Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Jun 08, 2015 4:10 pm I have always wanted a stone benchtop in our forever home and had my heart set on it. Unfortunately due to financial issues it means I may have to forgo my stone benchtops So, my question is what's the price difference between Caesarstone and Laminate?. Would it be a significant saving or should I look elsewhere in the house to save money?. Any ideas and opinions much appreciated, thanks Loving our new home, Upper Hunter NSW on 2.5 acres Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 3Jun 08, 2015 5:38 pm An average kitchen bench top in laminate costs around $1000-1300 The same top in a standard 20mm stone would cost upwards of $2800 Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 4Jun 08, 2015 6:52 pm If you're building your forever home, and that's something you have always wanted, look elsewhere for savings! Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 6Jun 09, 2015 12:58 pm Spend the money now on things that can't be changed easily down the track. You can always put in laminate Bench now and in a few years when you can afford it change it to Stone tops later very easily. Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 7Jun 09, 2015 3:05 pm If i could have ONE upgrade in a house, I would chose stone benchtops. So personally I think its something worth spending the money on. Like Kron said, look elsewhere to save! My Owner/Builder weatherboard house thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=77475 Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 8Jun 09, 2015 4:22 pm adele9 If i could have ONE upgrade in a house, I would chose stone benchtops. So personally I think its something worth spending the money on. Like Kron said, look elsewhere to save! Totally agree. Never put laminate in thinking you will upgrade in a few years. It will cost you a lot more then than doing it now. If you do it now it might only cost you an extra $2000-3000 but if you replace laminate it could cost more than $6000 as you need to get a plumbing and electrical disconnect and reconnect. You also might have to replace the splashbacks if they are damaged removing the old top. Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 11Jun 09, 2015 8:24 pm Thanks everyone for your replies to my topic, I really appreciate the feedback. Unfortunately we are having difficulty selling our current home and we've had to drop the price in order to sell it. We were hoping to pay off our current mortgage and land, just to be left with the new home's mortgage. Sadly it's not going to be the case now and our mortgage will be more than we hoped, nothing we can do about it, it's just the current market where we live So, looking at ways I can save money on the new build and I know the stone in the bench top will be quite expensive. The kitchen design is gorgeous but a lot of bench top Like Adele9 said, she would choose stone, my heart says the same thing and maybe change other things in the house. Really thankful for everyone's comments, what other things would you look at to save money??? Loving our new home, Upper Hunter NSW on 2.5 acres Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 12Jun 10, 2015 7:45 pm Flooring. We are doing a home and land package with Aussie Living homes and as standard they came with stone bench tops and tiled areas. At our prestart meeting, we decided to change the tiling to timber laminate flooring, and it ended up giving us a credit of $1600. We didn't expect that so it was a good savings. Putting in standard taps and fittings is another thing you could do if you weren't already. They are easy to replace later down the track. Also power points and electrical fittings. If they aren't 100% needed right now, it might be a saving to instead just put a conduit or two where you would like the power points to go in the future, and when the time comes just have an electrician pop in some power points/data points where the conduits are. Not sure if you have internal wall paint on your list but that's usually a few grand there to do yourself. Same goes with soak wells. It's a pain to install and plumb them all in but its a huge savings if you do so. There just a few things I can think of. Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 14Jun 12, 2015 8:04 pm On this same topic without meaning to hijack (sorry) we just got a quote for polytec ravine benchtop and it's almost the same or slightly more than stone. Nearly fell off the chair, is this right has any one used/sold this as benchtop Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 15Jun 18, 2015 11:01 pm there are some bloody good looking laminate benchtops by Duropal! Sure they arent square edges, but laminate is actually easier to deal with than stone. Stone is for the lucky and wealthy. If you are in financial strife, do yourself and your family the favour and please yourself with an easy to clean, no worries, amazing looking laminate benchtop. I did it, and im stoked! Every time i go to a mates house they're all anal about there stupid stone benchtop... "OH DONT TOUCH IT YOU MIGHT STAIN IT", "DONT PUT THE PLATE DOWN WITHOUT A CLOTH U MIGHT SCRATCH IT", "OHHH DONT CLEAN IT YOU MIGHT STAIN IT" and so on. Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 16Jun 19, 2015 8:36 am rebuilder86 there are some bloody good looking laminate benchtops by Duropal! Sure they arent square edges, but laminate is actually easier to deal with than stone. Stone is for the lucky and wealthy. If you are in financial strife, do yourself and your family the favour and please yourself with an easy to clean, no worries, amazing looking laminate benchtop. I did it, and im stoked! Every time i go to a mates house they're all anal about there stupid stone benchtop... "OH DONT TOUCH IT YOU MIGHT STAIN IT", "DONT PUT THE PLATE DOWN WITHOUT A CLOTH U MIGHT SCRATCH IT", "OHHH DONT CLEAN IT YOU MIGHT STAIN IT" and so on. I agree that laminate is perfect if you are on a tight budget, BUT Standard 20mm Smartstone or CaesarStone is actually quite affordable. It wears far better than laminate, lasts longer and can be polished or have chips repaired. Anyone that carries on about scratching it or staining it clearly has no idea at all!!! We have SileStone tops and use the bench top to roll out pizza bases, occasionally cut on it and never worry about what we put on it and it looks as good as the day we put it in!! Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation in the world of the internet! Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 17Jun 19, 2015 12:19 pm You have said affordable. That is a marketing term. give us something we can use. When i refer to scratching or staining, i refer to experience with friends who actually have scratches an stains on their stone benchtops. Perhaps not ceasarstone, but isn't ceasarstone one of the more 'unaffordable' ones? like say upwards of $800 per lineal metre of standard 600 mm width? Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 18Jun 19, 2015 3:35 pm rebuilder86 You have said affordable. That is a marketing term. give us something we can use. When i refer to scratching or staining, i refer to experience with friends who actually have scratches an stains on their stone benchtops. Perhaps not ceasarstone, but isn't ceasarstone one of the more 'unaffordable' ones? like say upwards of $800 per lineal metre of standard 600 mm width? When you say stone, what sort??? Marble and Granite are very porous and do stain but Quartz based stones resist staining well. To scratch quartz based stones you have to try really really hard to do it. Laminate scratches well before stone!! You really don't know what you are talking about regarding pricing. CaesarStone, Quantum Quartz, SmartStone and SileStone are all very similar in price! Smartstone being the cheapest but not buy a lot. CaesarStone isn't "one of the more unaffordable ones" I quote a medium sized kitchen in 20mm standard CaesarStone last week and it cost $2690!!! I class that as affordable. Sure if you choose one of the deluxe or premium range colours then the price goes up but all the manufactures have standard ranges which are affordable! Unfortunately people get upgrade prices for stone from large volume builders and they put huge mark ups on it. Sometimes over 300% more than it actually costs. This isn't a true reflection of the actual cost of stone!!! I have stone in my kitchen and would suggest it as the first upgrade any kitchen should get. Well before doors or expensive metal sided drawers! Cutting Edge Kitchens and Cabinet Making http://cuttingedgekitchens.net.au http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Kitchens/290484196676 Mobile : 0419 430 575 PH: 9452 4772 Fax :9452 4772 cuttingedgekitchens@outlook.com Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 19Jun 19, 2015 4:30 pm I have had laminex all my life. Just had Austral Smartstone installed in our new build With a waterfall edge. It is beautiful there are no comparisons It was around $2500 Feels great, looks great love the sparkle in it too. Totally worth it if you can. Re: Cost of Caesarstone vs Laminate Benchtops 20Jun 20, 2015 3:01 pm Hi everyone, We are using a local builder, custom plan so I can have whatever I want within the allocated budget of each area. I have gone under budget with tap ware, tiles and maybe our timber flooring so I'll allocate whatever extra money we have back to the kitchen. I've had a Formica bench top for the last six years and have been very happy with it. I would really love a stone bench top (specifically Essastone New Chinchilla) as my first choice but if it turns out we can't afford it, so be it I know the laminate bench tops wear well. I haven't got my final plans of the kitchen yet but when I do I'll ask the kitchen company to price it up with and without the stone and see how I go. Thanks for all your replies, I really appreciate it. 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