Structural failure isn't a real concern, but increased load =3D>
increased bounce, and that can be annoying. If the weight is added around the perimeter of the room it's rarely if ever an issue. A large cabinet island with a stone or concrete top in the middle of the room can make things bouncy. Rattling dishes yell 'cheap construction' whether that's the case or not.
It is good practice to double check the situation with the floor joists. Yahoo plumbers might have taken a 3" notch out of the bottom of some joists instead of drilling a two inch hole. I've seen similar things too many times.
Maybe the piece was originally destined for a setting where both sides would be visible when in use? Or perhaps, they polished one side and then decided the pattern on the other side was more interesting. Who knows?
Point taken, in my case it was a perimeter installation in a galley style kitchen. I have a basement, and full access to inspect the joists below as that is the laundry/furnace area, house was built 60 years ago, nice solid wood joists.
That reminds me of a home improvement show I viewed some months ago. The home owner picked out of piece of granite for his kitchen and sent it off to be cut and polished. When it was delivered, he realized he'd told the granite company to polish the wrong side. Since the piece of granite he had picked out was cut with a shortened 45 degree bend in it, the polished side up had the bend going 180 degrees in the wrong direction. The home owner lucked out though. Someone else like the faulty piece enough that they bought it for just a little less then retail cost.
Stone/granite is obviously front runner these days. Laminate totally adequate if vulnerable to moisture when the core is chipboard. Wood though is the best if you are comfortable with it and you wouldn't be here if you weren't.
A real butchers Block is end grain so that the butcher can wallop it with a chopper every day without chunks falling out of it. No domestic worktop has to take that treatment so it is only for show and looks in the home. They do look nice, but beware shrinkage, expansion, fixing method, and gaps opening up at the edges.
Beech was always the preferred wood for food preparation items like boards, table tops, spoons rolling pins. AFAICT that is because it has no taste or smell, it has no unhygenic open pores so can be scraped and scrubbed clean, it is resistant to splitting, It isn't high in tannins, it is inexpensive for a utilitarian purpose and available in big widths. It's disadvantage is that it has a high degree ov movement in service from variation in moisture content. A lot of old tables and butchers blocks needed washing down with water daily to prevent shrinkage.
Maple has a lot of the same qualities as beech but is a prettier wood with less movement. That makes it preferable.
For wet areas teak or Iroko is the thing. They are so stable that with the right adhesives, careful strong fixing and judicious use of gaps filled with silicone you can make a surface which is totally impervious to water, a complete leak proof wet area. Cool. Looks fine oiled or greyed.
HTH Tim W
BTW I liked grey slate too. It's cheaper than granite, very soft but wears and scratches in a pleasing way over the years.
IMHO it's tile hands down. Easy to install, if you get a chip (I dropped a cast iron skillet once) it's easy to replace just that tile. Variety of colors, very durable (my countertops are 25 years old and still look good) I've heard complaints from some about the grout looking bad but I sealed mine and it's a dark grout besides. Still looks good. I can e-mail photos if you're interested.
Not all laminates are created equal..in fact, far from it. Assuming they have a colour/pattern you like, Wilsonart AEON series is unbeatable for performance. Awesome stuff.
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Solid surface a la Corian or others?
No visible seams, refinish-able, any kind of edge treatment you could wish for. Doesn't like high heat, scratches which will be visible on darker colours, but still refinish-able.
Stupid money for a very scratchable product. The answer to the question nobody asked.
if not maple?
Buy it from a pro...like John Boos. Expensive but pretty. DO avoid bamboo!
Definitely not marble. Too soft and porous. Awesome colours though. Granite is all over the place. It can be soft, like a sponge, hard as a hooker's heart, can be stunning to look at. No warranty, seams are germ-traps. Buyer beware as there is a lot of sub-standard granite around. The good ones are always expensive... always.
Quartz, like Silestone, Hanstone, Ceasar Stone, DuPont Zodiaq, Cambria. Bar none my favourite in terms of colours, durability, seams can be very inconspicuous. Most carry a 10 year warranty and some even 15 yrs. Excellent stuff. Expensive. . . . BUT... cold to the touch, something that bugs me as much as it does C- Less. THAT is why I have Corian at my house. It is a lot warmer and I got it for free. *smirk* If I had to do that over again, in this house? A custom top (sheets can be 5x12ft approx $ 200.00) Wilsonart AEON General Purpose thickness laminated on waterproof MDF with a wood or Corian edge. Cheap, lightweight and if you use water based contact adhesive... and yes there are good ones out there, you're pretty green to boot.
I used to work in the kitchen trade. a business aquaintance told me how they had supplied a very expensive upmarket kitchen which had a big oldfashioned white china double sink under granite worktops. The customer had chosen a pair of taps she liked so they had the granite drilled before installation, the granite installers came and fixed it all down, the plumber came to fix and connect the taps and the sink, the tilers, the electrician, the snagging, the cleaning etc then handover day, client arrives, designer salesman is showing off how everything works and realises that the hot tap runs into the left hand bowl and the cold tap runs into the right hand bowl. Nobody had thought to say no to the client's choice of taps on the grounds that they needed a mixer. Red faces and a lot of rectifying.
As far as using more than one material, that can really take it out of the realm of ordinary. An example is an ultra modern kitchen we're just finishing up that has two colors of 3/4" Caesar Stone, 2 1/4" John Boos end grain maple butcher block, and a laminate back splash.
I never thought something like this would ever happen to me, but every time I look at Swing's kitchen pictures, I get a woody when I get to the shot of the gas range. Should I consult my therapist?
Fair enough. The only application that comes to mind for a two-sided polished slab in a typical countertop thickness stone would be something like a toilet partition. I remember reading about a Georgian quarry that supplied the institutional-standard toilet partitions for a large part of the country back in the 30's and 40's. I have no idea what makes a particular quarry's stone better for partitions, but I could understand a place like that might be in the habit of polishing both sides as standard.
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