Relatives who just don't get it

[RainyDay]

I actually don't mind tile counters. But they are better with big tiles and they absolutely need some sort of new age grout like epoxy or maybe one of the new-age cement ones.

We've got cement ones in our bathroom. Anything oily marks it.

We stayed in an Airbnb recently that had concrete kitchen counters.  The owners had put up signs saying to be very careful since almost anything stained the countertops.  Why would you put something in the kitchen where liquids and sauces would stain it?!?!

[ixtap]

Wow, if we are still on countertops, the relatives must be behaving themselves in the new year. Or everybody is avoiding the relatives...

[SwordGuy]

We stayed in an Airbnb recently that had concrete kitchen counters.  The owners had put up signs saying to be very careful since almost anything stained the countertops.  Why would you put something in the kitchen where liquids and sauces would stain it?!?!

Because the people who lived there didn't cook in their kitchen, it was just for showing off their wealth and status?

Or because they didn't do their research until after it was installed?

[snacky]

Concrete countertops can be sealed. Maybe the owners didn't know that?

[PDXTabs]

Concrete countertops can be sealed. Maybe the owners didn't know that?

They are also very mustachian. You can pour them yourself.

[TomTX]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in polished concrete with recycled-glass aggregate.

[MissNancyPryor]

We stayed in an Airbnb recently that had concrete kitchen counters.  The owners had put up signs saying to be very careful since almost anything stained the countertops.  Why would you put something in the kitchen where liquids and sauces would stain it?!?!

Because the people who lived there didn't cook in their kitchen, it was just for showing off their wealth and status?

Or because they didn't do their research until after it was installed?

My childhood home had CARPET in the kitchen and bathrooms. 

That worked out exactly as you might expect. 

[SunnyDays]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in polished concrete with recycled-glass aggregate.

Is that “the thing” now?  Can’t say I’ve heard of it.  What will they think of next??

[Sugaree]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in polished concrete with recycled-glass aggregate.

Is that “the thing” now?  Can’t say I’ve heard of it.  What will they think of next??

I looked at a recycled glass countertop option a few years ago.  The one I looked at was resin vs. concrete.  They were a cool terrazzo looking surface, but they were pricy and reportedly not as durable as quartz or granite.

[AMandM]

That`s prettier than most granite, but almost as bad at hiding crumbs and bread ties.

[sonofsven]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in polished concrete with recycled-glass aggregate.

Is that “the thing” now?  Can’t say I’ve heard of it.  What will they think of next??

I looked at a recycled glass countertop option a few years ago.  The one I looked at was resin vs. concrete.  They were a cool terrazzo looking surface, but they were pricy and reportedly not as durable as quartz or granite.

That picture reminds me of the old "rock candy". I like quartz due to the low maintenance.

[Freedomin5]

Terrazzo is very in now.

[SunnyDays]

That’s nice, but a bit too busy for my taste.  I do like the colours though.

[OtherJen]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in polished concrete with recycled-glass aggregate.

Is that “the thing” now?  Can’t say I’ve heard of it.  What will they think of next??

I looked at a recycled glass countertop option a few years ago.  The one I looked at was resin vs. concrete.  They were a cool terrazzo looking surface, but they were pricy and reportedly not as durable as quartz or granite.

I would love that as a table top. Not so much as a regular workspace.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Kind of reminds me of the Southern restroom and the decorative hand towels. Growing up, every Southern house's bathroom had at least one very fancy hand towel hanging neatly folded near the sink. But woe be unto anyone who used it! It was purely decorative, and no one was ever supposed to touch it! That was what the (often semi-hidden) plain towel was for.

I think at first, it was a matter of having a "good" towel for guests, and another one for household members. But eventually it evolved to where even guests weren't supposed to use these fancy towels, which were heavily decorated and often not made of absorbent or even moisture-tolerant materials.

If you ever want to torture a Southerner, remove every single towel except the fancy one.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Terrazzo is very in now.

I just redid my countertops in Calacatta Gold marble because the brown Italian marble with bronze highlights that I installed back in March didn't do it for me color-wise.

Of course, I did it all with epoxy from Stone Coat so it cost me a whopping $200.

I only get one picture so this is the photo from the spring.

[Hadilly]

TGS, would you mind sharing how the marble is wearing? I need to get new countertops, and am torn between quartz and marble. I cook a lot and have kids. Our kitchen needs to be very functional.
 

Your new counters look lovely!

[Sibley]

TGS, would you mind sharing how the marble is wearing? I need to get new countertops, and am torn between quartz and marble. I cook a lot and have kids. Our kitchen needs to be very functional.
 

Your new counters look lovely!

Marble stains, scratches/chips and need a lot of maintenance. Granite, particularly dark colored granite, shows fingerprints and requires maintenance. Personally, I'm way too lazy for either.

[Taran Wanderer]

Our granite is pretty low maintenance. Middle tones, lots of variety in the stone, can’t see bread crumbs well (this can be a problem), can’t see fingerprints at all (this is not a problem), takes hot cookie sheets and the occasional casserole dish without issues. Only two joints in the whole kitchen and they’re almost invisible. We like it a lot. Ten years old and it looks brand new.

[Dicey]

TGS, would you mind sharing how the marble is wearing? I need to get new countertops, and am torn between quartz and marble. I cook a lot and have kids. Our kitchen needs to be very functional.
 
Your new counters look lovely!

Hmm, I think the key word was "epoxy".

[Sandi_k]

TGS, would you mind sharing how the marble is wearing? I need to get new countertops, and am torn between quartz and marble. I cook a lot and have kids. Our kitchen needs to be very functional.
 

My SIL just did a whole-house gut and remodel, and turned the attached garage into a stunning kitchen. She went with white and gray, of course. The countertops are marble.

Within the first month, it was stained by the fridge area, as the kids had pulled out a basked of strawberries and put them on the counter. She's bleached the bejeezus out of the area, and it's still visible.

No way would I mix marble and kids when we do our reno of the kitchen. We're looking at quartz for exactly the "seal it and forget it" reasons you cite.

[economista]

TGS, would you mind sharing how the marble is wearing? I need to get new countertops, and am torn between quartz and marble. I cook a lot and have kids. Our kitchen needs to be very functional.
 

My SIL just did a whole-house gut and remodel, and turned the attached garage into a stunning kitchen. She went with white and gray, of course. The countertops are marble.

Within the first month, it was stained by the fridge area, as the kids had pulled out a basked of strawberries and put them on the counter. She's bleached the bejeezus out of the area, and it's still visible.

No way would I mix marble and kids when we do our reno of the kitchen. We're looking at quartz for exactly the "seal it and forget it" reasons you cite.

Quartz is the best for "seal it and forget it." I dripped hair dye on the quartz countertops in my bathroom and it just wiped right off.

[jeninco]

TGS, would you mind sharing how the marble is wearing? I need to get new countertops, and am torn between quartz and marble. I cook a lot and have kids. Our kitchen needs to be very functional.
 

My SIL just did a whole-house gut and remodel, and turned the attached garage into a stunning kitchen. She went with white and gray, of course. The countertops are marble.

Within the first month, it was stained by the fridge area, as the kids had pulled out a basked of strawberries and put them on the counter. She's bleached the bejeezus out of the area, and it's still visible.

No way would I mix marble and kids when we do our reno of the kitchen. We're looking at quartz for exactly the "seal it and forget it" reasons you cite.

Quartz is the best for "seal it and forget it." I dripped hair dye on the quartz countertops in my bathroom and it just wiped right off.

That's really good to know, because we're contemplating moving our kitchen, and with the proposed much smaller span of countertop quartz seems like a reasonable option. But I use my kitchen pretty hard, so I'm happy to have that info. Thanks!

[ixtap]

This thread needs to be renamed

[Sibley]

Nah, it's just some temporary foam. Or orange/black boxes. It'll get back on topic.

[DadJokes]

Nah, it's just some temporary foam. Or orange/black boxes. It'll get back on topic.

It'll move on to the next big thing, kind of how people move on to the next popular countertop material.

:D

[pasadenafr]

TGS, would you mind sharing how the marble is wearing? I need to get new countertops, and am torn between quartz and marble. I cook a lot and have kids. Our kitchen needs to be very functional.
 

My SIL just did a whole-house gut and remodel, and turned the attached garage into a stunning kitchen. She went with white and gray, of course. The countertops are marble.

Within the first month, it was stained by the fridge area, as the kids had pulled out a basked of strawberries and put them on the counter. She's bleached the bejeezus out of the area, and it's still visible.

No way would I mix marble and kids when we do our reno of the kitchen. We're looking at quartz for exactly the "seal it and forget it" reasons you cite.

Quartz is the best for "seal it and forget it." I dripped hair dye on the quartz countertops in my bathroom and it just wiped right off.

That's really good to know, because we're contemplating moving our kitchen, and with the proposed much smaller span of countertop quartz seems like a reasonable option. But I use my kitchen pretty hard, so I'm happy to have that info. Thanks!

+1 for quartz. Mine is white with very light and very small greyish speckles - not distracting at all (I'm not a fan of more "patterned" countertops). I use my kitchen pretty hard too, and after 3+ years it looks like new. It's also incredibly easy to clean - just a quick swipe with a wet microfiber rag and some multi-purpose cleaner every evening and done.

If I were to buy a home, I'd definitely go with quartz. Ease of maintenance and durability are the most important criteria for kitchen countertops - way before aesthetics. As much as I like marble and soapstone, I'd never be able to live with those in my kitchen.

[ysette9]

Glad to hear. I am hoping to pull the trigger on a kitchen remodel shortly and am thinking white-ish quartz.

How is quartz for setting down hot pots on it directly?

[pasadenafr]

How is quartz for setting down hot pots on it directly?

I don't ever think about it. Not something I do super often as I tend to put those on the stove top (it's flat, and glass), but I occasionally do put them on the countertop and never had a problem.

[Hadilly]

TGS: whoops! Missed that key word.

I appreciate hearing all the quartz love. I currently have very dark, stripey granite. It looks like dried snot, one can’t see if it is clean or not, but is very durable and I can put hots pans down with abandon.

[SwordGuy]

If you keep posting about countertops in this thread, you're somebody's relative that just doesn't get it.  :)

[Feivel2000]

I use blue foam as countertop.
Doesn't work at all.

[Morning Glory]

Nah, it's just some temporary foam. Or orange/black boxes. It'll get back on topic.

Speaking of orange black boxes: we had a countertop in our last house that I thought was blue and my spouse thought was grey. We still argue about it from time to time. It was laminate but the nice kind (Corian?).

[Weisass]

Tile at the entrances is great - tile so snow melt and slush won't wreck the floors.  And kitchens, where spills are hard to clean up. But otherwise? Just no.

Maybe the worst ever example of this: I used to live near a grocery store that was entirely carpeted. Maybe it reduces breakage of dropped glass items, eliminates slip and fall accidents/lawsuits, lowers their insurance rates and is secretly genius? I dunno. It was incredibly weird, though. They must have invested in some industrial-strength carpet cleaners.

The location was taken over by a Whole Foods at some point and they redid the floors like every other grocery store in the world.

Did you used to live in Cambridge/Somerville? Was it Johnny's Foodmaster?!

[Dicey]

Nah, it's just some temporary foam. Or orange/black boxes. It'll get back on topic.

Speaking of orange black boxes: we had a countertop in our last house that I thought was blue and my spouse thought was grey. We still argue about it from time to time. It was laminate but the nice kind (Corian?).

Corian isn't laminate. It's a solid surface. All of our rentals have it and that shit won't ever die.

[Dollar Slice]

Tile at the entrances is great - tile so snow melt and slush won't wreck the floors.  And kitchens, where spills are hard to clean up. But otherwise? Just no.

Maybe the worst ever example of this: I used to live near a grocery store that was entirely carpeted. Maybe it reduces breakage of dropped glass items, eliminates slip and fall accidents/lawsuits, lowers their insurance rates and is secretly genius? I dunno. It was incredibly weird, though. They must have invested in some industrial-strength carpet cleaners.

The location was taken over by a Whole Foods at some point and they redid the floors like every other grocery store in the world.

Did you used to live in Cambridge/Somerville? Was it Johnny's Foodmaster?!

YES! I knew that place was unique, LOL.

[Morning Glory]

Nah, it's just some temporary foam. Or orange/black boxes. It'll get back on topic.

Speaking of orange black boxes: we had a countertop in our last house that I thought was blue and my spouse thought was grey. We still argue about it from time to time. It was laminate but the nice kind (Corian?).

Corian isn't laminate. It's a solid surface. All of our rentals have it and that shit won't ever die.

What's the nice laminate called then? It had a bit of texture to it. Pattern looked like fake granite or concrete. Previous owners remodeled in 2001 and it was still in perfect condition. 

[dmmms]

Nah, it's just some temporary foam. Or orange/black boxes. It'll get back on topic.

Speaking of orange black boxes: we had a countertop in our last house that I thought was blue and my spouse thought was grey. We still argue about it from time to time. It was laminate but the nice kind (Corian?).

Corian isn't laminate. It's a solid surface. All of our rentals have it and that shit won't ever die.

What's the nice laminate called then? It had a bit of texture to it. Pattern looked like fake granite or concrete. Previous owners remodeled in 2001 and it was still in perfect condition.

I think you are thinking of formica.

[gooki]

Nah, it's just some temporary foam. Or orange/black boxes. It'll get back on topic.

Speaking of orange black boxes: we had a countertop in our last house that I thought was blue and my spouse thought was grey. We still argue about it from time to time. It was laminate but the nice kind (Corian?).

Corian isn't laminate. It's a solid surface. All of our rentals have it and that shit won't ever die.

What's the nice laminate called then? It had a bit of texture to it. Pattern looked like fake granite or concrete. Previous owners remodeled in 2001 and it was still in perfect condition.

Most likely Caesarstone or a similar competitor.

Back on topic (not really) I recall growing up in a house with bright orange Formica benchtops. 100% my parents fault, they built that house themselves.

[Weisass]

Tile at the entrances is great - tile so snow melt and slush won't wreck the floors.  And kitchens, where spills are hard to clean up. But otherwise? Just no.

Maybe the worst ever example of this: I used to live near a grocery store that was entirely carpeted. Maybe it reduces breakage of dropped glass items, eliminates slip and fall accidents/lawsuits, lowers their insurance rates and is secretly genius? I dunno. It was incredibly weird, though. They must have invested in some industrial-strength carpet cleaners.

The location was taken over by a Whole Foods at some point and they redid the floors like every other grocery store in the world.

Did you used to live in Cambridge/Somerville? Was it Johnny's Foodmaster?!

YES! I knew that place was unique, LOL.

There really was only one Johnny's Foodmaster..... what a place.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

The condo we currently rent has white, four inch tiles. Nothing disappears and the grout is never clean...

Don't even get me started on the white, painted steel sink.

All this crap is paired with solid wood cabinets, which is pretty rare in this area, so we have that going for us.

Yes, that's exactly what I epoxied over for my "Calacatta Gold Marble".

There's prep work involved. You have to tape and cover the cabinets and remove the sink. Then sand the tiles for a mechanical bond, wipe it down, hit it with a coat of bonding primer, and mix up some concrete for the next layer. After that, it's Level-Quik to take out any of the remaining tile texture, then an undercoat, then the color epoxy coat (which was the most fun), followed by a clear pour and a layer of matte top coat epoxy. It's a crazy amount of epoxy. Stone Coat Countertops has an instruction video.

The first time around I used way too much bronze and brown, and the results weren't what I wanted, so I sanded the top and redid the undercoat, color epoxy, clear coat and top coat. No biggie.

[onehair]

I have one about my sister. My sister is 40 and quietly lives at home.  She's a writer with a degree who sells stories occasionally and does a spot of editing here and there.  How did she end up with me mentioning her? She has been allowed to live at home virtually rent free and contributing barely anything to the household expenses.  When she does spend money it's on AwesomeCon and food for herself.   My mom is fed up with her(the irony of the situation never fails to amuse me).  My stepfather won't help my mom to push her from the comfortable nest they've created for her.  She has a boyfriend but he appears to be aimless.  He lives in a room and though he mentions marriage has shown no initiative to make a home for them to either "live in sin" nor have a married household.  He is despised by both mother and stepfather.
He buys her food flowers and teddybears.

[Sibley]

I have one about my sister. My sister is 40 and quietly lives at home.  She's a writer with a degree who sells stories occasionally and does a spot of editing here and there.  How did she end up with me mentioning her? She has been allowed to live at home virtually rent free and contributing barely anything to the household expenses.  When she does spend money it's on AwesomeCon and food for herself.   My mom is fed up with her(the irony of the situation never fails to amuse me).  My stepfather won't help my mom to push her from the comfortable nest they've created for her.  She has a boyfriend but he appears to be aimless.  He lives in a room and though he mentions marriage has shown no initiative to make a home for them to either "live in sin" nor have a married household.  He is despised by both mother and stepfather.
He buys her food flowers and teddybears.

Some of the people I've known who are like that have depression. Any chance that's your sister?

[onehair]

It is quite possible.  She wants badly to have a best selling novel.   I was going to suggest they do to her what they did to me which is cut her off and make her get a regular job and support herself. But that might be a bit hardcore and even I have a soft spot for her. I will ask my mom is she depressed?  She has always had the reputation as the "good one" of the family unlike me with my black sheep checkered past and my brother who being a boy was always treated a little differently and he's the youngest.  She is immature in some ways and I assumed my mom and stepfather were okay with it since they never made waves.  Lately my mom has been very salty about it.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

It is quite possible.  She wants badly to have a best selling novel.   I was going to suggest they do to her what they did to me which is cut her off and make her get a regular job and support herself. But that might be a bit hardcore and even I have a soft spot for her. I will ask my mom is she depressed?  She has always had the reputation as the "good one" of the family unlike me with my black sheep checkered past and my brother who being a boy was always treated a little differently and he's the youngest.  She is immature in some ways and I assumed my mom and stepfather were okay with it since they never made waves.  Lately my mom has been very salty about it.

How many books has she published? If the answer is "zero", including self publishing, and if she isn't a regular columnist at a magazine or newspaper, and if she doesn't have a blog or Web site that's making money, then what she has isn't a full-time job. At best it's a hobby. I say this because she's 40 and is still in the very early start-up stage of a writing career. She needs to be doing at least some other things to pay the bills and to support herself. J K Rowling worked as a secretary. Stephen King worked as a janitor. None of this kept them from writing and from eventually making a very good living at it. The most probable outcome even if she is an extremely good writer is that she will make *some* money writing, but not enough to live on sustainably, for life. Whether her extremely good novel sells well isn't really up to her.

[onehair]

Sadly the answer is zero. She is a good writer in my biased opinion I have read one of her stories published in a short story book and attended one of her readings in the area.  But I agree she does need to get a job. The Stephen King thing was pointed out to her as well as the late Toni Morrison an author my sister loves having a full time I think editing job before writing full time My stepfather tried to get her one at a local university and she turned it down flat.  I did observe her at the last Awesome Con which I attended because our mom had bought me a ticket and some photo package.  She did flit around buying various items which had mom grumbling continually plus disappearing to likely text boyfriend. 
Full disclosure: This year I am buying my own ticket to control when I can come and go.  Back on subject there is also grumbling that my sister helps with no household chores. From my observations she is queen of the basement only emerging for bathroom and food purchased I assume with her own bits of money.
Last week she posted about going to Kennedy Center to see the Riverdance. I was curious who'd paid for it.

[Tass]

Whether her extremely good novel sells well isn't really up to her.

I know a prolific but obscure published novelist who sometimes gets suggestions from non-writers to "try writing a bestseller." He's always like, "Oh, is it that easy?" (sarcasm)

[NorthernIkigai]

Whether her extremely good novel sells well isn't really up to her.

I know a prolific but obscure published novelist who sometimes gets suggestions from non-writers to "try writing a bestseller." He's always like, "Oh, is it that easy?" (sarcasm)

It’s like those plans to promote something “by making a viral video”… You don’t make a vita video, you make a video and it very, very rarely goes viral.

[SunnyDays]

She doesn’t sound depressed to me.  More likely just enabled to live a non-productive life, coupled with a big dream and unwillingness to settle for anything less than that.  Because she doesn’t have to, courtesy of parents.  Time to give her a deadline to move out.  She will figure it out when she has to.

[gooki]

A few years fending for oneself with also address most of the immature tendencies.