Rock Countertops

My wife and I are redoing our kitchen and changing out the counter tops. We were thinking about putting tile on the countertops but I just don't like how everything will be uniform.

I am thinking of putting rock or stone (like a fireplace) on the countertops. Does anyone know where I can find some pictures of this on the internet. My wife cannot picture it. I don't wan't granite. Want the "rustic" look with some texture.

Thanks

You may think it will look nice, but anything with texture will suck to clean. That goes for grouted tile as well. Smoother is better - less places for curmbs to hide and viruses to grow. Stone counter tops can work, but you need to seal them or they will pick up stains very easily. Avoid anything porous.

One other comment on the tile. If you go with that keep in mind it is not forgiving as far as impact strength goes. Especially at the edges.

I agree that anything textured will be more work than it's worth but I'm a function over form kind of guy anyway.

If you do this, use epoxy grout instead of regular grout and it wont soak up water and it will be possible to clean it. Make sure to choose a stone that won't soak up liquids and seal the whole thing when you're done. Worked with epoxy grout once. Will never do it again.

And if you google "tile countertop" or "stone countertop" and use the images tab, you get lots of hits.

What about pouring concrete counter tops? They make additives that make the concrete waterproof and suitable for food grade use. You could buy some stamps to make it look like stone and pigment for coloration.

I wouldn't want to have to clean them, or anything other than a continuous non porous smooth surface however.

The point has been raised that a textured top will collect more debris as well as be more difficult to clean, but no one has mentioned that a rough and uneven surface will be frustrating to work on! Just think, or ask your wife (if she is the primary cook) to think, about trying to mix something in a bowl that isn't sitting flat on a countertop, or how appliances won't sit level, or how you can't slide dirty dishes along the countertop towards the sink, ect...

If you want some pictures of tiled counters, check out www.johnbridge.com where they can help with all tiling issues. The harder thing with tiled counters is the sink hole. Drop in is easy, undermount harder, tile-in-place in the middle. If you ever want to change the sink and not the counter, though, a drop in is by far the most forgiving. I prefer either a tile-in or undermount so you can easily sweep crumbs, etc. into the sink without it accumulating at the raised edges of a drop in.

I have seen sawn river rock countertops. Essentially they take stones and embed them in the quartz, then hone them down in the normal quartz countertop-making process. My google search turned up nothing relevant but I know they exist.