many to be a key factor in the rise of quartz and other sturdy synthetic materials that do not need sealing, that are non-porous, or that are able to be treated with impervious seals to make them lower maintenance in nature.

Equally popular are such design extras as custom routed drain boards, cutaways to give access to garbage cans and custom racks for knives, signaling a desire for functionality as well as style.

This month, KBDN highlights some of the newest countertop innovations from the best and brightest in the fabrication world.

The Versatile Countertop
When Dan Snider, chairman of the board of Pierce Laminated Products in Rockford, IL, and his wife decided to update their own kitchen, every possible change was on the table. Following a growing trend, the Sniders had decided to integrate their kitchen and family room into one expanded entertainment center.

“We wanted a contemporary design with soft, rounded edging as opposed to dramatic angular configurations,” says Snider. “We selected DuPont’s Corian solid surface because of the immensity of the countertop and our desire to have a clean, sleek look, uninterrupted by seams.”

Practicality was also a consideration and flush-mount sinks were installed for easy clean-up after use. The design was ambitious, including back-to-back sinks, an eating peninsula able to accommodate five people, a functional knife rack and drainboard.

Snider says the size of the countertop, not its design or workability, was the only possible hurdle to clear. The countertop, which spans the length of the kitchen, has 21 feet of deck seams and 44 lineal feet of two-inch sculptured edge, highlighted by a contrasting white pinstripe. “It had to be brought into the kitchen in three pieces and seamed on-site but, with Corian, that’s no problem,” explains Snider.

Customization, Snider says, is the biggest draw for solid surface designers and fabricators. “It really affords the opportunity to very easily customize a design for each customer. Inconspicuous seams, decorative inlays, elegant pinstriping, routed drain boards, a variety of flush mount sinks – the options are endless.”

Elements taken into consideration when designing countertops are being rethought to meet the evolving design possibilities of laminates. “Flush- mount sinks that were once available only in solid surface are now available with a laminate top with Karran sinks,” says Snider. And the evolution of elements designed to work integrally with laminates and solid surfaces is evident in Snider’s own custom Corian countertop.

“Natural stone, when chipped, leaves an unsightly flaw and can be dangerously sharp,” comments Snider. The durability of a solid surface – with its ability to be repaired, resurfaced and re-sanded – makes it a sturdy choice. “Solid surfaces allow you to ‘fix’ what would be irreparable on a laminate, stone, concrete or wood surface,” he adds.