Laminate is the easiest and cheapest...
..Keith, I just answered a post about making seams in laminate, Friday. There are hundreds of colors and designs from which to choose. Most use MDF as a substraight and I'll tell you how it won't leak if you decide to go that route. You build your counters in the shop and install in one unit. Lots of options. Granite, solid surface, marble, soapstone, tile, concrete, wood. You can spend up to $80 a foot if you care to go "hog wild". It's your house.
I believe i would drag that dresser
out back and burn it. Maybe ol Ken would do that as I heard he was a firebug. Maybe that would end some of your problems. lol. Steve
I built a concret top for a vanity
3 years ago, I built a concrete vanity top before the Fine Homebuilding article. I used a Quickrete (sp?) sand topping mix I believe (it was for relatively shallow depths and didn't contain any gravel.
I built a 3/4" plywood top, cut the hole for the sink with a Roto zip tool and uses 1/8" scrap door skins to form the edge at the sink hole. (Roto Zip left an 1/8" kerf, so I cut strips of skin the same width as the desired height of the opening [same width as the 1x stock that I made the outside forms from] and forced the pieces of door skin into the kerf. ) When all the skins were in place, I put a length of duct tape around the inside perimeter to smooth out the form and sorta act as a release for the concrete. Then I screwed the outside 1x forms all around.
Next I mixed up a batch of concrete in one of those $20 "Odd Job" roll around mixers with some black concrete dye powder in it. Poured it into the form and spent quite some time working it and getting the bubbles out. As fortune would have it, I had some plastic sheeting that something came wrapped in the was translucent and kinda crinkly in texture so I placed this on top of the concrete for 2 purposes; 1 to slow the drying and 2 to impart a texture similar to slate. I left it covered for about 5 days in the shop. When I removed the plastic, it was slate gray ok. But there were some bubbles that looked like little craters. It didn’t look bad, but I knew it was a dirt trap.
I got some black un-sanded grout and mixed up about a quarts worth and troweled it over the surface and work it to the slate contour fairly easy. This created an almost black charcoal color that I liked very much. Then I removed the forms (inside and outside) and replaced the outside forms with some nice Walnut edges on the 2 exposed sides and two 3/4" ply back splash pieces that I tiled with black tiles and black grout.
Note, I left the Plywood base in place for support and something to screw into from below.
I sealed it with a special sealer for concrete, but after a year I covered it with 3 coats of satin water based poly which holds up better than the sealer.
Easy to keep clean, still looks new. I would definitely consider a kitchen counter top made the same way. I did read the Fine Homebuilding article later and wondered whether or not the steel reinforcing was necessary. Maybe the ply base well supported every 2 feet is enough. I do like the texture from the plastic I used and would do it again. I would most likely use a lighter shade of dye for a kitchen and sink a cutting board in as I poured the mix. I like the Hardwood edging and find it easier to build that way.
Anyway good luck and be careful finishing a project, SWMBO is already thinking. She is now pressing me to hurry and get the JTAS10XL 3 hp Jet table saw so I can finish putting up crown molding:D