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How Much Did You Pay For Your Countertops??

July 30, 2010

Rants

funny pictures of cats with captions

Went to Lowe’s and Home Depot today, to look at prices for countertops. I have been entertaining this delightfully fanciful idea that I might buy solid surfacing countertops if the price is right, OR perhaps get laminate countertops and have them INSTALLED. It would be kind of nice NOT to be a DIY’er for that…

😯 Holy guacamole, the prices of countertops!!!!! What happened?!?! When I was looking into them years ago, laminate was, what, $10 a linear foot. Now they are $15 a SQUARE FOOT! That’s $30 a linear foot!!!! And that was the low-end laminate, on sale! The “regular” price was $35 a linear foot. Solid surfacing was $64 a SQUARE FOOT. To have them installed would be $3,000. OMG!

I’m in shock, utter shock. 15 feet of countertops, installed, is the same price as the car I want to get. This is unconscionable. Unbelievable. How much did you pay for your countertops? It seems that prices have doubled in the past few years. Am I in denial?

So I don’t know what to do. I need countertops, but… I have some recycled maple flooring that I could fashion into countertops, but that’s *another* big project… and honestly, after 3 months without a working kitchen, I’d really like to have a kitchen again. Making my own countertops would delay everything by about 3-4 weeks. That would be so agonizing.

I got a pretty good deal on a porcelain sink at HD, but after checking out an online store called MR Direct, I am banging my head… I could have saved more money there. They have really nice porcelain sinks, amongst other things, free shipping, and are Better Business Bureau accredited. Oh well… maybe next time. We are going to be redoing both bathrooms next year; I’ll need new sinks then, and I’m DEFINITELY going to be shopping aorund… that is, IF I can crawl out of the financial hole I’ll wind up in if I pay those extortion-level prices for countertops.

I still can’t believe it. I cannot muster the courage to buy them. What would you do?

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7 Responses to “How Much Did You Pay For Your Countertops??”

  1. Jen Says:
    July 31, 2010 at 10:59 am

    What would I do? Well, I’ve been trying to sell my corneas so I can take a vacation. I guess I’d start there. Or maybe a kidney.

    I have the ugliest counter tops but to do a remodel in my kitchen is too overwhelming. I look at it each night and try to figure out how I can add another six feet to it but for the life of me I can’t figure it out. Good luck.

  2. Carole Says:
    July 31, 2010 at 11:48 am

    I don’t know if this is helpful, but…I used to work for a place that did custom granite countertops and they always had pieces laying around that were either an odd size or else pieces that had been cut and finished to the wrong size for a job and couldn’t be used, that we would sell at a HUGE discount - just looking to get rid of those. The thing is of course the choice was very limited AND the piece would have to fit your kitchen OR you’d have to be able to still be at the point where you could change your kitchen to fit it. Might be worth a look - you’d have a good position for negotiating because those are pieces that are basically wasted and hard to sell. The same might hold true if there is a local person/small business that does laminate countertops near you. They may have odd pieces or cut and finished pieces that were cut to the wrong size for another job that you might be able to get for really cheap. Just a thought.

  3. blueyes Says:
    July 31, 2010 at 12:23 pm

    Check out discount wood and marble places. They get broken slabs that may be big enough for what you want at a huge discount.

  4. Sheila Sultani Says:
    August 2, 2010 at 10:22 am

    I know exactly what happened - all the home remodeling shows like Trading Spaces, Clean House, etc - after watching one of those shows everyone wants to redo their house.

  5. Secondary Roads Says:
    August 2, 2010 at 10:30 am

    It has been 20 years since we did new counter tops. We ended up going with simple, flat laminate. We put ceramic tile on the wall for a back splash.

    • Rebecca Says:
      August 2, 2010 at 10:40 am

      I appreciate the tips, everyone, thanks! Problem is, I don’t know where these factory outlet places are… they don’t seem to advertise, and I can’t seem to find any around just yet. If you have any ideas, let me know!

      Sheila- well, I don’t have TV, so I don’t know about any of those. I’m redoing my kitchen because it literally fell apart over my head. That, and we haven’t had any electricity in three years…

  6. Carole Says:
    August 3, 2010 at 9:34 am

    The type of place I was talking about isn’t a factory outlet sort of place, I meant simply a locally owned independent type granite/countertop place. Like, in the telephone book, “Joe’s Granite Countertops” or “Steve’s Formica Store”. As opposed to Lowe’s or any other type of chain/big business. I would try asking at places like that (local independent people). They’re sure to have leftovers and “mistakes” they’d love to sell. HTH…