We've been thinking about options for the countertops in the kitchen. We'd planned to do concrete, but since so many other things have popped up, that we didn't expect to have to do, we're looking for more time saving options, that are not also prohibitively expensive. We'd looked online at doityourselfgranite.com, but even that was more than we wanted to spend. We'd thought about granite tiles, but the ones we saw at Home Depot were only granite laminated onto a ceramic base; they weren't through and through granite, so we couldn't figure out a good edging plan for it.
I joined the DIY network online forum, and did a search for granite tile. One of the posters suggested The Tile Shop and mentioned that it sold granite tiles that were 24x24! That would cover the full depth of the counter, and require a LOT fewer grout lines. I checked it out, and they even sell countertop edgings to match! And they have the granite that I love, Juparana, but is in the most expensive level of granite, in slab form. All totalled, using the tiles would cost about half of what even the cheapest slab granite would cost. So I'm going to learn tiling by doing the kitchen floor, then we'll get to the countertop.
I'm thinking about counters too. That's my number 2 priority of kitchen improvement, after adding the dishwasher and ahead of the cabinets. I just loooove how Corian looks but slabs of stone are nice too. I've seen some nice tile counters but I don't like the grouting myself and I don't like how hard and cold they feel to me. So I'm not sure. I want better than laminate and corian is so nice... and I really want a built in sink.
After this project, you'll never take your kitchen for granite again. [Sorry, it's a lousy pun, but someone had to do it.]