Kitchens, Part 3
New counter tops - say a “popular composite with embedded stone particles” are about
$25 a running inch or $300 a foot. Some companies have considerably higher prices
for the very same product.
Some charge for the surface itself and then another fee for the counter top edge. These
“people” can charge you even $550 a running foot for counter tops.
Usually the counter top comes up against the wall. So long as you will agree to a “back
splash” that is not higher than about four inches then even the $550 per foot price is
real.
If you decide that you want a higher back splash then you can
add maybe $17 an inch or $200 a running foot additional. So you
can easily get to $750 a foot for your " It's Plastic"
countertop.
Some companies round up to the next inch when they measure. Some companies
round up to the next foot. Nobody rounds down.
The actual cost is maybe $60 a running foot for a standard counter top and about $80 a
running foot for a counter top with nonstandard backsplash height.
If you want a sink installed in the counter top and it is to be made of the same plastic
material as the counter top then these “people” usually charge about $1,000 for that
sink.
The actual cost of that composite sink replacement --
above and beyond the standard running length of the new counter,
can be ... zero.
If you go with a regular stainless steel sink that is placed
into the new counter top from above then it should only cost you
about $300. If that sink goes in from below then the coutertop
must be machined perfectly and polished because you will see the
edge. Now it can be bigger money.
There are good things to having a “plastic” countertop and there are bad things. The
plastic countertop will not absorb bacteria or food stains. It can also be easy to clean.
The problem is that if you place a pot of boiling water on the counter you are fine. If you
place a pan of bubbling bacon or spill that bubbling bacon on that counter top then you
may have permanently marred that top. Many of these tops cannot take temperatures
