Corian vs. Silestone countertops

[Steve Klc]

How badly is Corian going to get dinged up screwing down a pasta maker or meat grinder to it?

Badly if you don't take precautions. Merely sliding a saucepan across Corian will "scratch" it but depending on the color you choose you might not even see the scratch unless you bend down to just the right angle and shine a light on it just so. Of course, anything that really bothers you you can buff or rub out--but if you choose a good color (mine is Glacier white) you won't see any scratches anyway. If you are that kind of person who'll fret any mark, perceived or not, get Zodiaq/Silestone, not Corian. I'd make sure your vice/clamp has good rubber feet and you may want to let your installer know where you're planning to clamp down--he might be able to build up underneath with a little extra plywood and give you a little more support than is typical. I haven't ever clamped anything to my Corian, and wouldn't, so I can't speak from experience--I clamp to granite and stainless.

[takomabaker]

I LOVE my Silestone (Tea Leaf). LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT. I got it a few years back when it was fairly new -- at least in my market of the DC area. I had tile countertops and didn't like them because of the regrouting and cleaning issues, and rolling out pastry on my countertop was important to me.

First, although I have never put a "red hot" pan onto it, I put hot pans on it all the time with no ill effect.

Second, I clamp my pasta maker to it all the time. I purposely did not request a rounded or beveled edge when I placed my order (they give you a choice of edging) specifically because I wanted to be able to clamp things easily to the sides.

Third, I knead dough on it with great success.

Fourth, I roll out pastry on it with great success. In the winter, I open a window over my counter and it stays REALLY COLD, and in the summer I put a full sheet pan filled with ice on for about 15 minutes before I roll out my pastry. It holds the cold incredibly well which is, of course, important if you are into pastry.

And Fifth, it is really easy to clean. Before I use it for pastry, pasta, or bread I run a Clorox Clean-up over it followed by a damp paper towel if I was, say, pounding chicken breasts a few hours earlier. No special cleansers or care needed.

And also important to me, it doesn't look like a laminate countertop. It looks like natural stone. That was important to me when I was remodeling my kitchen. I have a 1930's bungalow and didn't want anything that looked too "modern".

I would say, honestly, the only downside that I have found with Silestone is that you must be very careful with glass. The other night I took down a glass for iced tea and just BARELY tapped the edge of the glass on the side of the countertop when I turned to open the fridge and it SHATTERED in my hand. You learn very quickly to NEVER leave a wineglass next to the sink to be washed the next day if you have cats, kids, or you live with a klutz.

[lapasterie]

I have a combo of granite and corian in my kitchen. The granite is in the baking section. I love it. I roll dough out on it all the time. I have noticed that it is abit dull in that area. Some people say to seal it , others say just use soap and water on it to clean it. The sealers I have seen on the market have all kind of chemical that warn to stay away from food......that kind of scares me. Any ideas what to do?

By the way, we did our backsplashes in the same material as the counter. Looks great. I strongly would suggest that over tile. No problems with grout then.

[CIAalum92]

I just had Corian and I love it. Until I remodled my kitchen we put in Silestone and it is the best move we could have made. No scratches or having to use a buffer to shine up the corian. And from what I remember the price is on the same lines.

Hope this helps a little KEV

[the g-man]

By the way, we did our backsplashes in the same material as the counter. Looks great. I strongly would suggest that over tile. No problems with grout then.

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Any chance of posting a photo? I am ripping out a kitchen and re-building it from scratch, and would like to see how this would look. Thanks!

[kiliki]

You can see that we did a low backsplash out of the same material as our counter (soapstone) in the pictures I posted about a third of the way down the page here:

soapstone counter/backsplash