I am in the process of creating a new kitchen in my 1927 Spanish Bungalow. The kitchen was a 1970's mess, and had no original detail left, so the entire room had to be gutted ( the only thing to remain will be the hardwood floor and my 1940's stove) . I am having the cabinets made on site by a carpenter friend,and that is going very well, but I am having a kitchen countertop dilema! I love the look of tile and located some very original tile from Mission Tile West, and B&W Tile. I am still not sure if I want to deal with the dirty grout lines on the countertop. Any suggestions for the countertop? One thought is to just have a tile backsplash with either yellow or green subways from B&W with a revival liner from mission tile West, with a solid surface countertop- I am just not sure what material to use.. honed balck granite? Help!!

sfs619,
When I read your post referring to solid surface I thought you meant a material such as "Corian." In construction lingo "solid surface" materials are more often plastics that resemble stone. If you like tile, go with that. There is an article in the latest American Bungalow that features a nice Southwest style bungalow (I think it's in the Willow historic neighborhood of Phoenix, but I could be confusing it with another) that features a lovely original kitchen with tile - and it looks great. One way of dealing with crud in the grout is to not make the grout stark white; instead try a gray or even black if you like that look. Black granite could look okay also but it is so ubiquitous that now it is associated with new old looking bungalows and shiny stainless steel appliances. If you're looking at stone, another alternative that is historically accurate to the bungalow era is soapstone. While it is somewhat soft many consider the marks dropped pans might make as a character element that shows the wear or normal living. Soapstone comes in a broad range of colors from grays and blacks through to deep greens. Stone is not a maintenance free surface - whether granite, marble, limestone, soapstone etc - they all require occasional re-sealing and some require repolishing as well. Quartz solid surface countertops exhibit a broad range of colors and patterns, some very stone and terrazo-like, some with glass chips. And it never needs resealing or any maintenance. Recently I saw an installation of slate "tiles." They were 25" deep (full countertop depth) and 36" wide so it only took a few to do the job. Slate is very durable. But back to tile: as you can see tile could mean 19"x19" (closer to metric scale), 12x12 or what have you. The nice thing tile has that slabs do not exhibit is the smaller scale element. If you like the 30's look in the article or the tiles you've found I say go with what you love. It's your kitchen. As to cleaning there are foaming cleansers you can pick up at a restaurant or janitor supply store that will be very effective on tile grout cleaning, ay better than anything in the grocery store.
Good luck, Don Rouzie

There are also more and more companies working with cast-in-place and pre-cast concrete counter tops these days. You can get a variety of colors (dyed), is very durable and has a rustic look to it. Often looks a lot like slate. I would do some further research and look at installations to see if it may be an option for you.

I heartily recommend quartz, no maintenance, mold and mildew resistant- my favorite brand- Caesarstone. Stick to the even-toned colors like buttermilk, pebble, raven and rosemary as opposed to the more terrazzo looking ones, and then choose a beautiful tiled backsplash with just a touch of a decorative inset somewhere in there. Tile would also be very period appropriate but you would just have to live with the extra maintenance- which honestly shouldn't be a deal breaker. Concrete countertop fabrication is actually pretty expensive and not that easy to get right. Soapstone and slate you are asking for trouble in so far as maintenance and staining.

We have a 1928 Spanish Bungalow that had a similarly re-muddled kitchen as yours and went through the same dilemma 14 years ago, we ultimately chose a black granite but given that choice again I would definitely choose quartz. I just completed a design for a 100 y.o. historically designated Prairie Style house down the street and have spec'd quartz for that kitchen where I have also introduced an Arts & Crafts theme into the formally '70s space.

There are definitely purists here who will strongly advocate tile as if it is the only period appropriate choice but honestly the kitchen probably had a free-standing sink and a couple of hutch style cabinets with wood countertops when first built- and no refrigerator- so there really isn't a practical way to bring back a period kitchen if you actually want to use it.

Good Luck.