At wits end - not food

[madmax]

I HATE CORIAN!!!! Came with the place, new.

The sink is an almond color and is stained with coffee and tea beyond belief. Have tried, bleach, soft scrub, mr. clean scrubbers, vinegar, lemon juice - nada. I've googled and didn't find anything that worked for ME. Some folks had great success with bleach.

I won't even go into how much the counter top itself sux. I would'nt have gotten Corian if I had a choice and I can't replace it $$. The sink is molded into the counter. I was sick for awhile and mr max never much one to clean anything to begin with just let it go and now I'm stuck with this mess.

Damn, I miss my old SS sink and Formica counters from my old house. I don't care what anyone says about Formica imo it was great. Of course, my personal experience with counter tops are limited to this crap Corian and Formica.

Makes me sick to look at it :puke:

Any suggestions? Acid? :mad:

[Tesha]

1. Seems like its a real issue...

for a whole lot of folks.


This person uses a two step approach...
"I always use Softsoap with Bleach. Squirt it on, scrub it around with a scrubber and let it SIT. When it dries, wet it a little and let it sit until the stain is gone. Works for me everytime!!!"

and this from eHow seems to think the surface can be damaged
"Remove tough stains with an ammonia-based cleaner. Ammonia cleaners will also prevent streaks and residue buildup. Spray an ammonia-based cleaner on the countertop. Use a dry cloth towel to work the cleaner into the Corian countertop. Rinse the countertop thoroughly with warm water. Use a dry cloth towel to soak up any excess moisture until the counter is completely dry. Do not use window cleaner to clean the countertop. Window cleaner will cause the countertop's finish to break down."

Which may be why you're having such a hard time with yours... perhaps the finish is damaged?

[madmax]

2. I thought that too

maybe it's damaged and I need to have someone come and refinish it. I did read that it can be wet sanded by a non-pro but, I'm afraid to try and make it worse.

I checked eHow and other sites but, I didn't see the one you write about - or I forgot ;) I'll try that. The counter tops are fine. Hmm, well fine that they're not stained but, a PITA seems that things just stick harder to that surface and have to be really rubbed. I can live with that it because they're a a not texture - they're smooth but they have a pattern so they're fine.

I have a minuscule kitchen counter and an island. I could if I wanted to replace it but... I can think of fun things I'd rather spend money on. My kids just moved here and my granddaughter just got engaged. I'd like to blow money on them.

Thanks Tesha :hug: Today I'm cleaning closets and working on packing family photos and things for my granddaughter - Ashley, what else - every other girl today is named Ashley. I want Brianna but... ;-) So I may not get to it today. Will post when I do it - or I'll be posting about a new formica counter :rofl:

[Tesha]

6. bad sink...

wonderful family... excellent tradeoff!:loveya:

[Warpy]

3. Acid eats it, so avoid it

I don't know what to tell you except that I'm a Formica fan, too. I'm convinced solid countertops like stone and Corian are for people who don't cook. Formica is tough stuff if you treat it correctly and requires little maintenance. When it does crap out, or when you're just sick of that color, it can be replaced very economically.

Do get a bid on replacing the sink and countertop. It might be less than you think.

In the meantime, one site suggested Soft Soap with bleach and letting it sit, wetting it down when it dried, until the stain was gone. That would work a bit better than just plain bleach, IMO, because it would sit for hours and the soap would hold the bleach in place. So would a rag or paper towel, just keep wetting it down with bleach.

Other suggestions are at http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf552177.tip.html

[eleny]

4. Yes to formica

I have two counter tops that we installed around 1980 and they're still very nice. I've put a nick into them in a spot or two. But I use a product called Countertop Magic to spruce them up every once in a while and they look downright beautiful.

And when we installed some additional cabinets and counters I even found a match that's so close in color that I still think it's exactly the same even though it has a different name.

Hubby keeps leaning towards granite for when we redo our kitchen. But we cook. So there's no point to taking on the headaches of maintenance even though granite looks so nice. I just want a light solid color. In fact, I just want the same as I've had all these years - the champagne almond that brightens up the room and is actually easy to keep clean with Barkeepers Friend.

I'd rather put my money into a really good stove/oven combo.

[Tesha]

5. I'd always had formica...

even the old stuff was great.

Then we redid the kitchen, and put in granite - OMG it's wonderful!
Cleans like a dream, no worry, just like formica, and one more benefit... it stays cool - so working pastry is so much easier.

It was expensive, but I love it, love it, love it

[eleny]

8. That's good to hear in case I give in

I'm not a baker but the material does look nice.

Do you have to treat it with a sealer every so often? Are you afraid of breaking stuff like china? I can be klutzy. :-/

[csziggy]

9. Instead of stone, consider porcelain tile

It is not as expensive can be a DIY project. In my old house, I tiled the counters myself with tile I bought cheaply from big box stores. In the new house, I had the floors and counters tiled by a pro (I think I did a better job, but I cannot physically do that kind of work any more). The tile I used in the new house is a matte blue black (Crossville Color Blox Too, color "I've got the Blues") and at a glance looks a lot like soapstone which I had lusted after. With 18" square tiles, there are not a lot of seams and I had them use the darkest purple navy blue grout in very narrow grout joints.

With tile, your choice of color, texture, pattern and effects are nearly infinite. Although grout can be a problem narrow joints and choice of color can minimize that. Tile can be much cheaper than stone counters, especially if you can do it yourself. With my own tile jobs, I just took the tiles I needed cut with the receipts from the stores in and had them cut for me - for a small job that works great.

The one thing I wish I had known about was a under counter heating pad. The tile stays cool, which would be fantastic if I worked with pastry, but it really freaks out my bread dough when I put it on that cool counter to knead it. I saw a show where a couple put a granite counter for their home office and installed a heating pad under it to keep it from being cold. That would have been so nice for my bread! I keep meaning to dig out one of my old heating pads and use it to keep my bread bowl warm for the dough rising and have it heat the counter at the same time. That would work, if I'd ever remember...

[madmax]

14. Sounds absolutely beautiful.

My dil had tile in her old house and now they bought another house with formica counter tops. She wants to replace it with tile. I'll tell her about the under the counter heating pads and the 12x12's. She had the 4x4's I think that's the usual size of tile. She loves tile!

I have very little counter space and an island - I think I'd still go with Formica. If I had more counter space I would consider something else but, when I tell you this TH has miniscule counter space - it's really really mini. Whoever designed this never cooked. I could rip out the corner pantry and make an L shaped counter but, pfffffft. I've been waiting for someday to do all those things we put off for 'when we have time, or someday.'

Someday is here and it's now. ;-) Hell with the counter and ripping things out - a clean sink would make me happy at this point. :rofl: Need to do Tesha's suggestions but, I'm still working on closets - when that's done this old broad is going to let it rip. If I get bored with having fun I'll replace the counter tops with formica - if not as a last resort I'll call someone to re-surface the corian sink. I think they sand it or something like that.

[csziggy]

17. Not 12 x 12 - 18x18! With the edge piece, you get one big tile in the middle

Front to back. The style tile we used in the new house has edge pieces 3" wide by 12" long so on a regular depth counter (24" deep, the 18" tiles are nicely and symmetrically framed.

[madmax]

20. Oh my!! I have to run this past my son

Thing is he can't afford to do that right now and if he hears about this he'll get a bug and...

I've copied a lot of the ideas from this link into a folder for when he's got some cash. Maybe after income tax - if he gets a return.

[csziggy]

21. You can actually use any size - the larger, the fewer grout joints

In the old house, doing it on the cheap, I bought whatever tile I could get on sale that I liked. Most were 8x8", one small counter (the first) was 6x6". I think at most I spent about 25 cents per tile. Since it was not a "wet counter" I skipped the backer board and put it directly on the plywood. Never had a problem. I think the largest counter (about six feet long and a little deeper than usually) cost me less than $20 for the tile. I made sure to get at least 20% more tile than I had estimated I would need to account for breakage and allow flexibility in design.

What to watch for if buying on the cheap - get flat tile, not the kind that is "pillowed" with a humpy effect. I preferred a more matte look as much for being less "skiddy" as for the looks; glossy would be easier to clean but show dirt more. Check out what colors grout the box stores carry, then pick tiles that will got with them. Since I love blue, I used blue and cream tiles in a harlequin pattern and blue-gray grout.

If you want a tile edge, it is more expensive. Edge tile is very expensive when you are working on a budget! To cut costs a LOT, use a wood trim edge. Rather than prime and paint the wood, if I were doing it now, I would stain the wood (Minwax has some nice color stains if you do not want wood colors) - I found that with untinted primer, it shows a LOT when it chips. You can get a metal edging, but I did not see those at the box stores back when I was DIYing.

What I did was find cheap tile in colors that I liked, then sat down with them and played until I had my basic pattern. It helped that we had already put the plywood on the cabinets, so I could lay them out right in place. Once I got the basic idea, I laid them out with the grout joints spaced the way I wanted. I marked the cuts with Sharpie markers, carried those tiles into the store to get them cut.

I did that whole project on the cheap and it came out looking fantastic. Tile can be done much more cheaply than stone, if you put a little time and thought into cutting the costs. For instance, if I were doing it now, I would make friends with some tile installers and offer to buy leftover grout and mastic. That stuff does not last (it can go bad on the shelf in the stores) so once they open a bag, if they don't use it on that job, they will just toss the leftovers. You might be able to buy odd bits of leftover tile, too, or make a deal with them to order what you want at their contractor's prices - or they may have those expensive tile edges left from a job that they will be happy to sell cheap.

A lot of tile gets sold on Craig's list, but some of the ads I have seen ask more than I have seen the same stuff on sale at the box stores, so be careful there.

[Warpy]

22. I've long thought that is the only way I could be persuaded to do stone

and that is to do granite tile with the grout matching the predominant color as closely as possible but one shade darker. The large tile means you can do things like write out shopping lists on the counter without having the pen pop through the paper when you hit a grout line. It's easier to keep the grout clean, too, since there's so much less of it.

I'd still be more inclined to do a ceramic tile, though, since it takes so much less maintenance.

However, I have arthritis and a constant case of the drops, so I'll stick with Formica.

[csziggy]

23. I know what you mean about the arthritis

I am a little worried about the tile floors, dropping stuff and falling. I've already dropped and shattered a baking dish - with two pork loins in it. That was not long after my shoulder surgery and I was not real coordinated. I'm hoping once I finally get my knees replaced there will not be so many worries about falling on the tile.

I looked at soap stone tiles but they cost far more than the porcelain ones and the availability in this area is non-existent. I also looked at phenotholic (I think that is the name) counters. Those are what have replaced soap stone counters in laboratories and are an inert resin material. They are much cheaper than counter made for kitchens. But I could not find info on out gassing so had to give that up.

I could not see putting the money into stone counters and then have to seal them every few months or worry about staining, etc. We do have marble back splashes - the marble was salvaged from the old Capitol building when it was remodeled, as were some of the other things used in the house. But they do not get much abuse, so they should be OK.

And having something that my hubby will not damage when he makes PB&J sandwiches or slices stuff on the counter is utterly fantastic.

Because of my allergies, I could not even shop for vinyl or manufactured flooring, and it takes a few years before I can spend time in a new building with those kinds of products. I had to shop carefully for low VOC materials for the entire house. Tile and real wood with low VOC finishes are OK. Carpet, vinyl, or plastics, like Formica, are not. I had people make fun of my IKEA cabinets, but they are made to the strictest standards in the world for out gassing - and I saved money assembling them myself.

[GoneOffShore]

25. I've got granite tops and knead the bread on the bit over the dishwasher.

Run the washer and the countertop warms up.

[Tesha]

13. the installers said we should...

but a year and a half later - its still just marvelous! with no sealer!
We chose a dark color with lots of patterning - so you can't really tell if you forgot to wipe it!;)

Knock on wood - not a single thing's been broken

[madmax]

15. That's wonderful

sounds great and when a woman says she loves, loves, loves her kitchen - you know she's a happy camper. :hug:

[Retrograde]

7. We went with formica over corian because of cost

back in the 80s corian was $100 a foot, formica $3. We figured we could replace the formica every couple of years (which we haven't) and still come out ahead.

Granite would just look dumb in a c. 1910 bungalow.

[Warpy]

10. Yeah, it would look pretty stupid in a 1946 Pueblo style house, too

I've always wanted a tuxedo kitchen: white cabinets, black counters, black and white checked floor, and some cockamamie color on the walls to punch it all up.

If the Democrats win more seats in the Senate, I might just do that. If not, I'm still considering emigrating.

[madmax]

12. I'm telling my grands now to prepare to leave the

country in about 20 years or so if things don't drastically improve. It's a pity but, they're young hopefully they'll save, learn Spanish or some language beside 'merican. I put it this way, anything you do now won't harm you and it may save your behinds. Choice is always a good thing.

[tigereye]

18. hmm, that's kinda cool!

We have all these black appliances now, and I wasn't sure what would do with em...

[Warpy]

19. The contrast might be a little stark but black countertops would help

While black would hide a lot of burnt on crud, I'm still a fan of white appliances. I know a black fridge would have to be covered with colorful magnets and other stuff to make it look a lot less Darth.

[tigereye]

24. yeah, our new black fridge has a bit of Death Star about it!

It's a hulking mass there by the basement door...

[madmax]

16. Iron Out - going to try that if the other thing doesn't

work. Thanks for the link. The final resort is a nice damn sink mat that will hide it all. :rofl: I'm tired of being Martha 'damn' Stewart.' I'm going to try for Roseane this time ;)

[madmax]

11. Wow - Thank You all

Great replies. I've gotten this blast of energy and have been ripping apart 5 closets and cleaning my upstairs. The downstairs looks like 50 monkeys went nuts.

I feel grrrreat. I love to clean and organize. No, I'm not Martha Stewart. I'm lazy and when everything is where it should be I can start a project and finish it quickly. If I have to search for things by the time I find it I'm too pissed off to do anything. Plus, being organized leaves me more time to goof off or bug you guys :evilgrin:

So, the sink consensus is that Formica is a good choice. That I could swing maybe after the New Year. In the mean time I'm going to use Tesha's suggestion everyday for a few days. Maybe it needs time. grrrr.

If that fails then I'll seriously think about replacing it with Formica. There is such a beautiful new array of surfaces now. Smooth, matte, textured, colors etc. That's the only way I'd go. I don't care for granite or anything like that - too much $ too heavy, just too much work. Told you I was lazy :)

I apologize for not replying sooner - got so caught up with all this closet stuff and being upstairs I forgot about the sink. Love you all :grouphug: