Kitchen countertops

[dislal]

I'm getting ready to pick out my kitchen countertop and my head is spinning from all the choices and research I've done.....trying to decide between granite, quartz, or corian.. I bought maple cognac kitchen cabinets.....so I also need advice on color and what kind of floor to put in the kitchen.

So if anyone has any advice or comments about how well each of these will hold up please let me know....we are a busy family of five so I'd like it to be low maintenance and I plan on living in this house for a very long time and I don't want to have to change the countertops again

 

[cornflake]

Granite and quartz are similar in terms of wear and use - and quartz is the same or higher price.

I'm a natural stone fan. Nothing beats it for ease of use, durability, etc.

I can't stand Corian, peronally. I dislike the feel of it and I think it looks cheap and always dirty.

If I had an unlimited budget tho - glass.

 

[jrmasm]

I'm getting ready to pick out my kitchen countertop and my head is spinning from all the choices and research I've done.....trying to decide between granite, quartz, or corian.. I bought maple cognac kitchen cabinets.....so I also need advice on color and what kind of floor to put in the kitchen.

So if anyone has any advice or comments about how well each of these will hold up please let me know....we are a busy family of five so I'd like it to be low maintenance and I plan on living in this house for a very long time and I don't want to have to change the countertops again

We have a medium brown granite that was installed 9 years ago. It looks the same as the day it was installed and I have done nothing to it other than wipe it down after meals and use Windex without ammonia as needed.

I consider the counter the best decision we made when building our house.

 

[HM]

My last two houses have had Corian and I love it. Lots of color choices. We went with a gray tone with lots of flecks of color that went well with our cabinetry.

 

[Buckalew11]

I went with granite. The way it was explained to me is quartz is man made and granite is God made. My granite was a lot cheaper than the quartz quote. It has been easy to maintain. Mine has a mix of black, brown and a lighter color in it (no pinks, I hate the pink that shows up in many granite choices).

My color shows NOTHING which is good and bad, but mostly good.

My floors are a medium hardwood which I love. Otherwise I would have chosen tile but tile can be hard and tiring to stand on.

We are a family of 3 and have 2 dogs--1 little one and 1 medium. My kitchen is easy to keep clean and low maintenance.

So far, I still love it after 3 years and would choose it again.

 

[Meriweather]

We went with granite...........4 years now. Love it.
We have granite blend in our other house (Silestone type), I really like it too..........changed from tile.

Floors here are tile. Like them a lot. Most floors around here are tile for the coolness. But it is sure unforgiving if you drop something.

 

[design_mom]

We have Corian at our house. (Our old house had laminate counters, so it was a major step up for us.) I really like the look of it. We've been in our house almost 10 years and there are no stains, nicks, etc... so I think it's holding up very well.

If money were no object, I'd probably go with granite because that's the "in" thing right now -- and granite is heat proof while Corian is not. My sister has granite on her island and pulls her cookie sheets right out of the oven and onto the granite. That would be nice.

My color [of granite] shows NOTHING which is good and bad, but mostly good.

I totally understand what you mean. My Corian has big flecks in it and it hides a lot. Most of the time that's good, but occasionally you'll *think* it's clean, until you put your hand down in something yucky (usually when one of the kids has been making sandwiches or something). Now I clean it even if it already looks clean!

 

[Princess Dolly]

We have granite in our master bath and quartz (Silestone, Yukon Blanco) in our kitchen. Went with the quartz because I wanted a more modern/contemporary look. I didn't want something with a lot of pattern.

 

[trip]

I'm starting this type of search also. Do any of these have to be sealed each year?

 

[marcyinPA]

We just replaced our vanity top in our bathroom. Believe it or not, Corian and other solid surface tops like that were more expensive than granite. We actually ended up getting cultured marble, but it looks like granite. It is a light black with white specks, polished like granite.

If I were to replace my kitchen counters right now, I'd probably ante up and get granite. We really need to replace them- they are peach laminate! Not our choice- previous owners thought it would be a good idea... But, we just paid off our bathroom renovation and we are flat broke now.

 

[cornflake]

I'm starting this type of search also. Do any of these have to be sealed each year?

Generally that's only really a thing with light-coloured stone or those with less tightly-packed crystals.

Just btw, sealing it consists of rubbing on a liquid sealant (it's just a clear liquid nothing thick or weird) and wiping off the excess. It's as much work as cleaning them, basically. Takes like 10 minutes.

 

[SpecialK]

I'm starting this type of search also. Do any of these have to be sealed each year?

I have quartz and it doesn't need to be sealed. I believe it's recommended that granite be sealed annually.

 

[bankgirl05]

I had Corian in my last kitchen with the "molded in sink" I din't choose it, hated the color and absolutely hated the sink!!! The sink would stain and I constantly had to bleach it, and I feel like the counter tops lost thier shine after a couple of years. I cook ALOT, and will never choose corian again.

My new kitchen has granite in half and an old formica laminate in the other half )previous owners must have run out of money) we are completely rebuilding our kitchen and dining area in the next year, so the granite that is here will become my outdoor kitchen, but I am going with granite again, unless the cost of recycled glass drops significantly.

As far as counters and especially flooring, you have to consider your usage, wear and tear etc. Like how much traffic, pets, toddlers with toys? Like one poster said, tile is unforgiving if you drop something, and uncomfortable for hours of standing. I recently saw an "enginereed floor" not real tile, but looks like it, softer on the feet, like a laminate floor. Interesting, but not for me. We did use a cheap grade laminate wood floor in our old kitchen, and I can tell you we regretted it, because any spill that got into the cracks "buckled" the edges of the boards, plus I dropped a knife once that caused a dime sized chunk to peel off!!! Cheap is not the way to go for a kitchen floor, life lesson learned!!!

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

We have granite, which we love. Personally, I prefer the look of the "manufactured stone products," i.e. Silestone, Zodiaq, etc., because they are more consistent and have more vibrant colors, in my opinion, but we were advised to get granite due to the neighborhood in which we live (apparently quartz is considered to be a step down from granite, which I don't understand and don't agree with, but every home in our development has granite so we went with it). As a PP said, sealing is very simple, and I think some granite now is even coming permanently sealed (not sure how, but that's what I have heard).

Personally I cannot stand Corian but lots of people love it, and since it's your home and you plan to stay there for a long time, you should get what you want. To me it looks very dated and I wouldn't buy a house with it, but if you're not looking to sell, then it is irrelevant. It's purely a personal taste; some people feel the same way about granite/manufactured stone.

 

[jrmasm]

I have quartz and it doesn't need to be sealed. I believe it's recommended that granite be sealed annually.

SOME granites require sealing. The lighter colors because they are more porous. And if you do need to seal your granite, it's a simple wipe on, wipe off process.

I have had my for nine years and it has never been sealed. It looks exactly as it did the day it was installed.

In my experience the only people that think sealing is a big deal are Corian and quartz countertop salesmen.

 

[Pakey]

My home is almost 13 years old and we put granite in when built. It's never been sealed. It looks the same as it did the day we moved into our new house. My granite is an odd color; I wouldn't even know how to explain it. It's busy so it shows nothing.

I have porcelain tile floors throughout the home; wood is just not done here.

 

[dex08]

Our last home we had quartz and we loved it. We chose it over granite because it did not have to be sealed. We remodeled the kitchen in our current home last year and we decided to go with granite instead and it only needs to be sealed every 10 years.

We really like Corian and how you can get a seamless sink integrated with it, but we were hesitant to get it because it can get scratched up easily and we aren't the gentlest people.

 

[rwdavis2]

We put in Cambria, which is made from quartz. (http://www.cambriausa.com/) The advantage over "real" stone is the sample you see in the store is exactly what the countertops will look like since the product is manufactured.

Just a strong as granite.

 

[ORMom2Four]

I would go with granite. We have been looking at homes for sale, and not a single one advertises "Corian countertops". Everyone who has granite uses it as a selling feature. In addition, I've seen Corian, my mom and sister both have it. I don't think it's much nicer than laminte

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I have & love my granite. I have never had to seal it & it looks as good as the day it was installed. No upkeep at all & I can put hot directly on it. So it's durable, maintenance free & looks great.