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Wilsonart Solid Surfacing - what the heck is it, anyway?

MizLizzie
11 years ago

Dumb question, I guess. But I found some samples in my "work in progress" box -- left over from a diverted laundry room makeover. And a couple of them are really pretty. Plain. But pretty.

So, what is it? I mean, is it Corian, basically? It isn't a sort of quartzite, I'm pretty sure. To the hand, it feels like Corian, not Silestone or Cambria.

We were beginning to think about ripping our our kitchen countertops and putting in Cambria, but the one pattern that will work for us is WOW. Like, very bold. It will require very simple backsplash decor, etc. I was just trying to get up the nerve to really think about "going there" it when I found these old Wilsonart samples.

Thanks, all. And Happy New Year.

Comments (10)

  • palimpsest
    11 years ago

    Yes, it is solid surface, similar to Corian. Corian is the proprietary name for solid surface at Dupont, who developed it.

  • cawaps
    11 years ago

    Yep, like Palimpsest said, like Corian but a different manufacturer/brand name.

    Corian and its relatives don't get a lot of respect on this board, but I was eating out the other day at a cafe with Corian counters, and it looked nice. It's warm, resilient, pretty, and durable. Just don't stick a hot pan on it.

  • mjsee
    11 years ago

    I loved the functionality of my old Corian counters. If I could have found a color that worked with my "must have" back-splash I'd have done Corian (or one of its cousins) again. If you like the look...use it! (And one shouldn't stick a hot pan on any surface.)

  • PRO
    Granite City Services
    11 years ago

    Solid surface (i.e Corian") was a medium price option 15 years ago when even a cheap granite like Lab green was $100 per sq. ft.

    Solid surface has faded in popularity mostly because low priced granites can actually be cheaper and are far more durable. Even lower priced quartz surface colors are often cheaper than solid surface. this is understandable when you consider that the resins used are petrochemical based and oil is $100 a barrel vs. $20 a barrel 15 years ago.

    The "quartz surface" products can be considered solid surface with rock chip inclusions. Quartz surface has the same vunerability to heat damage as solid surface since the resin matrix of quartz surface (30% by volume) is just as easily damaged as solid surface resins.

  • MizLizzie
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I remember the old Corian countertops my sister put in her starter home over 20 years ago. I loved them. Something about the feel of Corian appeals. This Wilsonart is nice, too. Kind of buttery or something, and I thought it would be great in my laundry room.

    For our kitchen, however, we first hoped to keep our old granite but that is looking unlikely. So I was looking for something with dark red in it. I saw a slab of Typhoon Bordeaux I loved, but all I've seen since has way too much yellow. So I started eyeing a piece of Cambria.

    Oldryder, are you saying Cambria would be less durable than granite? I thought it was more durable. I do put hot pots on my granite, and sounds like I need to stop? I thought that was one of the advantages of granite. Duh! Maybe a big old slab of white Corian or Wilsonart is as good as anything. Clean, and easy to decorate around. Hmm.

    FWIW, my sister's starter home is now a rental property and the Corian looks as clean and pretty as the day she installed it.

    Thanks.

  • detroit_burb
    11 years ago

    the caveat is you have to put up with shorter available lengths in any of the man made products, but you can get granite slabs 10-12 ft depending on what you want.

    My SIL who has her own style that I call 80's kitch (I really hate it, can you tell) has white corian that dates to 1989 in her kitchen and the island which sits only three squished together needed a seam in it which over time has grayed. It looks like trash. I don't know if this problem has been solved with corian seams. The corian surface has worn really well and still looks classic, though, despite the setting it is in.

  • MercerM
    10 years ago

    Since I'll be using corian, I've learned a lot about it. Here's some info: solid surface countertop material typically comes in maximum 12' (144") lengths. The width though is 30" but you can get a wider piece (no seams) in some brands in selected colors. Just one example: http://www.wilsonart.com/productlib/techdata/solidsurface/TechData_GIB.pdf

  • PRO
    Joseph Corlett, LLC
    10 years ago

    "the caveat is you have to put up with shorter available lengths in any of the man made products, but you can get granite slabs 10-12 ft depending on what you want."

    As previously mentioned, solid surface comes in 12' lengths. Granite does occasionally. Fabricators can count on getting 10' out of an estone slab and with luck, a few inches more. With modern seaming technology, the length and width of solid surface sheets are moot. I can make any size sheet you want.

    "...needed a seam in it which over time has grayed. It looks like trash. I don't know if this problem has been solved with corian seams."

    This sounds like contamination which could be from customer abuse or fabricator error or both. The only time I've heard of methacrylate seams discoloring is white turning yellow and that's from too much catalyst. It is a very uncommon problem.

  • MercerM
    10 years ago

    Trebruchet, you're clearly very knowledgeable about various countertop materials. May I ask you a question?

    You state, and I've heard this before that "the resin matrix of quartz surface is ...30% by volume" - I"m sure give or take. I've tried to get verification of this from manufacturers of quartz countertops, but of course they are very reluctant to disclose this information. May I ask how you've come by this information? I'm not trying to question the veracity of your statement, I'd just like to have a reference I could cite.

    Anyway, if quartz countertops contain 30%+/- resin by volume, then it seems that at least some corian-type acrylic countertops are no more "plastic" (as some people claim) than quartz countertops (See Reference below)

    Many people think that all acrylic solid surface countertops are 100% acrylic or acrylic/poly blends, but this is not true (at least for some of them).

    From a Corian Spec sheet: "DuPont TM Corianî is a solid, non-porous, homogeneous surfacing material, composed of ñ1/3 acrylic resin (also known as PolyMethyl MethAcrylate or PMMA), and ñ2/3 natural minerals. These minerals are composed of Aluminium TriHydrate (ATH) derived from bauxite, an ore from which aluminium is extracted."
    http://www2.dupont.com/Corian/mk_MK/assets/downloads/documentation/corian_specdata_en.pdf

    So it seems that although there are clearly differences between quartz and acrylic countertops, the difference is not always in the amount of "plastic" that each contains.