It's what I decided to buy and now I'm stuck with it. I was so careful with my decision, and tried to research and weigh my decisions and I just screwed up again. My granite is Brazilian Black or the St. Gabriel Black like at Lowes. We had already decided on soapstone and then thought that it might not be right for out home. Cost was also a factor. This granite reads very black with silver and gray flecks. I chose one slab that was very consistant. I was told that I would just need one. After he started to fabricate, my granite contractor went back and got the only other slab that "matched". I has some bigger gray flecks that stand out and look like dirt at times. There's also a green chunk in a very high profile place. There is also an area that looks like a darker black rainbow shape that catches your eye. I know that granite is natural and has things like that at times, but this is not the kind where you want movement or odd colored or odd shaped things that stand out. Also, I feel like I always have to wipe it...though I'm starting to get over that a little now. The color in my kitchen just doesn't have the intensity that it did at the granite yard. The other thing that I didn't count on was with the darkness of the granite, I need to use my undercounter lights more to see. When I do, the light not only light up what I'm doing, they reflect off of the granite and shine into my eyes. It's like a black mirror. I'd love to have a non shiny finish now. I'm working to make it better now with a nice backsplash. I know, I know...I should be grateful, but it's just not what I hoped it would be. The only time I like it is when direct sunlight from my skylight hits it. Then it's all that it was at the granite yard. We're going to work on different lighting to help bring out it's best. I really wish that I felt like you guys do about your choice. The good news is that I didn't get all new cabinets AND a countertop so my mistake is ONLY a 2,200 one...How long does granite last again????

Ahhh... wow. Never know what you'll find when you google. There was a thread - many threads no doubt, on this subject but at least one to which I contributed a couple years back. I googled and found this on pinterest, which I've never even visited; it's my kitchen!: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/44543483788641019/ Let me report that a couple years forward I consider my long-standing compost issue a complete non-issue now. All those years buying expensive compost buckets that break, being given wacky devices with filters and odor soakers and the rest .... all nonsense. For me, the solution was simple in the end. I have two sinks. Next to one is built in an open shelf, into which I set a plastic square food-service type bin. They're cheap, about $5 for the container and the same for the cover. They are, therefore, easy to replace for little money, but being plastic and a heavy duty good quality plastic at that, just don't need replacing. I think I have replaced them once in a couple years? Or maybe I just thought about it ... I do find that the opaque and not clear bins are better. Having an open shelf for the bucket makes it easy to just stuff the container in there off the counter when I am overtaken with a rare fit of cleanliness. I usually grab it back out within 5 minutes, but it's easy when the shelf is open like that. I have three bins total, a 4qt one and 2 2qt ones. The 2 qt ones fit, end to end, in the space as pictured on pinterest. It's the top of a totally groovy, very expensive rev-a-shelf double bin trash pullout. The cans are stainless steel and hence worth their weight in gold, evidently. The small sizes work great for me, I think the small container is 10L and the larger is 20L. Here's the piece. On top of that plastic shelf you can make out above the section the bins pull out of, is where I set the two smaller food service bins. Wow, Look at all the products this company has. The bins are called Camsquares, but any food service store will carry them for cheap. My cabinet is taller than the pull out bins need so as to leave space up top on that plastic shelves to set the compost. Those go at the food cleanup sink, the larger bucket at the prep sink. I prefer smaller bins for all of the above and just to take it out more often. Smell is *never* a problem unless I forget that third container back there! Which is just as well, how else would you know there had been an oversight? Do search the archives on GW on this topic. The subject has been explored for years. Some folks have some pretty imaginative solutions, with drawers that have overlids, and inset circles into the counters, etc. For the long haul, I recommend simple=good. Grunge happens and builds up and I think it's better to have cheap, easy, replaceable with time. I scrub my bins every time they come back from a compost dump but still, eventually they get a little grubby. I have nothing invested in plastic tubs, so that's easy to just change out.

It's been a few years, but I seem to recall an example of a recycled glass counter material of some type at a big box store in our area. You might want to just call the biggies and ask. We seriously considered Enviroglas but went with stone.

I also have ECO by Cosentino in my kitchen, from 2017. I was impressed by their claims that it needs no maintenance (sealing or other) and now I have severe dark staining around the kitchen faucet (possibly due to our hard water), and no idea how to clean it, as their recommendations are to avoid all caustic or abrasive cleaning products. (Might have to experiment, since it's hard to imagine anything will make it WORSE.) (Btw, this replaced a Corian countertop & built-in sink that had a HUGE CRACK running through it, so yeah, no complaints about glass pop-outs or staining, but...) I have Vetrazzo (also recycled glass) in the bathroom, and even though they say to re-seal it, I never have and it looks great 12 years later. I don't know how it would hold up to coffee, red wine, or soy sauce spills, but at least it hasn't had a problem with water! The bad news is that Vetrazzo was bought by Polycor, which has really under-promoted it, and now it's very hard to find. I managed to get a Vetrazzo fireplace mantel in 2017 from a fabricator who had a remnant, but now neither they nor the fabricator who did my bathroom still carry Vetrazzo. I have also had Icestone in another bathroom since 2017 (I guess I am inadvertently testing all the recycled glass countertop materials) and it has also held up well. No water stains. Of the 3, Vetrazzo is my favorite because of the look (the glass bits are bigger than Icestone and just beautiful, IMHO), but I would also go with Icestone again. Don't buy ECO if you're going to have water.