Kitchen countertops - is there life after granite?

Remodeling the kitchen in vacation home. We’ve always had granite in our kitchens, but the designer is recommending Silestone - an engineered quartz.

Anyone have this?

It sounds good, but I’m so used to putting hot pans directly on the granite.

Can you not do the same with engineered quartz? I don’t know the answer to that question, but my assumption would be “Yes.”

Designer provided info from the supplier that said no - it wouldn’t hold up to high heat as much as granite would. Something to do with the non-quartz materials used in engineering process?

Nothing engineered will hold up like granite. Not even marble.

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Why would you not use granite?

We just went through this- quartz is the only preferred option now, nothing else is even close.

Unfortunately it doesn’t have the benefits of granite. We just don’t put hot things on it.

We’re granite people too-have had it for years. If I ever build a house we will use granite.

That said we needed to buy a house quickly this year and there were not many options. We “settled” on a house with Silestone white quartz. Something I would never pick on my own. Now that we live here I really like it. We were told we can’t put hot pans, etc on it so we haven’t. I just put them on cooktop grates or cutting boards (or a towel). No big deal really.

We used quartzite for kitchen and bathrooms.

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Why quartz, customizability?

We have quartz in our kitchen and baths. It holds up well and looks more modern, but when we had white in a previous house, it would stain, FYI. Go darkish or with a pattern.
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We prefer natural stone which is why we used Quartzite instead of Quartz. We chose Quartzite over granite because of its properties.
“Granite is an igneous rock known for being very hard. Quartzite, on the other hand, is a metamorphic rock composed almost entirely of quartz, the hardest material on earth. Basically, quartzite comes about when quartz-rich sandstone is altered by the heat, pressure, and chemical activity of metamorphism.”

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Stainless steel?

Whatever you do, do not use marble. Our kitchen came with a large slab of marble on the island. It looks beautiful…until the first time that you set something on it. After that it etches, chips, stains, scratches. You name a flaw and it will occur on that marble in an instant. We had some limestone in a bathroom resurfaced recently (also a beautiful but inherently bad choice - it already needs repair again) but didn’t even bother with the marble in the kitchen. In contrast, the flamed granite on the other kitchen counter remains flawless.

wow I thought the benefit of quartz is it doesn’t stain [wow.gif]

Yes, I know not to use marble. It’s so pretty, but too much maintenance for us.

Supposedly doesn’t need sealed, anti-bacterial as it’s not as porous, more modern looking, etc.

Now that you’re used to it, would you keep or replace with granite if no cost to you?

It’s so strange to me that it is preferred, but lacks the benefits of granite. [scratch.gif]

Still leaning towards towards granite, I think :thinking:

Need sealed… sounds western PA.

We haven’t really done much sealing with our granite, maybe we should… It looks brand new though at age 8.