Granite or Quartz counter tops in the Kitchen?

The lovely Mrs_B is getting new counter tops in the kitchen as the grand finale to all the remodeling we have done this year at the house.

The question is the counter top material.

Genunie granite is very nice, easy to maintain, but is not available in the exact color the the lovely Mrs_B would like to have. Costs seem to be in the $75/square foot area (installed). It would last forever and then some and is very popular right now.

Silestone or Zodiaq (or other similar quartz/epoxy products) are also very nice, easy to maintain, and is available in the exact color. But it is not as nice and doesn't look as good, etc. Cost is roughly $65/square foot (installed).

From the resale value standpoint, granite wins hands down. It is the preferred choice by most people, but again not the perfect color. But here is where we have to look at the reality that we have no intention of selling this house for quite a long time so really we are not overly concerned about what is popular in the real estate sales market. And both materials are considered premium materials so either is better than what I have.

What are the PRACTICAL real drawbacks to either material?

I did all of the counter tops in my pool house in the quartz material since it is used almost as if it is in a commercial setup. We have constant use from plenty of kids and adults alike. One of the big selling points for me was that the quartz surface does not hold bacteria like the granite will and, in a demonstration, I broke 2 box cutter blades trying to put a scratch in the surface at the distributor. In our house, if someone cuts a sandwich in half on the counter, that is a major issue. In the pool house with the quartz, we have all but carved the Thanksgiving turkey on the top and have never scratched it.

A friend of mine who is an attorney has granite and his wife is having it removed to put in quartz after being at our pool house. The color is what we want, it does not stain, and their granite has actually chipped or cracked with use. I am very pleased with the manufactured quartz.

Back to the beach!

Brent: What brand of quartz do you have?


ANYONE: Can you take a hot pot off the burner, or out of the oven and place it on the quartz counters or will the 5% epoxy binder melt?

B_Skurka said:

Brent: What brand of quartz do you have?


ANYONE: Can you take a hot pot off the burner, or out of the oven and place it on the quartz counters or will the 5% epoxy binder melt?

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First, I don't recall the brand at the moment. I'll let you know when I get back. And, yes, I can take a pan directly off the stove and put it on the counter without any damage.

Pool party... Pay no attention to any further posts that may appear today...

I know OkeeDon used to install a lot of granite counters in the outdoor kitchens he build. I really wish he was able to get to his computer to help out with this.

But I've really not heard of any complaints from people about granite chipping or cracking (other than from Dargo's post). Is this is a common problem with granite? My brother just put it into his new house (he moves in next week) and it looks fantastic. The looks of it, in my mind, are the biggest advantage. It simply looks great. I'm not sure that we could ever find the right color for our house since this would be just a new counter top and not a whole room remodel. But darn it, granite sure has a great look.

How common are the chipping problems?

And back to the quartz products, are the seams invisible?

Does anyone have another suggestion for a surface material. I don't want a thin laminate. I don't want Corian. I'm really interested in concrete with broken glass (I'm serious about that!) but doubt I could talk the lovely Mrs_B into that.

B_Skurka said:

Does anyone have another suggestion for a surface material.

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I don't even know why I'd mention it since the granite or quartz is much nicer but my kitchen counter tops are ceramic tile. Much to my surprise, it has held up well. I was honestly expecting chipping or cracks from impacts or heat. No problems at all.

bczoom said:

I don't even know why I'd mention it since the granite or quartz is much nicer but my kitchen counter tops are ceramic tile. Much to my surprise, it has held up well. I was honestly expecting chipping or cracks from impacts or heat. No problems at all.

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Actually I think it would be pretty neat to inset ceramic tile or natural stone into a quartz counter top to enhance it and add some detail.

Is the ceramic a gloss finish (which I suspect would scratch) or a mat/satin finish?

B_Skurka said:

Is the ceramic a gloss finish (which I suspect would scratch) or a mat/satin finish?

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Mat finish

Does anyone know if the quartz tops can be routed out with a design and then have a contrasting quartz color epoxied into the routed out grooves?

They can inset patterns into Corian tops by inserting contrasting colors, but Corain is mostly made of some sort of poly and epoxy blend while quartz tops are 95% quartz and 5% epoxy. Consequently I don't know if the quartz tops would allow for that same type of design flexibility. I'm sure I could have some regular shape like a square tile or stone inset into the top, but I don't know if I could inset a complex pattern.

Thoughts???

B_Skurka said:

Thoughts???

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Get in installed then one weekend when the lovely Mrs_B_Skurka is out of town take the router to it and see what happens.

bczoom said:

Get in installed then one weekend when the lovely Mrs_B_Skurka is out of town take the router to it and see what happens.

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You really want to see what a corpse looks like dressed in a Hawaiian shirt don't you!?!

How about granite tile. We have never had a problem, is less expensive than granite slab, and the pattern we liked was not available in slab. Here is a picture taken of my son in our kitchen a couple of years ago. Not the best view, I apologize.
Bonehead

Bonehead,
Cute son you got there. I look in those eyes and see a bit of a hellion (sp) though. Don't worry... You don't have to even see my son's eyes to get the same thing.

Bob,
I have 12"x12" granite tile as my hearth for my wood stove. Although I don't recall it receiving any major impacts or anything, its held up well. I don't think the tile is even close to the one piece for appearance but still nice stuff.

You may be planning on living in that house till you die, but you can bet that the lovely Ms. Bob will want something different in 10 years. Yes, granite is beautiful, and if you look long enough and hard enough, you will find the color that she likes. The choices are limitless. Yes, it will dull in time, and it can be refinished at home at great expense. Chipping is only a problem if you are not careful with heavy items, such as a cast iron skillet. Properly finished granite is not a bacteria holder any more than any other surface. If the surface is porous, then you don't want that in the kitchen in the first place. We went with the best grade of laminate when we built, because Corian wasn't readily available then. About 7 or 8 years ago, we upgraded it to Corian counters and sink. Next time it will be granite, because the wife has mentioned that she really likes the look. I sure hope that her next husband gives her granite. The only granite I am giving her is going to match the Christmas present that I gave her 2 years ago and the one that I gave her last year. To date, she has not used either.

Junkman said:

Next time it will be granite, because the wife has mentioned that she really likes the look. I sure hope that her next husband gives her granite. The only granite I am giving her is going to match the Christmas present that I gave her 2 years ago and the one that I gave her last year. To date, she has not used either.

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Would that be a head stone?

Bone, the lovely Mrs_B wants a 'solid surface' so that is what brought us to this point of sheet granite or quartz.

Personally I like tile, and the concept of a tile & stone mosaic would appeal to me.

We built the house when I was 34 and I didn't like Corian's look, at that time it was pretty much a choice of Formica or Corian in terms of what the builders were using. Granite was available but at that time was not as popular as it is now, it really became popular a couple years after we built. So we have Formica with cherrywood trim to dress it up. But its showing a little age and we are ready for a change. Personally I think I like the look of granite the best, it is just hard to beat it for beauty. But talking last evening, I think the invisible seams, for a truely solid surface, and color choices of quartz will probably lead us to that.

If you are considering new counter tops, then now is also the time to make any changes to the lay out of the kitchen to fine tune it to the Mrs needs and likes. Possibly a new refrigerator for easier access, or a new sink is in order. A upgrade to the garbage disposal and a new faucet.

Junkman said:

If you are considering new counter tops, then now is also the time to make any changes to the lay out of the kitchen to fine tune it to the Mrs needs and likes. Possibly a new refrigerator for easier access, or a new sink is in order. A upgrade to the garbage disposal and a new faucet.

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The refrigerator, garbage disposal & dishwasher are only a few months old. We will be getting a new sink and faucet as well as a new cooktop and a new microwave. Mrs_B wants to keep her double wall oven. There will be no changes to the base or wall cabinets.

B_Skurka said:

............... There will be no changes to the base or wall cabinets.

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Until she starts to think about how it can be made better. She told me that she has no problem trying to spend your money faster than you can make it...

Well I did what any moderately smart man would do. I took the lovely Mrs_B to the Home Depot to look at all the kitchen displays and see all the countertops for herself. She can't visualize things from little sample pieces so seeing full size sections of granite, Corian and quartz seemed to do the trick. Then I did a really smart thing and just stood out of the way and let her look at everything.

She picked the Silestone Quartz top as her favorite, she thought a brown granite was equally as beautiful but didn't like the fact that all the granite displays had a disclaimer on them saying that the granite must be sealed every 3 years blah blah blah . . .

The prices of the quartz sort of surprised me, the better quartz tops were equal to the prices of granite, only the most expensive of the granite tops out priced the upper grade quartz. The lovely Mrs_B did NOT pick the most expensive top (but she came close).

So just for jollies I asked the Home Depot for an installed quote. What a joke. What they claim is 'installed' is really only 1/2 installed. They require you to remove your counter top so they can come out an measure. After they measure they expect you to put your counter back on. When they come and do the final install, they will not hook up your sink or faucet or garbage disposal to the water or drain lines. They also require you to install your own cook top (but they will cut the hole for you).

So I'm going to have my handyman bid it out for me, but I suspect the job may be bigger than he can handle. I'll also bid it out to the G.C. I used to build my garage, he also is doing some work for me to remodel my offices so I've already got a meeting set up for Monday. In either case, I expect that they will give me a price that will include hooking up the sinks, faucets, disposal, and cooktop. I also expect they will not require me to remove my counter top for them and then reinstall it while my new counter is being built!

Home Depot = what a joke!!!

Yes, we had a bunch of granite counter tops installed -- I wouldn't try it, myself. Your prices are pretty accurate; my wholesale cost was about $64/sq ft installed. The granite is ideal for a grill island. Corian won't take the heat of a grill next to it -- resistant to about 225 degrees, tops. I do not like the look of Corian, anyway, reminds me of oilcloth. I've seen the Silestone and others; never had a call for it; I didn't even know the composition until I saw it here. Seems like nice stuff.

We also did soapstone, slate (beuatiful!) and one top from Jerusalem stone, which is aboslutely gorgeous (and priced to match) but is softer and more poruous than other stones.

I always wanted to try a concrete top. I may play with it on my own new house, for the grill island. But, my understanding is that it's skill-intensive, and I couldn't afford to try it at my customers' expense. Done right, it's as expensive as granite. The nicest concrete top I ever saw had shallow shell patterns (from actual shells) molded into the top. You can die it any color you like.

In my new house, we will have no kitchen cabinets. We'll have a 1940's farmhouse look; period fridge, period stove, porcelain sink with drainboard, legs and a gingham curtain under it. Our work surface will be a large center table, an old dresser with a marble top, and a butcher block. For storage, we have a 18th century walnut drysink, early 19th century oak china closet with pressed glass doors, early hutch, and a replica hutch we had custom made for my wife's breadmaking machine. On our recent trip to North Carolina, we picked up two white Hoosier-style cabinets with the flour bin, tin-lined drawers, tambour door, and porcelain pull-out work surface. One will be in the kitchen area; we're not sure what we're going to do with the other one. We also have a kitchen table from around 1920 with a white procelain top, with pull out leaves, decorated in black procelain art-deco pattern. Instead of upper cabinets, we'll have shelves. The microwaves will be hidden. There will be no visible dishwasher.

Instead, I've designed an 8'x16' utility kitchen which will have a large, single basin clean-up sink, dishwasher with drain board/cutting board above, large commercial fridge/freezer, pantry, small appliance "garage", and a section of "conventional" kitchen cabinets (about 6' wide) with an inexpensive laminate top, primarily to store plastic ware, cookie sheets, less-used pots and pans, etc. The utility kitchen will be separated from the main kitchen area with swinging cafe-style doors.

The main kitchen will not be a separate room, but will be in a corner of our "One Big Room" concept of living. Everything will be in the One Big Room, except bedrooms and bathrooms, and the utility kitchen. There will be a loft balcony on one side and one end of the One Big Room; that's where I plan to hide from my wife.

Most of the kitchen furniture mentioned above we already have; we're still looking for a great butcher block table (on castors) and a large work table (which I'll also mount on castors). I may have the table made; I've never seen one quite like I want.

Oops, sorry, I got carried away with my description, but it's just about all I think about, these days. The plans designer is making progress! I gave up on the architect after 7 months. We may actually get started by the end of the year, depending on how long it takes our building department to hold the plans and pretend they know what they're doing.

Don, I remember hearing some of your plans before, I don't recall if they were in posts on the other forum or if we traded PMs/emails about it? But it sure sounds good. One thing we screwed up is our kitchen is too narrow. Its 12' wide so it is just a shade too narrow for an island. Our house was designed in 1912 and was not built until we resurrected the plans from a university archive. We modified some of it, but not the dimensions. If I had to do it over again, I'd have made the house longer by a couple of feet to add 1 or 2 feet of width to the kitchen and the dining room. I'd also another room on the end of the house off the kitchen. But at the time we were trying to stay pure to the plan. Silly us! Ours is very livable, but I'd not do it this way again. At roughly 4000 sq ft its modestly large. When we moved in, and for the first several years I wished I would have made it smaller. After almost 11 years here, I am seriously thinking of putting a 1500 sq ft addition on to make it bigger. So all I can advise it build it the way you want it with the fewest compromises you need to make. No matter what you do, you will find something that should be different, and that 'something' is likely to change with time!

No matter what you do, you will find something that should be different, and that 'something' is likely to change with time!

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Yeah, I know. That's what scares me. We've never built a house before; always adapted to someone else's ideas, and personally, I've always been frustrated by it. Betsy is more adaptable. Fortunately, she's also easy to please and lets most of the design and decisions up to me. Which, on the other hand, puts enormous pressure on me to get it right.

I've been eating, sleeping, and breathing these plans for almost 3 years. What I took to the designer was version 6, some of which previous versions had no resemblance to the present design. I drew them in 3D in TurboCad, so I can rotate them in any direction and get a feel for the proportions and elevations. I've "lived" in every room, "sat" on my loft balcony, "moved" through the house and "felt" the breezes from cross-ventilation.

Yet, I still know that a year after I move in, I'll kick myself in the butt over some decision or lack of one...the hard thing is, I can't afford any do-overs. I have to get it right the first time, or live with the consequences, forever.

OkeeDon said:

I've been eating, sleeping, and breathing these plans for almost 3 years. What I took to the designer was version 6, some of which previous versions had no resemblance to the present design.

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When I built this house, we actually built it within budget and with no change orders. I gather that builders make their profit on change orders??? We had ours so well thought out and had so much figured out in advance that when it came time to built they just built. I inspected almost daily and that drove them crazy because I "knew" the plans better than they did so if something was in the wrong spot, even only by 6" I knew it and they re-did it (at their cost). Sounds to me like you on going to be lucky enough to do the same thing.

OkeeDon said:

Yet, I still know that a year after I move in, I'll kick myself in the butt over some decision or lack of one...the hard thing is, I can't afford any do-overs. I have to get it right the first time, or live with the consequences, forever.

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Well I got what I wanted, exactly what I wanted. I am happy with the results. What I found is that what I wanted has changed over the years I have been here. If I was building today, I'd be looking to build something nicer and something larger, probalby 5500 to 6500 sq ft, and probably NOT where I currently live. The area I am in is marginal for real estate values at the higher end of the spectrum, I'm glad I didn't build a mini-mansion out here simply because of resale value, it would be too far over built. But also 6 months after we moved, and for some years after that, in I would have loved a SMALLER house, perhaps 2500 sq ft. But I will say that when we moved in the house was PERFECT. And there are little things we did that were well thought out that I still enjoy.

I love 3 fireplaces, but almost never use 2 of them. I hate walking all the stairs, but love the internal views and spaces it provides. I love the glass, we have 28 windows on the west wall of the house, and I also love the privacy due to the way the windows are positioned (speaks to the gneius of the original design). I love the intimacy of the rooms, and I love the fact that the rooms are large (speaks to the genius of the original design). I hate the LACK OF storage space (speaks to the stupidity of the orginal design). I wish we had a basement, but the house was designed to sit on the side of a hill and uses the slope so the stairs go down and so do the living areas (we have living 4 levels but the house externally looks like a traditional 2 story home) And as stated before I claim no credit for the design. The house was designed by Walter Burley Griffin in 1912 while he was a student/partner of Frank Lloyd Wright. We changed it from 6 bedrooms to 3 and altered the floorplan of the upper level. The main level is very close to accurate except we went from a 12 by 28 kitchen with maid's quarters to a 12 by 28 kitchen with dinette (sure I'd like a live in maid but that isn't gonna happen!) We dramatically changed the front entry because the original design had a horse stall adjacent to the front door, we figured a 3.5 car garage was more practical, and we set it at 60 degree angle (30 & 60 degree angles were common with F.L.W. homes, ours has a some on the opposite side so angling the garage fit well with the remainder of the home).

We did some remodeling this year (total remodel of the family room, built a new garage and yard area, new cherry cabinets in the mud room, laundry room and living room, plus fixed some things that were worn out over the past decade). Obviously we are still in progress because I started this thread to discuss counter top material.

We seriously considered moving and building in another community. But things here are pretty good, we'd like more people who are more like us, but our daughter likes the school she is in, the area is safe, quiet and uncrowded but still close to Chicago and all the city offers.

I'm really intrigued by your thoughts that at one time you would have liked a smaller home, but now you want a larger one. Of course, you're just a young whippersnapper and nowhere close to retirement age, but I have the same thoughts. They run counter to most near-retirees.

Most folks who are about to retire plan to downsize their homes. I plan on the largest house we've ever had, and wish I could afford a larger one. Why? We're going to have a lot more time to do more things, and most of those things take room. Same with money -- most folks say they'll have less income, and need less income, after they retire. I can't figure that one out -- we're going to have a lot more time to spend money, to go places, to do things, and we're going to need more money, not less. Ovbviously, I need a lot more toys tools because I'll have more time to use them.

OkeeDon said:

I'm really intrigued by your thoughts that at one time you would have liked a smaller home, but now you want a larger one. Of course, you're just a young whippersnapper and nowhere close to retirement age, but I have the same thoughts. They run counter to most near-retirees.

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When I graduated from college my dad had this great idea. I was not allowed to move home, my older brother was also given the boot. He moved to a 2 bedroom townhouse on a golfcourse and said we were all grown up now and needed to stand on our own. So I bought a small 1300 sq ft fixer upper because I detested the idea of rent. I fixed it up and sold it for twice what I paid.

When I built my house it ended up 3 times the size of my first house, and had covered porches that made it closer to 4.5 times the size. So it was sort of a shock.

Now that we've been here for almost 11 years, its feeling a bit cramped. The storage is inadequate (largely because it was designed almost 100 years ago and they didn't build much storage in houses back then). And times have changed, I'd like a home theater/den room and actually designed one with yet another fireplace. I'd like another bedroom, in a house this size, 3 bedrooms are considered inadequate, although I don't know what I'd put in the 4th bedroom!!! I'd probably use is as an excercise room because our excercise room is absolutely tiny and inadequate. I'd also consider adding a wine cellar? I would like to push out the dining room wall to make it easy to seat about 16 people instead of 10/12.

Well, size of the rooms is not going to be a problem in my new house. For example, the kitchen will be 24x30. The dining room will also be 24x30. The home theater will be a 24x30 room, while the living room will be 30x24. Also ringing in at 30x24 will be the home office, and the sewing room will be 24x30. We've also decided to have a 24x30 game room, and a 30x24 family room.

By now, of course, you've figured out that what we're going to have is my wife's concept of "one big room", and it will be 24x30 (it will actually have a small alcove about 12x12 under the loft balcony). When I first started to draw my concept of One Big Room, I started with 30x40, but soon had to scale it back do to budget. Along with two bedrooms, associated walk-in closets, 2 baths and a powder room on the main floor, it will be about 2114 square feet. The One Big Room will be open to the cathedral ceilings, and the loft will be above the downstairs bedrooms. The loft will be about 1000 square feet, and will include 2 more bedrooms and a shared bath. The total will be 4 bedrooms and 3-1/2 baths.

The 24x30 One Big Room opens onto a 24x16 porch, inset into the house under the main roof. I got looking at the design, and decided that I could turn the corner with my loft and extend it over the porch ceiling. Thus, I ended up with a loft balcony, like an open gallery, above one end and one side of my great room. It will be about 8'x24' above the porch and more than 11'x40' along the side of the great room. I'll use the narrower space for my library (bookshelves on one side, railing overlooking the great room on the other). Betsy will use the wider space for her quilting (railing overlooking the great room on one edge, shelves with glass doors for her fabrics lining the other side, backed up to the bedroom walls). The loft balcony should be very colorful, with books and fabrics along the walls. We made the staircase going up to the loft very straight, so I could install an electric chair lift if the need comes.

Total is 2114 main floor, about 1000 on the loft, and 1680 covered porches, not including the outdoor kitchen deck or the pool deck. Much of our living will be extended to the porches -- 8' wide wrapped around 3 sides of the house, and a large porch extended from the great room in back.

If budget permits, there will also be an 8'x16' cabana on the pool deck, housing an 8'x8' pool bath and an 8'x8' "concession stand" for the grandkids.

I met with the plans designer again yesterday, and he's getting closer. He's learning that I have a very specific reason for everything on my drawings, that it's often a good reason, and that I will insist on the good ideas being retained. Of course, I'm open to suggestions, but pretty much only if he tells me it's impossible to build what I want.

Other than ballpark "per square foot" estimates, I don't yet have a clue what it will cost to build. I have a very finite budget, and if it comes in over budget, adjustments will be made to the plans, not to the budget.

I have decided to use a contractor, but he has offered to work with me on a flat-fee basis. For a flat fee (yet to be determined, but I have a ballpark), he will hire the subs, schedule the work, run the job and work with the inspectors. I will order all the materials, coordinate deliveries and pay all the bills. This will end up costing less than turning the entire job over to him. I will also be butting in for some specialized stuff. I've already warned the contractor and his supervisor that I will be on the job most of the time and will be a pain in the butt, like you were, checking everything. The contractor joked that he would add that to his bill. I told him that I was a friendly and charming pain in the butt, that I would work through him or his supervisor and not tell the subs what to do, and that I would actually save him money by preventing come-backs, and he should subtract my services from the bill. I think he understands me, now...

I like the one big room concept. We don't have that, but we have lots of visual space adjoining rooms. Our living room is 20 x 26, raised up 4' is the dining room and it shares 15' of the 20' living room wall, but 12' of that 15' is only a railing. The way it works is the ceiling height of the living room is about 12' but about 8' in the dining room, they share the same unbroken ceiling as you go down 4' to get into the living room. Down another 1/2 flight to get to the family room and excercise room but the stair case is open from that lowest level up to the upstairs bedroom level with silk trees "planted" in a 4' by 8' planter that is down in the lowest level with the trees coming up to the dining room level. So if you are in the dining room you can easily see and converse with anyone in the living room and visa versa. You also have visual access to the foyer which is 16' x 18' and includes that open staircase and the again the living room looks up to that same foyer through the silk trees. So the effect is someone compartmentalized but still very very open. The kitchen, dinette, powder room and mudroom are on the same level as the dining room. The kitchen & dinette are essentially one long open room.

We were really drawn to the house because of the open spaces and the connecting rooms. While mine is dramatically different than yours, I'm sure that you will enjoy the open concept, I know we do.

One thing that drives me nuts in today's homes is that the rooms are often small, they seem to shrink room sizes so they can fit more rooms into the homes. I'd rather have fewer, but larger spaces. Obviously most people don't like what I like.

By the way, do yourself a huge favor, make sure all the doors are 36" wide and any hallway you have is 48" wide. It makes it much easier to get wheelchairs through the doorways!!!

I really like multi-level houses. They aren't common in Florida, however, because the typical smaller multi-level uses either a sloped lot or some sort of basement accomodation for part of the living area, and we have no sloped lots and no basements in South Florida.

I really like the sound of your living room/dining room arrangement. We did an outdoor kitchen for a gentleman with a similar arrangement, with the dining area raised about 3', except that he had to build his lot up under the dining area to achieve it. He lived on the St. Lucie River, and he wanted his dining area to be elevated so he had a better view. The dining area opened to a raised porch that was on the same level as the dining area, and 3' above his pool area. They used the porch for al fresco dining when the weather was nice (not too hot or not too cold, about 6 weeks during the Fall and about 6 weeks in the Spring).

Your atrium-style foyer sounds great.

By the way, do yourself a huge favor, make sure all the doors are 36" wide and any hallway you have is 48" wide. It makes it much easier to get wheelchairs through the doorways!!!

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Betsy is a Physical Therapist. 'Nough said? Her 101 year-old Mother also lives with us, and she is wheelchair-bound. We have all doors at 36", halls a minimum of 42" unless there is a door on the side requiring a turn, in whch case it's 48". Bathrooms have a 60" circle clear in front of the commode and the lavatory; the circles may overlap, but there's plenty of room to turn a wheelchair. Both downstairs showers are sloped into the shower floor rather than having a ledge. As I said, the staircase will accomodate a chair lift. Only the upstairs bathroom is smaller than the 60" circles in front of the facilities, but the design lends itself to straight-in access. All bathrooms will have grab bars near the toilets and in the showers. The master shower will not required a door or a curtain; it's huge, 4' deep and 12' wide (yes, the shower is that size, but that includes the access from either side. The actual shower is 4'x6' with 2 shower heads). All doors will have lever-style handles.

Because most of our sinks (kitchen and downstairs bathrooms) will be stand-alone rather than in cabinets, it will be easy to adjust the height of one or more to accomodate wheelchairs. Most faucets will have lever-style handles that can be reached while seated (I learned that one shortly after we moved Grandma into our house).

We will have at least one ramp onto our porches and decks. We aren't going to have a garage, but our carport will be wide enough to accomodate wheelchair access under roof. There will be a covered walkway from the carport to the decks, which will also act as a ramp.

In other words, it will be one of the most handicapped-accessible houses most people have seen, and the best part is that it won't add but peanuts to the cost of the house.

OkeeDon said:

I really like multi-level houses. . .
I really like the sound of your living room/dining room arrangement. We did an outdoor kitchen for a gentleman with a similar arrangement, with the dining area raised about 3', except that he had to build his lot up under the dining area to achieve it. He lived on the St. Lucie River, and he wanted his dining area to be elevated so he had a better view. The dining area opened to a raised porch that was on the same level as the dining area, and 3' above his pool area.

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Well starting at the top is the dining room, down 4' is the living room, down another 18" is the living room covered porch (15' x 32'). . . down about 40' is the valley floor. There is a line of sight from the dining room windows through the living room, then throuh the glass doors to the covered porch, then through the archways on porch and down the hillside. The ceiling is level across the entire span from the dining room through the living room and out to the covered porch. Dining room is 8', living room is 12' and porch ceiling is almost 14'.

The house was originally designed for a site that sloped down a steep river bank, we set the house on the edge of a ridgeline with a steep slope. It works very nicely, although the original site was probably steeper than what we have.

OkeeDon said:

Your atrium-style foyer sounds great.

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I actually love to sit in the living room early Sunday mornings and watch the morning sun come into the foyer. We had a muralist to come in and paint the foyer with a 4 sided dogwood and bamboo mural that blends beautifully with the oriental influences of the prairie style house.


As for the accessability, it sounds like you have it down very well. I've been in too many houses that are 1/2 accessable.