Corian or granite?

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I'm getting the impression here that it is Silestone?

Silestone is no more, or less popular than granite, here. I see both, but I see granite far more - and trust me, I see far too many interiors of homes.

I think when Silestone (and those like it) first came out, it piggybacked on top of the myths out there about granite, so everyone thought it was this great miracle material. I'm really shocked nobody on here has mentioned that you'll die of radon gas poisoning, or your granite will come packed with insect eggs yet.

Don't get me wrong, some granites are more prone to staining and chipping. There are also granites out there mined from countries that are known to not produce a great end product.

I can't think of one negative thing to say about Silestone. I think it's a personal choice. Silestone to me, has a very uniform look to it. If you want that, then that's a great choice. I personally like the natural look of granite. Some of them have a lot of flow and are just gorgeous to look at.

When I do market analysis on homes, this is how I rate countertop materials:

1) Formica
2) Ceramic Tile
3) Granite Tile
4) Corian
4) Engineered Stone (the same as granite)
5) Granite (the same as engineered stone)
6) Marble

Bottom line, it's what feels good for you, and what your budget can afford - not what's in or what's going out. For so long, I heard soapstone was going to be the big thing. I have never seen it in a house here. Concrete is trendy. Nope. Never seen it in a house here.

What else could there be? We're already engineered the crème de la crème of countertops. Personally, I think the products that exist will only get better.

 

[jrmasm]

It depends on the level of granite or Zodiaq your are looking at. Some granite is cheaper some is more expensive. We have 4 price levels for Zodiaq & 6 for granite. We custom quote the levels above our 6 levels

Yeah but in my mind a man made product should be cheaper than a natural product, not more expensive.

It's not one of things you can really debate, just one of those crazy notions people get.

So is Zodiac still scaly?

 

[mickeyfan2]

We went through this when we built our new home, so I feel your pain. We had all kinds of grand ideas..... and looked and searched and debated..... granite and all of the other choices....

We ended up with Formica in our bathrooms and kitchen areas upstairs and down. It's been about 6 years now and I wouldn't change a thing... I love it.

So I guess I am not much help!

I have seen a few people who have done Formica in the past few years and they are beautiful. Formica has come a long way.

 

[Ciao Mickey]

Quartz. It is made of Stone but it is a man made process. It never needs to be sealed, does not stain. It is stronger than granite but looks like granite.

People hear "man-made" and still prefer a natural stone.

Quartz has been around for years and is very pretty. But it will never replace granite as the number one choice for most $$$ homes in and around my area.

 

[Disney Doll]

We just redid the kitchen. Put in granite...one called Pecan brown, which is a strange name for it because it is not brown at all...it is a light charcoal gray with flecks of peach, sage green and lilac....very pretty and not too common in my area. We see a lot of Ubba Tubba here. Another pretty granite is one called Blue Pearl...deep blue with silvery flecks. According to our granite guy, you seal it about once a year by wiping some sealer stuff on it and letting it dry....didn't sound all that difficult or time-consuming to me. He said it takes just a few minutes. We have a stainless steel undermount double sink. I think I would go with an undermount sink. My previous sink was not an undermount, and I was forever wiping stuff out of the trim edge around the sink...schmutz would be stuck in there all the time. Drove me nuts. I'd be digging at it with toothpicks and stuff. I would assume you have to be careful about chipping, but it is stone so I think you'd have to hit it pretty hard or just the right way to chip it. Ours has been in about 6 months and no chipping problems yet, and I do "live" in my house, have a lot of company and so forth.

Didn't like Corian...reminded me too much of formica.

The Silestone was nice too...more of a natural looking stone product, even though it is fabricated. There were several I liked in the Silestone, but DH was set on granite, and when we found this one we liked, the granite won.

Friends of ours redid their kitchen at the same time we did, picked Corian. Looks nice enough, but does look dated IMHO. But she likes it, which is what counts.

Because DH is a realtor, we tend to try and do renovations which would appeal to the masses and have a "classic" or "traditional", as opposed to "trendy" flair. I can remember when we were house-hunting looking at a house where the owners did their family room in hand-hewn panelling. They went on and on about how it was hand done, took hours, was attached to the wall so well that it would never come down, and one of a kind and so on and so forth, and while it was their taste and they liked it, I hated it and would have ripped it down if I had bought their house. They seemed to think it was a selling point though, and really...it wasn't.

So the bottom line...I'd probably do a natural stone type product (granite, quartz) as opposed to Corian, and make sure whatever you chooose isn't real porous, because that could be a problem in a kitchen with regard to staining and so forth. We did go to a couple of stone/granite places in our area and actually chose our slab, met the fabricator etc. Go on a nice day, not a rainy day, because if the granite is outside, it will look different wet than it will dry. Also, remember to consider the light levels in your kitchen. Our kitchen tends to be dark...it's a good sized room with only one bay window and a regular width (not sliding or French) door. If you have low light levels, plus dark cabinets, it makes for a very dark room. We have oak cabinets, with the light charcoal gray counter top, stainless appliances, hardwood floors. The contrast between the cabinets and the counter is just enough...I wouldn't want either thing darker or lighter. If you go to a stone place and the granite is outside, it is going to look a lot different in the beaming sun than it will in your kitchen, so keep that in mind. I would sort of have DH shade the granite in a spot, using his hands or his jacket, so I could see it in a lower light.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Quartz. It is made of Stone but it is a man made process. It never needs to be sealed, does not stain. It is stronger than granite but looks like granite.

Will quartz ever be able to mimic the flow of granite? Such as this one for example:

 

[MAKmom]

Will quartz ever be able to mimic the flow of granite? Such as this one for example:

Zodiaq has just introduced new colors that have a "FLOW" or movement. Cambria colors look more like the picture of granite you have.

We stock granite it's all the same to us. The Quartz is just easier for the normal family to deal with IMO. I love the natural look of granite but it drives some people crazy.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Zodiaq has just introduced new colors that have a "FLOW" or movement. Cambria colors look more like the picture of granite you have.

We stock granite it all the same to us. The Quartz is just easier for the normal family to deal with IMO. I love the natural look of granite but it drives some people crazy.

That's interesting. I'd love to see those!

I LOVE that granite. It's one of the ones that I want for my bathroom, but that's one place where I think engineered stone would come in handy, mainly because of hair spray.

 

[MAKmom]

Yeah but in my mind a man made product should be cheaper than a natural product, not more expensive.

It's not one of things you can really debate, just one of those crazy notions people get.

So is Zodiac still scaly?

I'm not sure what you mean by scaly the pattern?

 

[RUDisney]

I didn't look at Silestone but didn't like Zodiac because it had a weird scaley finish.

So is Zodiac still scaly?

We put Zodiaq in our kitchen. I love it! It was the same price for us to do granite or Zodiaq and I picked the one that I'd never have to seal and was not porous.

My countertop and backsplash are not scaly in any way. What gave you the impression that it was? Our counter is smooth as a baby's bottom and looks great. I've never gotten a scaly impression of it.

 

[MAKmom]

That's interesting. I'd love to see those!

I LOVE that granite. It's one of the ones that I want for my bathroom, but that's one place where I think engineered stone would come in handy, mainly because of hair spray.

I'm having the same problem. I know I should do the Quartz but the granite is cheaper in most cases. I am doing 2 counters tops in 3cm & DH wants to do the tub walls in 2 cm. I want to use as much free material as I can. This bathroom is for the DD & I'm making a hair/make up area away from the sink.

Our part of the country everyone uses 3 cm Granite & Quartz.

I've read in other areas they have been using the 2cm which is cheaper.

 

[jrmasm]

When I looked at Zodiac at an angle, it had a scaly finish. When I look at my granite at an angle, it looks smooth.

The Quartz is just easier for the normal family to deal with IMO.

I still have to strongly disagree with this statement. We are an incredibly busy family, 2 jobs, 2 kids and none us are neat freaks. Our granite looks exactly the same as the day we moved in the house.

I LOVE that granite. It's one of the ones that I want for my bathroom, but that's one place where I think engineered stone would come in handy, mainly because of hair spray.

What does hair spray do?

 

[Orange County Girl]

We are installing new counter tops in a few months and I am planning on choosing Zodiac Quartz. I also frequent quite a few decorating forums and blogs and the trend seems to be going toward soapstone counters and sinks. That is what people seem to be the most excited about lately.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

What does hair spray do?

Coats everything. It has a lot of alcohol in it, which might not be too good for granite. And as much as I'd love to say that I would clean it up immediately each day, I'd be a liar.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I'm having the same problem. I know I should do the Quartz but the granite is cheaper in most cases. I am doing 2 counters tops in 3cm & DH wants to do the tub walls in 2 cm. I want to use as much free material as I can. This bathroom is for the DD & I'm making a hair/make up area away from the sink.

Our part of the country everyone uses 3 cm Granite & Quartz.

I've read in other areas they have been using the 2cm which is cheaper.

I have 3cm and wouldn't do 2cm now that I've seen how great the thicker slabs look - in particular around the sink opening.

I'm so jealous. I want free granite.

 

[arminnie]

I know of at least 4 homes that have had granite since the very early '90s. It still looks perfect in every case and has not been babied - active families with kids.

One house was the first place I ever saw granite - may have been in about '90 or '91. I didn't know what it was, but it was beautiful.

When I put it in my old home (about '95) I put in the undermount sink with granite. The only thing I would question now would be what to do if the sink wore out. I've had to replace 3 sinks over the years. Sinks do not last forever (at least for me).

My guest bathroom in my second home has a granite countertop with an overmount ceramic sink. The sink is very pretty with sort of a decorative edge. It does not get a lot of use though.

I really need to do something with the kitchen in my dad's house (where I live). It is 15 year old off-white formica that looks awful. The previous owners put it up the backsplash and then installed the new cabinets over it so it is going to be a mess to replace. The cabinets were pretty cheap and are not wearing very well so I guess the whole thing needs to go.

I've spent the past month dealing with new flooring in all of the BRs, DR and LR - such a mess! And then there are the 40+ year old bathrooms.

 

[Regina]

We had black granite (with gold flecks) countertops put into the kitchen of our new home. We went with the upgraded granite and it's amazing. I just spray it with Windex and it cleans like a dream.

A friend of mine did make me nervous about this choice. She's had problems but I'm guessing that her builder used a lesser grade of granite.

We fell in love with the master bathroom in the model home and used the same materials. The countertops are corian with an integrated sink. (Love that!!) It works well with the tiles.

The only material that I'm not crazy about is the cultured marble countertop in the other full bathroom. If I had it to do over again, I would have chosen either granite or the corian. It's soooo hard when you need to make so many decisions at once.

 

[maelstrom]

We have Silestone, and it looks nice, but it's easy to chip, apparently. Since my parents redid the kitchen with Silestone countertops, stone tile floor, and stainless steel appliances, my mother freaks out if I do pretty much anything in there (sit a plate on the counter, splash a microscopic amount of soup on the stove, etc). I feel like I'm not even allowed to use my kitchen anymore. But whatever. Because she freaks out so bad about stuff like that, I moved the burner covers off one side of the stove to clean under them, and it ended up putting a big (but shallow) scratch on the front of the stove. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

The only material that I'm not crazy about is the cultured marble countertop in the other full bathroom. If I had it to do over again, I would have chosen either granite or the corian. It's soooo hard when you need to make so many decisions at once.

That's what we're getting rid of in our master bathroom. We already replaced the one in the secondary bathroom. Cultured marble chips very easily.

For the record, when I mentioned ranking countertop material, the most expensive one I listed was marble, and this was not what I was referring to!

 

[Galahad]

We have Silestone, and it looks nice, but it's easy to chip, apparently. Since my parents redid the kitchen with Silestone countertops, stone tile floor, and stainless steel appliances, my mother freaks out if I do pretty much anything in there (sit a plate on the counter, splash a microscopic amount of soup on the stove, etc). I feel like I'm not even allowed to use my kitchen anymore. But whatever. Because she freaks out so bad about stuff like that, I moved the burner covers off one side of the stove to clean under them, and it ended up putting a big (but shallow) scratch on the front of the stove. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

Wow. I wonder of she read the wrong brochure. You pretty much can't damage Silestone. We put hot pans directly out of the oven on it. You could hit it with a hammer and not scratch it.