Kitchen remodel. Quartz or Granite counters?

<p>Just a note on the undermount with granite…make sure that the place you get it does some kind of bevel around the top edge. A neighbor of mine has a countertop that has quite a few chips; I was surprised because they had what I thought was a good contractor do the remodel.</p>

<p>The guy who installed my counters drilled the faucet holes when he installed it.</p>

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<p>This surprised me, so I checked my counter, which has an overhang 12" deep x 100" long with no supports. It never occurred to me that a support was needed, and my contractor never mentioned it. It’s been there for 15 years with no problems. I would double check with your contractor or get another opinion.</p>

<p>Granite is brittle, so contractors often recommend supports; ours did, but I do not remember the suggested overhang that would need them. I would not want anyone sitting on the overhang, which is something I have seen people do ( not in my house because I would yell at them).</p>

<p>We have marble in the girls’ bathroom, soapstone in the lower level bar/kitchenette area and granite in the other three bathrooms and kitchen. I removed the white Coarian sinks and countertops in the master bath. I hated them! Love all three stone finishes. Haven’t had to reseal and have no issues at all with any of them. Houses are expected to have granite or marble in our neighborhood for resale. Quartz would be a hard sale and buyers will even ask for allowances on selling price to replace countertops. Jacuzzi tubs are also a big turn off around here as people move to soaking tubs.</p>

<p>I have black granite and I have to say I do not love the counters. The look (color) is great - rather stunning. Black is very, very hard to keep clean - shows every finger print, lint from paper towels etc… We installed the granite because we thought we were only going to be in the home for a short time and the typical consumer understood granite or expected granite. This was info from Realtors as well as personal experience. In our previous home we had remodeled the kitchen and had gorgeous Corian counters ( including the integrated Corian sink - oh how I miss this sink) - we received so many comments about the remodeled kitchen…and not having granite counters (UGH)! My next kitchen redo I am going back to Corian because I think it is a great product (no visible seams, great colors, integrated sink = no icky grout lines or areas that get dirty, softer feel, easy to keep clean/maintain) - I like Corian and to heck with what Realtors/general public/random mystery people think!</p>

<p>Granite is ubiquitous in new homes and remodels these days but it is starting to look dated. I love Corian too, sportsmom–I had it in my last house and it was wonderful. Don’t have any experience with quartz. I think mixed surfaces can be nice–my counters are mostly butcher block except for a section that is marble for rolling out doug (as if :)).</p>

<p>Haha…missed the editing window. That would be DOUGH, not “doug”!</p>

<p>I just completed my kitchen remodel. We chose soapstone for 2 main reasons:

  1. Granite is everywhere and I think the fashion is fading. Since I’ll be “stuck” with these counters for 15 - 20 years I didn’t want to rush out of style.
  2. I hate glossy. Yes, I know granite doesn’t have to be glossy. </p>

<p>If you can’t picture soapstone, think of the table top from your high school science lab.</p>

<p>What about an onyx countertop? </p>

<p>I hear that it’s the gold standard (though very expensive).</p>

<p>I like soapstone but not in a contemporary style kitchen. </p>

<p>My sister did kitchen designing around the time I was doing my remodel and told me if I was going for a color found in nature to pick granite and if I wanted a color not found in nature to go with quartz. </p>

<p>My cousin just put in very expensive marble counters and it’s lovely except she has to cover her huge island with a table cloth when entertaining because of fear of staining. Kind of defeats the purpose, imo.</p>

<p>Sportsmom…go to Target and get a bottle of Method Daily Granite Cleaner. You spray it on and wipe it off with a paper towel…NO STREAKS! None (thank you to JShain who recommended this to me). I use it every day…a bottle lasts a LONG time. $5.99 a bottle.</p>

<p>Having just gone through this myself, here’s what I learned:</p>

<p>We wanted something very white and light, that looked like marble but wasn’t – for all the problems with marble that people warn you about with countertops – scratches, etches, acid stains it, etc. So we started looking for a granite that looks like marble.</p>

<p>Ran across something called “Crystal White” quartz which I absolutely loved but DH thought it was too white. Looked and looked for something similar we could both be happy with and discovered something called “Super White” quartzite.</p>

<p>During this search we were educated in the fact that “quartz” is the Silestone, Caeserstone, manufactured material that is generally around 90% quartzite mixed with resins, etc., to make it smoother. Quartzite is natural stone, God-made, not man-made.</p>

<p>Couldn’t find enough matching slabs of the Super White quartzite, but we wound up purchasing something called Vermont White granite, which the man said is the exact same thing. Apparently some places call it granite and some call it quartzite which confuses the heck out of me. The Vermont White looks exactly like the Super White, so we are happy campers.</p>

<p>The fabricator comes this week and we should have our counters in next week. :)</p>

<p>I am in the middle of a cabin kitchen remodel. The cabinets are espresso stained knotty alder and I am thinking of granite on the perimeter counters and doing a reclaimed wood island top. Would love to do honed soapstone but don’t want to spend the $$$ at the cabin.</p>

<p>Difference between quartz and quartzite:</p>

<p>“Speaking of quartz, what’s the difference between quartz and quartzite?
When you hear about quartz countertops people are usually not referring to real quartz, we are referring to a man made product.
The man made quartz products are sold under brand names such as CaesarStone, Radianz, Cambria, Compac, HanStone, Silestone, etc. These slabs are made of over 90% of real quartz along with polymer resins and pigments.”</p>

<p>[The</a> Granite Gurus: What is Quartzite?](<a href=“http://www.granitegurus.com/2011/05/faq-friday-what-is-quartzite.html]The”>http://www.granitegurus.com/2011/05/faq-friday-what-is-quartzite.html)</p>

<p>emily, I finally understand that, but it took visiting half a dozen stone stores until someone explained it so clearly.</p>

<p>But now for the next question: What’s the difference between quartzite and granite? From what I have been told, not much.</p>

<p>VH, </p>

<p>[Difference</a> Between Quartzite & Granite | eHow.com](<a href=“http://www.ehow.com/info_8594861_difference-between-quartzite-granite.html]Difference”>http://www.ehow.com/info_8594861_difference-between-quartzite-granite.html)</p>

<p>Thanks. That makes it clear as mud. ;)</p>

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<p>VH, you should have paid more attention in Geology class. ;)</p>

<p>Well, we are still living with laminate. Which is easier to maintain - quartzite or corian? SIL has corian and it looks great years later.</p>

<p>So what are the latest hot trends in counter surfaces?</p>