I am refacing my kitchen and my tastes run country/cottage/informal. I am doing shaker cabinets in natural maple and I don’t like shiny countertops. I want a matte black or brown finish no speckles. I heard problems with soapstone such as scratches and may contain asbestos- but I like the look(of soapstone not scratches and asbestos).I though about getting honed absolute black granite- but there is a website called findstone.com with disaster stories about granite. I am also considering black corian but I think it kind od looks like formica. Any suggestions or comments?
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The solid surfacing materials, like Corian and the other brands, scratch easily. In dark colors the scratches really show as lighter marks. If you don't like the look of scratches then solid surfacing is not for you.
Asbestos in stone countertops is not a hazard. Asbestos is only a hazard when the material breaks into very fine fibers and the fibers are inhaled and become lodged in the lungs. A countertop is a big solid hunk of stone and won't become airborne as fibers.
Can we infer from your comment about Formica that you don't like laminates? They have an amazing range of patterns and colors available.
I've seen a few very nice concrete countertops, but fabrication is a real art and specialty.
Waynel5- thanks for your reply. The thing with soapstone is - don't you need to sand the stone if it gets scratches? Wouldn't that make the asbestos airborne?
Sand it wet and wipe up the debris with a damp paper towel.
Also, the people who have asbestos diseases are, with rare exception, people who had high dosage, long term exposure to it, and who smoked. If you don't smoke and limit your asbestos exposure to occasionally sanding soapstone, the chance of it hurting you is miniscule.
Besides, the soapstone you want may not even have any asbestos in it. Get a sample from your dealer and have it tested. You can find asbestos testing companies in the yellow pages in any metropolitan area, or on the web.
There was an article in Inspired House, #5 about a kitchen that used environmentally friendly products. The counters are something called fireslate (fireslate.com). It's a man-made material, and has a matte black finish (well, it's not glossy like most granite counters). I hope this helps!
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FIRESLATE! oh,boy- I heard bad things about that! Go to http://www.fire-slate.com/.
Now we are looking into Avonite and Corian. I am thinking the Matte finish black corian may be a good substitute.
Yikes! Is this a common problem, or just the misfortune of one lucky family? Also, did you notice the gaps between each section?
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That site is a lovely tribute to the power of sarcasm. I would never consider fireslate now!
The site is very funny, unless of course, it's your kitchen!
I'm surprised at the problems with Fireslate--we had in on our lab counters in highschool and it was bulletproof. I think part of the James family's problem was the extra coats of tung oil they put on--was that according to manufacturer? Tung oil is a bad finish as far as I'm concerned; it wrinkles, it isn't waterproof, etc.. If I were they, I'd strip the counters and reapply whatever is used at the factory and leave the tung oil in China.
Have you thought about using concrete? There are also similar even more stain resistant products out there that are versions of the concrete counter top. I would think something dyed dark and acid treated could be nice.
I am interested in concrete but have little info on it. I am also seriously considering doing a black corian in a matte finish.
Just so you know, I started out on this web site ans "Dan", but someone else was also using that nickname and it seemed confusing, so I changed to "Danno". Anyway, another poster said Corion may scratch; I would think concrete is harder. Seems like there was an article about concrete countertops in either Fine Homebuilding magazine, or maybe Inspired Homes. Maybe there is even a web site. I know there is a guy who developed a special technique of doing them and he may have a web site (I think he's written a book on it).
I guess my remarks about not using Tung oil were wrong--it was recommended by the manufacturer. I, myself, would never use tung oil, I might at times use tung oil varnish, which may have very little tung oil.
Taunton has a book about Concrete countertops. I don't know if this is what you were referring to, but hope it helps.
http://www.taunton.com/store/pages/070599.asp
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Banana,
I have heard that Corian scratches pretty easily. I've also heard that the problem with sanding out those scratches is that the area you sand never quite matches the rest of the finish. Since I don't have solid surface I can't test that, but you might consider that when making your decision and double check with your supplier.
As for soapstone, I worked in labs for years where we did absolutely no maintenance on it - no oil, no sealer, no nothing. We dragged books, beakers, and heavy cartons across it all the time. Yes it scratches a little, but it gets a patina that makes it attractive, at least to me. Pretty much any surface is going to show use if you use it. In a cottage atmosphere I'd think that would add to the appeal rather than detracting.
Just out of curiousity I went to the fireslate web site and went to the care and maintenance section for countertops. They recommended a 100% tung oil application every 3-4 months for homeowner maintenance.
Oops, I stand corrected. Just seemed like maybe the stains were in the oil finish rather than in the Fireslate itself. (Like when someone sets a wet flower pot on a table and damages the lacquer.) But if the maker tells you to put tung oil on it, I guess they should know what's best. I remember in lab though, we spilled strong acids and solvents on the counters and never had a problem.
Are you sure that your lab countertops weren't really soapstone? That is the common material used in chemistry labs. The soapstone used in labs requires virtually no maintenance and is very resistant to everything.
Maybe it was soapstone, but it was black with no mottling and it seemed hard.
If tung oil wrinkles, it's being applied much too thick. Tung oil hardens by reaction with oxygen in the air, not by solvent evaporation, so it has to be applied in very thin layers. The drill is to spread out the minimum amount of oil that will make the surface look wet, let it sit till it starts to feel tacky or for whatever period of time specified on the label, then rub it off with clean rags. It should be rubbed until you don't feel any drag when drawing a clean, dry rag across the surface. This will leave a very thin layer, consistent with the manufacturer recommending re-application three or four times a year.
Also, you have to be careful when you're shopping to get tung oil finish rather than tung oil. Tung oil finish is varnish, and my not have a great deal of tung oil in it, or none at all according to some reports.
WRT to waterproofness, I don't know anything about tung oil in particular, but linseed oil acts about the same way, and I've seen references to high end gunstock makers achieving very nearly waterproof finishes by applying several dozen coats of linseed oil.
I saw in some woodworking mag where they put different oils on a sheet of glass and let them dry. Tung oil wrinkled, hence my remark. I've never worked with it myself except in tung oil varnish.
Talk about coincidence: my latest issue of Dwell arrived today and in it was an ad for concrete countertops. There are two online addresses: chengdesign.com or concreteexchange.com.
I'm sure Cheng is the name of the guy I spoke of earlier. Good luck!