Yellow and white grouted tile from the 1920's. Cute but hard to keep clean.

White ceramic tile with gray grout. The tiles are nearly indestructible, but it's a pain to clean the grout. At least the grout is gray and not white.

My dream counter material is quartz composite (silestone, caesarstone, etc.).

We'd love to get granite, but it is pricey.

I've been seeing more and more butcher block counters. Saw one in IKEA a couple of weeks ago that was pretty rad. Coupled with a sweet oversized sink. Really looked nice.

I never really liked the look of granite for myself, but our house had cambrian granite when we moved in (I don't even know what that means). The counters are a barely-mottled black. I love them. They're sturdy, don't stain easily, good for rolling pie crusts, and deal well with heat.

I am planning on installing soap stone for the outer counter top and marble for the island...Has anyone had any experience with either in the kitchen? We will get the marble honed to reduce stains etc.

Tile! I knew I forgot one on that list...

An almost pinkish, grey and white laminate. It is not the prettiest, but it could be much worse in terms of rental kitchens.

I had granite in my last apartment and HATED it - way too hard to clean. Plus, if I dropped anything breakable from a height of more than 1", it was toast.

When I bought my house, I did laminate for now as it was the cheapest option, but I'm planning on making and installing my own concrete countertops within the next couple of years. This summer, I'll do a test run on the bathroom counter!

Caesarstone is fantastic - easy to care for, looks nice, comparable in price to granite. The only downside is that it definitely doesn't look "natural", so if you want a more natural, less consistent look, Caesarstone wouldn't be for you. I'm remodeling the kitchen in a house I'm going to move into and am using both Caeserstone on the exterior counter, and granite on the island.

Silestone, in a solid brown/grey color ... love love love.

When we did our minor kitchen upgrade (painted cabinets, added tile backsplash and switched out lights), we also installed new formica countertops. We couldn't justify the cost of granite and didn't want to overspend for our neighborhood as we're (still) trying to sell.

My dream kitchen, however, will have marble countertops - or at least, hopefully, a marble island. *swoon*

I'm really curious about the price of granite vs. Caesarstone. And the price of honed vs. polished finishes.

Do people still want granite more than other substances? I've never been a huge fan of granite appearance-wise. But the honed finishes are growing on me. But, we're probably going to undertake a kitchen remodel later this year, and we want to keep in mind the resale of the house--so I might get talked into granite if the price is right.

I love my butcher block countertops!

I have wood counters in the pantry area, and in the actual cooking area, I have stainless steel and marble. I would not recommend marble at all and would like to replace it with more wood or stainless steel.

I have laminate countertops right now, but I'm in the middle of a kitchen mini-renovation (refinishing wood floors covered up by linoleum and installing granite countertops). My little bungalow is in one of the most well-known historic neighborhoods close to downtown, so I'm not worried about overspending for the neighborhood--my house is on the super-low end! I'm getting black granite.

Old white tile with white grout. Impossible to keep clean.

I'm very happy with my Zodiaq Quartz. Colors are good without being too "disco" or "boring" (as opposed to the leading quartz brand). Not a chip in it after 4 years, not a stain or a scratch.

Nice and cold for rolling pastry -- actually, that's probably the worst aspect: Put your toast down on it for a minute while you get the jam, and you might as well start over. But the heat-distribution quality is also great for defrosting things like a stack of wonton wrappers or a thin steak.

paperstone! in plum!

id really love to see a comparison of all the most popluar countertops.. pros, cons, and the like.

ive got horrible mustard yellow tile trimmed with maroon. bleck! i just want to knock it all out!! any surface is better than what i have righ now... :/

I'm on year three with my Ikea butcher block counters and they still look great. And while I treated them several times with Tried & True Danish Oil when I first got them, I think I've only re-treated once since. Oops.

(Ah, important addition to my comment above: I priced Ceasarstone, which my mom has an loves, for our small counter. I think it was about $1800 and a 6 week wait. I got the butcher block for about $300. Just saying...)

We just put in wood counters from Ikea, along with their oversized porcelain sink. Love them! We've had them in for about 6 weeks, and are oiling them every few days to keep them looking great.

When I redid my kitchen a few years back I went with the Corian. For the most part I am pleased, but I find sometimes when cleaning it streaks. Overall I am satisfied and would either choose it or Silestone the next time around.

We love our quartz countertops. ^_^

Concrete! I get a lot of "oohs and ahs" when people see it the first time (shop cast, not poured in situ)

I have 20-year-old white corian. I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. It's indestructible, easy to keep clean, and still looks fresh and new.

Ceramic tile circa 1960. But I want mahogany counter tops.

We (and by we, I mean my husband) made our own countertops from hardwood plywood and solid edges. They are beautiful, very cheap to make, and have held up well thus far.

I detailed the experience here: http://houndsinthekitchen.com/2009/12/15/wooden-countertops-tutorial-part-one/

Wow, it seems like everyone here has a kitchen that they actually chose. I have speckled brown-and-maroon laminate countertops. They coordinate perfectly with the stained orange pine cupboards, dark cack-green floor tiling, and lack of any proper amount of natural light.

we did a kitchen remodel over the summer and went with black LG hi-macs solid surface to replace the old beige solid surface (which we moved along with the cabs to create a storage/folding area in our laundry room- so they didnt go to waste!), didn't want to go with laminate or butcher block, not a fan of granite, and concrete (my dream countertop) is our of our price range. so far been very happy with it!

Ours are powder-coated metal and I really love them. The only way they could be better is if the surface was flat, instead of slightly textured (can't write well on a single thickness of paper). I'm actually surprised more people don't have something similar, as much as stainless steel is used in kitchens--plus, it was much cheaper than stone countertops. You can set a hot pan on it with no worries, easy to clean...etc etc.

We have concrete (very pretty with coloured bits of glass in it, called "confetti terrazzo") on our island, and soapstone (including a huge hand-carved soapstone sink) everywhere else.

We have laminate in a black "stone" finish that I think looks really great with our white cabinets and yellow walls, and a butcher block island. They've been around for more than two years, and I'm really happy with both. I LOVE the look of white marble countertops, and I'd be thrilled to have them at some point--so gorgeous w/ stainless appliances and white cabinets! Also love concrete counters; they were just too expensive for this iteration of our kitchen.

Silestone (quartz composite). Does that fall under other or some other category like "Corian or another solid surface"? Anyhow, it's great, can't complain!

Gray Caesarstone!

I don't like formica much. It's too fragile and can burn, crack or separate from the countertop.

We're planning a new house and new kitchen and while I was considering Silestone at first, I didn't realize at first that it's impregnated with Microban (Triclosan), which concerns me. So we're looking now at Ikea butcherblock, which looks beautiful and fits our budget, and maybe soapstone around the stove.

Our current kitchen has marble-look Formica which isn't the classiest looking, but it's easy to clean and very forgiving on our dishes and glasses, which with three kids is a good thing. Right next to the stove, over the dishwasher and under the microwave, we have a piece of vintage, salvage marble, which is the perfect landing place for hot pans.

We have soapstone and I love it. Recently redid our kitchen and our splurge was the soapstone. I love the way it looks and ages. We haven't oiled it for a long time, and it's aging on its own. It completely fits with our lifestyle (slightly messy and "lived in") and I like the way it's aging along with the rest of the kitchen. Probably not a good fit for those looking for a counter top that's going to look "perfect" all the time.

We have solid black granite at this house, and I love it. It's really easy to clean, and all you have to remember to do is seal it once every few years. And it's nearly indestructible, you can set hot pans on it with no problems.

Previously we've had formica, which I hated because you can't set hot things on it, and I always had problems with the edges peeling up on corners. We've had tile, which is fine, but be sure to use a darker colored epoxy grout rather than a light colored or cement grout. Water eventually washes away cement grout and it's nearly impossible to clean well, and light colored grouts (even epoxy) can stain. At one house we had marble, which I think is really too porous for countertops. It had to be sealed very often, and even with that it eventually had water and food stains.

Granite countertops are great looking and durable. They can be easy to care for if properly sealed using professional stone impregnator.
With the rise in popularity, in many areas of the country, prices are coming down to a more affordable level.