To Granite or Not To Granite, that is the question...

11 years ago

Starting to go from the floor plan stage to interior planning. Originally I thought we wanted granite as we have never had it before and always thought granite was the best.

Now I have two considerations that I never thought about before.

1. Granite doesnt seem "special" anymore. Even the cheap houses in developments have granite now. I am far from wealthy, but cost really isnt a factor for something that will be used for the next few decades.

2. With all the new products that are available I am not sure that granite is the best material anymore.

DH is a huge slob when he cooks. I need countertops that can handle anything and dont need much maintenance because time slips away from me a lot

I am thinking about cream or off white cabs and a countertop in the brown/tan family.

I am not sure what its called in the trade, but I dont like the countertops that have large chunks of material in it. I am also not a huge fan of veining.

At this link, for instance, I love New Haven, but I hate Brownhill and Sutton.

If fellow GWers could please post images and reviews of your countertops and suggestions I would appreciate it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cambria Website

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Comments (4)

babs711
11 years ago
IMO, all of those quartzes resemble granite. There are busy granites and softer granites. There are inexpensive, builder grade granites and premium granites. You can hone or leather it now and make it really special. Yes, the inexpensive builder grade granites have been over done. But there are so many great soft pretty ones to choose from they're worth a look. Some are even fairly solid. Of course there's quartz (as in your link) which is man made and durable but more expensive than granite. There's also quartzite that can be found at stone yards when you're looking at granite slabs. It's a natural stone like granite. The movement is more fluid and soft. But it's pricier. There are other options like concrete and I won't mention the less durable ones since you're not interested in them. But I'd go look. You'll know what you like when you see if. I went to five stone yards. We ended up with polished white macaubus quartzite (which has a softer more linear pattern) on our island and absolute black leathered granite (a more solid matte surface with texture) on our perimeter countertops. The look great together. I hadn't considered this stone until I saw it in person though.
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Xclusive
11 years ago
If you state everyone in your neighborhood or so has granite, I don't think the question is whether you want granite but rather what type of solid surface countertop you want. When you go to sell you don't have to per say have garnite but you do want to have something nice. Later on down the line you wouldn't want someone not to buy your house because the other house down the street has granite. :)

Now as far as solid surface countertops go, that just depends on your taste and your budget. As suggested earlier before I would visit some stone yards and pick something that you are happy with. As long as you have something in your budget and that you like you will be happy and comparable as well. Thats how we based our decision, hope that helps!

Here is a link that might be useful: Our home sell/build blog
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deb2jess
11 years ago
We never planned on granite. We are building a small home, contracted all the work ourselves, figured nice granite was out of the question.We looked at every type of top out there I think. I talked to everyone I know about what top they have and what they like or dislike about it. We hired a super cabinet maker who convinced us to at least go to a rock yard and look at some granite. Long story short we have beautiful granite tops. No big veins, no chunks just nice stone. It looks nothing like what you see in builder grade homes or in the big homeimprovement stores. Nothing against them either I've spent thousands at Lowes and Home Depot, lol. But it was just a whole different view of granite for us.
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deb2jess
11 years ago
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To Granite or Not To Granite, that is the question...

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babs711

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