There are many advantages to having beautiful countertops in the home. There are almost as many types of countertop surfaces, colors and styles than there are décor styles, and it can be difficult to decide between the types of countertop for your home, office or even workshop. When it comes to the home, there are possibly many ways to renew existing countertops rather than replace them, but it is important to carefully weigh the time involved versus the costs of new counters. For example, there are kits that allow you to paint laminate counters to look like marble, but this can take several days.
In addition, quality countertops should be resistant to scratches, scrapes and dents, and paint simply does not offer that kind of protection. However, finding better laminate counters or using materials such as stone, tile, marble or even slate can offer much more endurance for high usage. Counters in a home will have items set on them, scooted across them, and must be tough enough to rally back from spills, burns, dropped items and everyday wear and tear. This is why it is such a good idea to purchase high quality materials for a countertop, rather than skimp on cheap goods.
If you aren’t sure what kind of countertops you would like to have, sit down and make a list of the kind of use you expect your countertop to endure, and then fix a budget of lowest to highest for what you think you can afford. After that, start looking online for an average price of materials, such as tile, laminate, marble, stone or other types. Compare ease of installation and the warranty information. For example, marble may be far more expensive than laminate, but if it lasts for twenty years versus the laminate’s five years, it is overall a better investment.
If you are not much of a do-it-yourself worker, you need to start comparing prices for installation. See if a company can provide the materials themselves, or if it would be cheaper if you provided the materials, and a crew simply provided the installation. It can be tempting to do many countertop installations yourself, but it is a very labor intensive job, and the smallest mistakes can ruin the material. Stick with your budget, stick with your time constraints, and try to see your countertops as a long term investment in décor and value for your home, shop or office.