Wholesale Corian?

[Dave Zellers]

I'm in the final stages of our kitchen remodel design and I just had a thought.

We have already ruled out granite or manmade solid surface counters from a counter shop because of cost.

We will be happy with formica because I can do formica myself with a nice wood edge. But just now I thought, I've worked with Corian before, so what would the materials difference be between formica, the substrate, glue, etc and Corian if I could get it wholesale?

So does anyone here know where I can get Corian slabs wholesale so I can compare costs?

I'm thinking this has real possibilities.

[Jamie Buxton]

I've noticed these folks, but never done business with them....http://solidsurface.com/

[Dave Zellers]

Thanks- I just stumbled across them before I came back here.

This has very real possibilities.

[Keith Outten]

According to Dupont's program you will not be able to purchase Corian to use for countertops unless you become a certified installer.
I suggest you consider Avonite which is available to anyone from local distributors. Considering the weight of solid surface products you would probably save money with a local vendor.

Because Corian distributors are allowed to set their own prices the cost of a sheet of Glacier White Corian can easily vary by over $100.00 per sheet depending on your local distributors pricing scale. Distributors will often reduce their prices when you purchase large quantities at a time or over the course of a year.
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[Jim Riseborough]

According to Dupont's program you will not be able to purchase Corian to use for countertops unless you become a certified installer.
I suggest you consider Avonite which is available to anyone from local distributors. Considering the weight of solid surface products you would probably save money with a local vendor.

Because Corian distributors are allowed to set their own prices the cost of a sheet of Glacier White Corian can easily vary by over $100.00 per sheet depending on your local distributors pricing scale. Distributors will often reduce their prices when you purchase large quantities at a time or over the course of a year.
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Just dont tell them that you are using it for a counter top.

[Dave Zellers]

solidsurface.com says in their FAQ they will sell to anyone but it gets shipped to the nearest freight depot and you have to pick it up there.

[Jamie Buxton]

I've been told (by a Corian fabricator) that Dupont's guarantee on the Corian only applies if the fabrication and installation are done by a licensed fabricator. However -- the linked retailer is an example -- you can nowadays buy Corian without being a licensed fabricator. Years ago, that was not possible.

[David Werkheiser]

DuPont is very firm on only selling to certified Corian shops. I tried to order some color matched silicon caulk and my supplier and they refused to sell it to me as I was not "certified". When the time came to do my own kitchen, I ended up using "Hanex" which I was told is the same as Corian (DuPont's patent ran out). Hanex is made in Korea and works the same as Corian.
David

[Curt Harms]

Check Ebay. There's a guy in Milford, CT. looking to move some inventory. We bought some from him. And I second what Jamie said re the warranty. When you buy it you bought it. When it left his shop there were no identifying marks on it at all, I couldn't even prove it was from DuPont. We sent him a rough sketch and he cut the sheets slightly oversized in length to make them easier to transport. In our case the longest piece was 6' and would fit in a pickup bed easily. There is also an interesting product on Ebay from a vendor in Florida. He has a product which is solid surface but doesn't appear to be so brittle and his price was like $275/sheet. That of course didn't include shipping.

I haven't started our project yet but got some scraps I from a local fabricator. I would recommend playing with some scraps to become familiar with the working properties. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it cuts and machines. It seems pretty strong but brittle. We bought the 2 part color matched adhesive and gun from gluewarehouse. The cartridges are resealable but the mixing tips are single use. I've just been using 5 minute epoxy for practice and it works great.

[Michael Mayo]

Check Ebay. There's a guy in Milford, CT. looking to move some inventory. We bought some from him. And I second what Jamie said re the warranty. When you buy it you bought it. When it left his shop there were no identifying marks on it at all, I couldn't even prove it was from DuPont. We sent him a rough sketch and he cut the sheets slightly oversized in length to make them easier to transport. In our case the longest piece was 6' and would fit in a pickup bed easily. There is also an interesting product on Ebay from a vendor in Florida. He has a product which is solid surface but doesn't appear to be so brittle and his price was like $275/sheet. That of course didn't include shipping.

I haven't started our project yet but got some scraps I from a local fabricator. I would recommend playing with some scraps to become familiar with the working properties. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it cuts and machines. It seems pretty strong but brittle. We bought the 2 part color matched adhesive and gun from gluewarehouse. The cartridges are resealable but the mixing tips are single use. I've just been using 5 minute epoxy for practice and it works great.

I live in Milford CT. I think I might have to go find this guy and see what he has on the cheap?

[Rich Riddle]

You might consider one thing before making your final decision. A friend really wanted granite but didn't want to pay the cost. I found 24" square granite tiles at very reasonable prices and installed those for him. I made a simple plywood top with 1/4" hardibacker atop it. You could place a wood edge around the front and exposed sides as I did for Mike, but I prefer the tile on edges that is made. It cost less than a new Formica top when I did it a few years back. I also used the same tiles and made him a back splash. Here is a picture of one project:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...Q9QEwAw&dur=69

[Joe Jensen]

Many years ago, maybe 15 years, I wanted to build a corian topped kitchen table. Found the same thing, had to be a certified installer. I spent like $125 and 8 hours on a Saturday getting certified. Then we got the price list and Dupont had dual pricing. Residential applications were 2-3X higher than commercial applications. Anything in a home was residential but the commercial side had lots of restrictions. Kitchen/coffee bar was not cheap, but a reception desk was. Anyway, my table was like 36" by 76"and doing it in corian was going to cost over $1000. The adhesives were surprisingly expensive. If memory serves, the sheet was about 80% of the spend.

In hind sight I'm super happy I didn't use Corian. I went wtih 6/4 Oak and I get tons of compliments. If I had done Corian it would be very dates by now.

[Dave Cav]

I've noticed these folks, but never done business with them....http://solidsurface.com/

FWIW I clicked on the linik and my virus scanner went off.....

[Curt Harms]

Many years ago, maybe 15 years, I wanted to build a corian topped kitchen table. Found the same thing, had to be a certified installer. I spent like $125 and 8 hours on a Saturday getting certified.
..................

Around here the company that does certification classes won't let just anyone take their class. You have to be referred by an approved installer or be approved by the company. I was told It takes about a month to be approved and they only want a certain # of installers in a certain geographic area. I'm not real sure about the legal ramifications of that policy but it doesn't matter to me anyway. I found a couple installation manuals - one from Hanex and one from DuPont - and some other less detailed stuff online. I don't have the site addresses but do have the .pdf s.

[Doug Richardson]

http://solidsurface.com

You can get full sheets of solid surface in about every brand except Corian, and overstocks and partial sheets of most every brand including some Corian, along with solid surface adhesives, tools, etc..... I have two sheets of Meganite sitting in my garage right now.....