Guide to Kitchen Countertops & Worktops

When meeting with prospective clients who are remodeling their kitchens- inevitably equivalent kinds of questions come up over and over:

What’s the difference between granite and quartz?

Which one is a smaller amount expensive?

Which one will last longer?

Which one requires the smallest amount maintenance?

And I usually respond with an equivalent awful answer I hate hearing once I have a question:

Well, it depends….

The truth is there are pros and cons to each material you put in on a kitchen counter. The truth is that counting on your lifestyle - these surfaces can take a beating! And since you’re probably hoping they last until your next kitchen remodel, it’s good to understand the scoop!

Anyway… onward with the small print on the various materials available to you:

MARBLE

Pros: are often beee-you-tee-full with its stunning veining and unique character.

Looks amazing in Black Kitchens, especially

Biggest con: Super porous. So unless you wish that aged farmhouse look filled with character (and by character I mean rust stains, oil rings and wine rings) than you would possibly want to expire this one. It is often resurfaced/refinished though - so don’t dismiss it for this reason alone.

Cost: Depends on which grade. Therefore the thing about countertops is that they are usually graded. A, B, C, D… etc. but the tricky part is one grade doesn't correlate to an equivalent grade in another material. In other words, an “A” marble isn't an equivalent price as quartz. Cost also can vary counting on country of origin, distributor and fabricator. So you can’t always pass the pricing listed online.

The grading usually correlates to how rare or available the fabric is. The rarer the marble, the upper the grade, the upper the worth tag.

To further complicate matters- that lovely Carrera Marble everyone drools after lately has their own grading system. I won’t even go down this road. Suffice it to mention the really beautiful stuff is often expensive.

Bottom Line: I might STRONGLY encourage you to figure with an indoor designer, kitchen designer, and contractor or building professional who will assist you sort through the myriad of options you've got in your local area.

GRANITE

Pro: Not as porous as marble.

It can generally delay to hot pots and pans and won’t stain as easily as marble.

Generally, granite is not expensive as marble or quartz.

The nicer stuff really is often beautiful.

Cons: It seems many folks are over granite; the less costly stuff was employed by every home builder within the country and folk are just plain tired of it. Nothing dates a kitchen sort of a nice dark green Ubatuba countertop.

You should seal it every 6-12 months. (Chill, it’s not plenty of labor. Spray the counters with a sealant, allow them to dry for a couple of hours; wipe off…voila!)

QUARTZ

The most misunderstood of all of them, I believe)

Here’s the deal. Quartz (as we all know it to be classified as a countertop material) may be a man-made stone. Sure, it's going to have quartz, the gem, that's present, but probably not plenty of it. It does have many polymers, resins and crushed up other stuff like granite, maybe even glass and mirrors, etc. that are bound together to supply Quartz countertops.

It is often confused with Quartzite - which may be a natural stone, with amazing veining and similar characteristics as marble.

Pros: Never-ever-ever need to worry about sealing them, rendering them virtually maintenance-free!

Cons: Is often EX-PEN-SIVE. Plain or speckly quartz? Probably not so bad. Trying to find dramatic veining or trending color of the moment? You’ll need to reconsider your budget.

They can etch burn and/or actually crack if you place your hot turkey roasting pan directly on the surface. Okay, so I’ve never actually heard of anyone cracking their quartz counters, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.

A cautionary word: Some quartz slabs are book-matched; others aren’t. Book matching may be a process where two adjacent slabs are mirrored (or book matched) therefore the veining is continuous. What does that mean for you? If you've got an excellent Long Island or countertop run, it'll be VERY difficult to make continuous veining if the slabs aren't book matched. To not say it’s impossible, but it'll be very difficult, and will not be left to the amateur fabricator.

Read out complete blog at: https://www.astrumgranite.com/complete-guide-caring-quartz-worktops/