Affordable counter ideas

When I first started thinking of this post, my mind was flooded with the endless number of puns available to the person writing about counters. Counter intelligence, counter insurgency, cabinet –n- counter (actually the name of a business here in central Vermont) Anyway, you can see that the temptations are hard to resist. That being the case I will continue with restraint.

When people first started putting together surfaces to prepare their meals on, they turned to the obvious things around, stone and wood. As you know the more things change….   Anyway, as I am sure you appreciate these materials are most certainly back in fashion. I can recall only one kitchen that I have built that does not have one or both of these materials.

Natural materials, with natural oil finishes make beautiful kitchen surfaces. They wear nicely and are endlessly renewable with a little elbow grease; they have a timeless quality that stands up to the whims of trends (except maybe granite). The only real draw back to these materials is price.

I am planning a kitchen right now with soapstone and maple butcher block where the counters could represent 25% of the total job.

As much as I love sound, heavy, natural materials that ooze warmth, a very simple,  furniture grade plywood with a wood edge and a poly urethane or oil finish can be functional, beautiful, inexpensive and last for 20 years with little maintenance.

This is a picture of a counter made from cherry plywood with a wood edge. It was finished with a wipe on polyurethane. It has held up for almost eight years now and with a little touch up will go another 10 years.

People often in planning a kitchen encounter expensive and maybe trendy materials and appliances. It is hard to sort through all the glossy magazines and your friends and neighbors tips and ideas. Folks become overwhelmed by the costs and scale the project grows into. Then they either don’t do it, or sink themselves into bigger debt.

With a little scavenging and affordable material choices,  you can have all the benefits as it relates to function of a high end kitchen for half  the price. And maybe something different, maybe a unique style will come out of it, a style that runs “counter” to  popular trends.