Seattle Laminate Counters

Other than chopping vegetables and setting down hot plates, pots, and pans, there are very few things you can't do on a laminate counter that you could do on other countertop materials. The major difference is diligence in caring for your countertop. When something spills on your countertop or if you're cooking a big meal with extensive food prep, you'll need to immediately clean your counter as well as clean as you cook to prevent staining. On the other hand, it's easy to tell yourself you'll be careful not to drop anything on your countertop that might scratch it and that you're a generally clean person. It only takes one time, one maintenance lapse, and your countertop will become an eyesore or need repair. Imagine an unsteady hand created by one too many shots of espresso or a kid pulling at your clothes.

Seattle Laminate Counter Repair
Unlike a stained granite counter or a burned quartz counter, laminate counters, along with solid-surface counters, can be repaired. So long as you're able to obtain replacement laminate from the manufacturer, you can remove the area of damaged laminate and install new laminate. The result may not be quite as seamless as solid-surface repair, but it can be done. Of course, repaired laminate counters are just as vulnerable to future damage, leading many homeowners to simply replace their laminate counters with a more high-end material.

Seattle Laminate Counters: New and Old
Laminate counters used to be a fairly straightforward counter material. It was the least expensive, but also the least durable. This may still strictly be true, but your choices and the factors that determine your choices have become more complicated. New lines of laminate counters that are 40 percent stronger than original laminate counters have hit the market. These counters will be harder to scratch, but they still won't perform like stone or solid-surface counters. You should particularly wary of a shiny laminate countertop material. Shiny laminate is notorious for not only scratching easily, but for showing their scratches and quickly becoming an eyesore.

Cost of Seattle Laminate Countertops
So, how much cheaper is laminate? The simple answer is quite cheaper. While the average cost of a stone counter is about $4,800 and the average for solid-surface counters is about $4,300, the same size laminate counter can often cost as little as $1,300. Given that these are only averages, the exact cost of your counter can vary quite a bit. Most of the recent Seattle laminate counter installations we've processed for homeowners have cost only $1,000, but it's not unheard of to still spend $3,000 or $4,000 on a large laminate counter.

Seattle Laminate Counter Contractors and Installation
Another reason to consider laminate counters is the ease of installation. Stone counters must be fabricated, concrete counters must be poured, solid-surface counters manufactured, while laminate counters can be quickly made ready-to-install. In fact, it's not uncommon to have a laminate counter installation take less than half the time as other countertop options. Figure on just a few days, as opposed to a week or two. If your countertop is part of a larger kitchen remodel that will be putting your kitchen out of commission for weeks, you will appreciate anything that can return your new working kitchen to you.