I’ll admit that when I said granite (to my eye, but YMMV) is dated, it was a slightly overbroad statement. There are many different types of granite and certainly some patterns that look a bit more modern. The soapstone like pattern in JDavis’s granite is indeed pretty timeliness. But generally, it is not only the color but the pattern. For instance, a lot of granite has no depth to it, as if the uniform pattern is printed on the surface. With some marbles and quartzite, you can almost see the layers. In terms of natural beauty, to my eye it’s night or day. If you are having to go pick out a counter anyway, I encourage you to go to a stone yard (not just Home Depot) to see all the differences with your own eye. You may or may not care. I certainly didn’t notice all of this stuff until my designer wife pointed them out!
BTW, quartz and quartzite are completely different things. One is man made and the other is not. You can choose to have a “fancy” edge with any counter material.
Obviously a lot of this is just personal preference, just like with wine. I can respect picking granite for practicality over aesthetics. In terms of retro stuff coming back, terrazzo was very big the last few years. But I think it’s already on its way out.
I went with quartzite and love the clean, modern aesthetic. To me, yes, granite has a “dated” look but I will admit that it’s mostly because the kitchens I have seen over the years had granite countertops with “earthy” colors and undertones (and “busy” dark speckles) that go well with more “traditional” brown/wood stained cabinets and don’t look great with the sleek cabinets of contemporary kitchens, even if they have straight edges.
So we may have to replace our granite countertops due to a kitchen flood and subsequent remodel . Our house is not a showcase house and we don’t plan on being in the house for too many more years (5-10 tops). So resale will be a key driver to the decision on color, material, style, etc.
So bumping the thread for any any further input , discussions, etc. TIA
I hope this isn’t too much of a thread drift, but I am also looking in the same sort of ballpark.
My question is, is Corian or other brand solid counters the only type that doesn’t have any transitional divide between the back splash and counter top, or sink and counter top, what so ever? I see that as a natural place or dirt to get into, and be a chore to keep clean. But, I’m not so sure I want Corian.
I have real quartzite - which is different than quartz as mentioned a few posts up thread. We love them. upkeep isn’t that hard - we seal them once in 3 years (getting ready to do it again one weekend coming up here when we have the time and patience to do it). I probably do a spray clean on them 2x a week and the rest is just with a sponge. They say we can put hot stuff on it but we won’t we always have a trivet around and its no big deal. we got a light color that looks kind of like marble and it really lightens up the kitchen.
That is my understanding and why I hesitated for a long time between granite and Corian back when I redid the kitchen in my old condo.
I’m leaning towards corian (solid color, probably white) for my continually put off bathroom remodel for that reason but I would still probably choose black granite if I ever redid my current kitchen.
We remodeled a kitchen with Corian back in the 90s but ended up selling the house pretty quickly so don’t have a long term review. However, my daughter bought a house with Corian counters and sink and the sink looked terrible. Corian has very poor heat resistance so over time hot water had caused the bottom of the sink to become cracked. I definitely wouldn’t buy Corian if you cook a lot of pasta.
Another way to get seamless sinks is with stainless steel counters.
I know this thread is a bit old. We have put in granite in a few places and our prior house had quartzite put in by the previous owners. The quartzite was pretty but did stain a bit and honestly preferred many other patterns and types of countertops. It was white with some colored streaks thru it. We just remodeled our place in Vail and put in leathered granite. We always like irregular patterns as the regular and small grained granite does look dated. Really like the leathered surface and so far very happy with the look and durability. Always pick your slabs yourself.
As mentioned soapstone is not great for countertops but is ideal for wood stoves.
I just updated my countertops from Gibraltar (Corian) to…Quartz. I love them so far. They’ve made a beautiful difference to my kitchen. As an added bonus, they’re made in Almeria, Spain.
We’re remodeling my kitchen. My wife does not like granite and wouldn’t even consider it. So we went Quartzite. I think they’ll be delivered and set late this week or early next week. I’ll try to post photos.
Concerning the heat issue…I never set a hot pan directly on a counter top without a trivet. Period. So the heat factor is not a factor at all for us.
We’re about 6 months in w/ our Quartzite, and it looks phenomenal. I’d do it again. Like you, I never put pots directly on the counter even when I had granite, so it hasn’t been an issue. A bigger issue is keeping Sharpies out of the hands of my 6yo boy.
When we remodeled our kitchen last year, we went with quartz. In the past (other houses, in kitchens we didn’t design), we’ve also had granite and marble, and we did quartzite in an outdoor kitchen a couple of years ago. I like but do not love the quartz we chose. I personally prefer the look of natural stone (I’d probably do quartzite again), and am not totally in love with the appearance of our countertops. But I will say that so far (obviously not a long term test), they are holding up beautifully and are effectively zero maintenance. That’s the main reason my wife insisted on them, and I decided to choose my battles. I do think it’s a tradeoff of appearance vs. maintenance, with various points available on the spectrum (and of course cost mixed in). You just have to figure out what your priorities are.
And yeah, I have never and will never put hot pans directly on the counter, so I don’t worry about that regardless.
Early stages of kitchen makeover planning. Thanks for all the comments, I’ve learned a lot. We are deciding between quartz and quartzite. My GC says that quartzite is about 30% more expensive. I like the idea of quartz, but so far have preferred the appearance of quartzite, but we really haven’t serious started investigating all the options for both.
Anyone have any issues with quartzite staining or other damage? Our granite looks pretty much pristine (16 years since installation) in that area and we have never sealed it other than at installation. I probably don’t mind the added expense of quartzite (waiting on the numbers), but I don’t want to have to think much about damaging the surface. FWIW, I do put hot pans on my granite, but hot is a relative term - probably nothing over 300 degrees.
Our kitchen is all Carrara marble. When it’s clean, it looks fantastic… but it absolutely does etch and stain, I expect the need to refinish the surface every few years.
Gorgeous, and I didn’t even know they were a thing
We’ve had matte-finish quartz countertops in our place for 3-4 years and they’ve held up decently well. We’ve never found heat resistance (or lack thereof) to be an inconvenience, but the material does collect wine stains at the drop of a hat. We’re in the middle of planning our next kitchen remodel and will probably stick with the same, just in a darker shade to hide all the red wine rings from offlines we host
It’s looking more and more likely that my wife is attached to marble after spending the afternoon in warehouses looking at slabs of everything. So, talk to me about sealing if anyone has opinions. Hopefully something we can apply easily and no more than twice a year. Doesn’t have to be perfect in terms of protection as we’re willing to accept some “character” changes in the stone with use. If it matters, we want polished, not honed or leathered.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}