You ask a lot of thoughtful questions that I'm sure people will have fun digging into. I have one theory that a material loses its popularity when we find out how hard it is to maintain it. I remember when a tiled countertop was new and upscale. Then people realized how hard it was to keep the grout clean. Then granite came along. My sister put in a black granite a few years ago. She was dismayed to find out that wiping it with a sponge leaves streaks, so now she has to get out a cleaning product to clean her miles of countertop. I wonder if that is part of the decline in popularity of some of the black granites.

It will become dated because the kitchen industry wants the followers to buy new stuff. How else will they get people to spend 10s of thousands to update their kitchens? I had no problem with laminate. I like my new granite and don't give a rip what anyone else thinks. I would have kept the formica, but couldn't because I was moving some cabinets. I hate stainless steel everything & still love 80's oak. etc. I dislike dark cabinets & white cabinets, but that's just me! What you pick will only become "dated" if you care what others think.

Even the "classic" little black dress becomes "dated" due to it's material, or cut, or hem length.

Pick something that works with the bones of the home. I'll repeat for emphasis. Pick something that works with the bones of the home.

And that goes for cabinets to counters. If you have a cute little Spanish style bungalow, then something simple in a plain white, or a natural almost rustic wood together with Talavera tile counters (with epoxy grout) would have looked good in 1930 when the house was built, or today, 80 years later. A MCM moderne home with slab wood cabinets and a non-stone look laminate with aluminum edging isn't "datable" as to whether it's "original", "retro", or "hipster current".

If that little black dress flatters your figure, and you look good in it, that's what people will notice. Not the fact that it's a polyester crepe de chine from 1980.

Absolute Black, or Blue Pearl, or Luna Pearl granite will never be "dated" as they aren't "popular", but they won't be "in". Don't confuse the two concepts. But, if they don't look "right" in your space, it won't matter if they are "classic": or not.

Everything will become dated. Some things will rise again in popularity, but there are no "things" that do not become dated. Clothing styles change, auto design changes, decor changes. Heck, my Cuisinart pots and pans from the early 90's look dated.

In the 80's I saw tons of black/white/grey granite. It was granite, but you don't see much of it now. Metal finish colors go in and out and new ones have been introduced. I grew up in a home with wood floors and we covered them in carpet.

Interest in various home styles change over time. Drive through a city like Irvine, CA which started building in the late 60's and its easy to tell where the building began and where the newer homes are. Even with the vintage homes I prefer, they go in and out of fashion. I remember when they were selling them for a dollar in Sacramento to revitalize parts of the city.

That being said, some things will cycle longer than others. A the end of the day, choose something that fits with your home, your budget and your taste.

My previous job (recently laid off) was to review house inspections for insurance companies. Got to see a lot of kitchens.

Guess what? the majority of kitchen in the US have laminate counters. Yes, some have granite. If I have to say what granite I saw the most of.... probably VG or GO.

MOST kitchens are not like the kitchens on gardenweb or in the magazines. When I hear granite is dated I laugh because so few people actually have granite. Granite is now just becoming a serious option in my area.

Get what YOU want. Don't design a kitchen for someone else.

I am a fabricator.

My shop specializes in upscale homes and the vast majority of those are using a LOT of natural stone. A polished surface is still the majority by far but honed or honed with a texture (antiqued) are seen more often and the slab suppliers are still developing alternate finishes. A new finish I saw recently had a textured surface with only the high spots polished. Was very attractive. Polished remains the most durable and easiest to clean. We rarely do the kitchen in a high end home in quartz.

Rather than becoming dated natural stone seems to be getting used in even more areas. Granite outdoor grills are a big thing now and we are just starting to see stone stair treads and moldings which are common in Europe. I believe this is because of the inherent beauty and durability of stone and also because the cost for stone has dropped a lot due to advances in manufacturing technologies. (we recently rebid a job we did in 2005 due to water damage and todays price was $600 less than in 2005.)

Quartz is most likely to demonstrate the typical product life cycle of a manufactured product. It will gradually lose it's panache as consumers become more educated and the quartz surfaces become more common with lower priced brands becoming available. Quartz manufacturers are countering this effect with continued product development and new "colors" which mimic popular natural stone colors including some modest movement.

In my experience it has already lost much of its appeal as the consumer discovers it's actually MORE expensive than a lot of natural stones.

Given all that you should still pick what YOU want. If you are considering resale in the not too distant future then a more mundane color (limited variation or movement) that matches "the bones of the house" is the safest bet in either quartz or stone.

I think the fear of "dated" is simply because granite was once a luxury, and as it's become pretty much standard in a remodel - at least it has in my area - it no longer stands out as high end by itself. To LWO's point, as long as it looks good in your home I think you're safe. I'm not worried about it.

Now SS, that's just impractical and having lived with it for a few weeks I hate it every bit as much as I expected. I'm surprised it has kept its popularity as long as it has, but I put it in because I read enough real estate ads to know it's desirable to many in my market. And I'm looking to sell in the near future. My next home will have a minimum of it.

Like Springer, I like what I like. Our update will be medium oak cabinets and I'm leaning toward the Emerald Pearl granite, which is dark.

At my age, come to think of it, I'm pretty "dated" too!

"Dated" is simply marketing-speak for "too many of the hoi polloi have X now, and we need to move to something more rarified/expensive/hard to get/difficult to maintain".

Now that granite is available at big box stores, I imagine its day in the world of cutting-edge kitchens has already passed -- largely replaced with marble, if the high-end shelter mags are predictive. Marble is insanely difficult to keep pristine in the way an American housewife expects to keep it, thus requiring all sorts of petrochemical sealers and poultices; aka, time, effort and money.

So if trends and 'datedness' are a factor, go with some highly expensive color/type of stone (I think they're often called "exotics") that is more rare than the basic colors and patterns.

But 'dated' has absolutely nothing to do with a stone's usefulness in the intended application of countertops. If you love the material, use it! But do be aware of Rosie's point about sealers and try to find a stone that doesn't require the application of plastics/resins to make it suitable for food use. In an increasingly eco-conscious world, I also suspect that if anything dooms many granites in the kitchen, it will be this aspect.

And heed Livewireoak's wise words about fitting the material to the bones of the house for the longest-wearing sense of both style and aptness!

(For those of us who don't like granite in the kitchen, the color isn't important, much as someone who hates Formica really doesn't care if it's green, blue, white or marbled.)

I don't believe in the concept of "dated" as a bad thing (everything is dated the minute you put it in, meaning in a decade or two people are almost certainly going to be able to tell when it was installed, unless you went out of your way to buy vintage). But there is reasonable dated (like marble tile) vs what-were-they-thinking dated (mauve Corian). And of course the ridiculous-dated becomes cool retro to the next generation; my mom doesn't see the appeal of MCM at ALL, and my kids will probably think mauve and dusty blue and swag valances are just great. (So all y'all with mauve Corian, just hang on another 15 years or so.)

BUT back to the question: I think natural materials in more or less their natural state are less likely to look silly down the road than anything manufactured. And I also think that some people started to pooh-pooh granite a little bit once it started showing up in (heaven forfend) "builder-grade" houses.

...Which leads me to wonder if mauve swag valances will reappear in the >$1mil market first... lol... since the high end has to be different and cutting edge and all that.

My mom had Blue Pearl, and had a large coffee table made with it, and metal base. After she died, everyone wanted that table. It cost $600 to ship to my sister. So, no, I don't think blue pearl goes out of style. I had alsolute black with oak cabinets in last house, with reddish Mexican tiled floor. It fit that house.

My favorites would be natural cherry cabs, but all my floors honey maple (7" slabs), family room all pine and DR natural oak. So, I chose maple with a light quartzite countertop, Van Gogh

What difference does it make if it's dated ???

By the time it happens, everything else in your kitchen will be at the end of its life cycle and need replacing too.

Let's say it doesn't need replacing. What are the chances that the next person to live in your house actually loves everything in your current kitchen and won't want to replace anything ? Slim to None.

SO, don't sweat it Marvin.

I agree. Dated or not, the next guy is going to want something else anyway. Being horribly dated or inappropriate could actually justify their ripping it out, lol. A plus!

IMHO, ubatuba is dated because 1. it became too popular, and 2. it was ugly to begin with.

I don't think a lot of the unique granite with movement will become dated...I don't see an issue with them and I see them as somewhat classic. It's the cheaper granite without any movement that will become dated, if you ask me. It was ugly to begin with, and will be ugly in 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, etc.

Now, what I really think will become dated? QUARTZ. The Corian of the 2010's.

Granite is not difficult to maintain or keep clean, I keep wondering who those people that say it is are.

No, granite isn't dated.

Like stainless steel, it's the new standard -- or maybe it's correct to say that it's the new goal -- it's affordable enough that people in the upper middle class can afford it (some easily, others with a bit of saving or financing), and they're probably the group who does the most custom-built houses and remodelings. But granite is still expensive enough that -- as another poster commented -- not everyone has it, even if it seems so on these boards; that is, it's still an aspirational item for the majority of Americans.

Other materials may be more "cutting edge", but that doesn't mean granite is "out" or "dated".

And throw this in: No new material has come along that's overshadowed granite. Quartz never took hold the way granite did. Marble is popular, but I don't see it having granite's staying power. (Personally, I hate all marble in all applications.)

How to choose something that won't look so last year? My thoughts:

- Stick to something in the tan family with little movement; that seems to be "safest", and it looks good with white cabinets and most wooden cabinets.
- It's not so much the granite as the other parts of the kitchen. With new curtains or painted cabinets, your granite will still be the granite.
- Choose what you like. Someone will like it regardless, and someone else will dislike it regardless. But YOU have to live with it.

We remodeled our kitchen 9 years ago and wanted white cabinets with honed Absolute Black counters. We were talked out of the honed Absolute black by the granite guy and talked into Uba Tuba. I pretty much was indifferent to it from the day it was installed. Today, I think it looks dated and I really dislike it but I never really liked it anyway! We are updating the kitchen again and this time, I am going for what I want, and will not be talked out of it by anyone. It was a hard lesson learned. Go with what you love and you won't be disappointed.

I actually don't know that a lot of people pay attention to what the granite even looks like, to a large extent.

Where my sister lives, laminate is still pretty standard in the price point she was looking at, and the house she bought had granite in the kitchen, and that was one of the selling points, because it was more durable than laminate (in the way that she uses a kitchen). I don't know that she could pick it out from a line-up of dark granites. Lots of houses are sold here that are new construction and whatever the granite is (and it usually is granite except in high end contemporaries), the homeowner didn't pick it. I suppose some people would pass on a new house or rehab because they didn't like the granite, but I think most people play with the hand they are dealt when it comes to details like that.

may_flowers- do you know which of the black granites have declined in popularity? I was thinking of getting black granite, but I don't want to make the mistake of getting one that's already dated.

1929Spanish- For those 80's black/white/grey granite, what was the difference between those and the blacks/white/grey granite today because those colored granites seem popular right now? I was hoping that black granite with white cabinets would be a classic color combination and thus not get dated, but then what was wrong with that 80s black granite?

This kitchen remodel is about preparing it for resale, although not right now and probably in maybe three to five years. Yes, I understand that things will look dated anyways in 20 years, but that house will have been sold long before that.

So, I'm just trying to avoid the granites that are already considered dated or that will be considered in the near future.

My car just turned 10 years old. I still love it and hope it keeps running for the next 10 years. I'm not one of those people who needs a new car just to have a new car. I think my car is cute and suits me (Honda CRV for those keeping score).

Since redoing my kitchen and yet STILL hanging out here :) I tend to notice kitchen elements a lot more than I ever did. I do look at counters in homes I visit. I see granites than look tan with speckles, like some builder just installed what he had. They don't necessarily look dated, just not given any thought at all (except maybe price).

In some other thread someone's asking about Uba Tuba. It's supposed to be a "dated" granite. Yet photos are shown of nice kitchens with YT and the counters look great. So yes, you can have something that the design mavens have decreed as "dated," yet it's more right for the kitchen than something that's all trendy and groovy.

Marvin, your kitchen WILL be looking dated in 5 years. The pace of social/economic obsolescence has picked up. The "cycles" are much shorter than they used to be and, thanks to the information age, much more inexorable. Even people who're not sure if they've ever seen Uba Tuba or what color it is have been "educated" to know they don't want that tacky old stuff.

As evidenced by your wishing to know which NAMES of various black stones, each scarcely distinguishable from one another, are more out than others.

Important to understand is that whatever people are liking now WILL be out of style. It has to be. By definition. All these "classic" white and black and white and gray and brown and brown kitchens so hopefully put together will be attacked by the design industry. "All that dreary, dingy gray Carrera marble --we knew we had to get rid of that immediately."

Trying to keep fashion trends from costing you money on sale down the line is a losing game. You can remodel your kitchen right before you sell for maximum economic return, which will usually be a loss. Or you can remodel now to enjoy it for yourselves and resign yourself to the depreciation. Those years of enjoyment will cost you money. So, okay?

I'd suggest finding a balance between what you guys really like and minimizing depreciation by planning your kitchen so it should not repel the average buyer, even if it can't excite. USE fashion silliness to purchase gorgeous, high-quality materials at lower prices because they're heavily stocked.

And be aware that the biggest depreciation by far occurs from changes in architectural tastes and needs, in those things that are not economically feasible to change. For instance, maybe an innovative new 50" refrigerator-ovwn-printer every fine new kitchen has to have in 2018. Maybe it has to be vented, and that the sizes of all the good ones that do everything require people to remodel to fit them in probably isn't be entirely a coincidence...

This question, about dated vs timeless and trendy, comes up a lot on GW, in various forms and guises.

Here is my take.

Everything becomes dated, because companies need people to buy things and they will buy things more often if the industry keeps pushing something new and dissing the old. So, it is no accident, and it always happens. Worse yet, even if you TRY to avoid it, you can't because when you go to shop, even though it seems like the selection is so broad, sooner or later you realize that it is not so broad,and that at a point in time you can ONLY buy certain colors and styles.

The best ways to avoid doing something that later looks dated or "out", is to use things that are not broadly "in" to begin with, either because

1. They are one of a kind antiques
2. They are one of a kind handmade or custom
3. They are from somewhere outside the US
4. They are too expensive to be widely used

As for what is "in" or "out" right now, the place to start looking is in the ultra-high end. Trends start there (eg the Christopher Peacock kitchen) and trickle down to Home Depot. Nothing wrong with it, it's just a fact.

All that said, what is "in" at a point in time will also be a function of the neighborhood.

I am of two minds -- embrace the trends and try to do it cheap because the trends will change and you will want new. Or, totally eschew the trends and do something unique that is never "in" or "out".

Novice- Have you ever read Persuasion, by Jane Austen? If not, I think you will like it :)

Here's a link to what I remember from the time period. Scroll down until you see the photo that reads "a nice open kitchen with granite countertops".

Here is a link that might be useful: 1980's Granite

This has so much to do with the demographics of your area. My kitchen was done 7 years ago. It has mahogany cabinets and a green granite. It would still sell the house today. Buyers in my area are not TKO. They would not know that one granite is 'out" or not. I have only one friend who spent megabucks on a kitchen reno, and put in marble and walnut countertops with white cabinets. They are wealthier than the rest of the crowd.

When I just did a flip, I was advised against uba tuba by my young fabricators, and by the younger sales person at the granite yard. They thought it was dated. I do not think my buyers would think so. But we went with black pearl. There will be some buyers who do not like black. But you will find buyers who do. If you want a black granite that won't be dated in 5 years, I think the black pearl is the way to go. If all the elements go well together, it is not going to be dated in five years.

"If all the elements go well together, it is not going to be dated in five years. "

Exactly! But it also has to fit in the house it's in as well, in some manner. You can't have the perfect Christopher Peacock kitchen in a Frank Lloyd Wright house without it having a jarring effect on a visitor.

They have to be, if not "married", at least on speaking terms stylistically.

I thought this was an interesting article about kitchen trends to be wary of, especially the first part about which granites to avoid:

http://blog.purehome.com/2011/kitchen-trends-to-avoid-at-all-costs/

[QUOTE]The top five red-flag trends that you might want to avoid, or at the very least, really think through before taking the plunge:

1. âÂÂThis Is Good Enoughâ Trend.

Once youâÂÂve gotten what you think you want, stop and ask yourself, âÂÂIs that really what I wanted in the first place?â Using cheap, shiny granite as an example, consumers jump as soon as they hear the word âÂÂgraniteâ and then they jump higher when they spy a deal. Uba Tuba, Baltic Brown, and Santa Cecilia are some of the inexpensive speckled and spotty varieties that designer Paul Anater describes as loud and visually âÂÂughâÂÂ. Literally an eyesore, the glare from the shiny surface is disruptive and will get tiresome. âÂÂThe thrill of a cheap knock off,â he says, âÂÂis a recipe for âÂÂIâÂÂll hate this in three yearsâÂÂ.â When investing in the look of your home, Anater recommends going for an icon or an exact replica. He mostly specifies matte stone and believes the whole maintenance issue is overrated.[QUOTE]

But here's the thing. Paul is in my area and has even come to my house and designed my bathroom vanity 7 years ago. He loved my kitchen at that time. He most likely would not love my counters today, because they are typhoon green. I still like them a lot. I think the difference is that he is a professional designer and gets saturated. I'm just an individual consumer. Most people who are prospects to buy your house are not pros. In my neighborhood Uba Tuba and Santa Cecilia will still sell the house. But on the other hand, if I had an eye to sell in 5 years from now, to be safe, I would take his advice, because he is ahead of the curve for my area.

This was pretty much my point. People forget or ignore that a kitchen is a work space first.

âÂÂJust Because ItâÂÂs Prettyâ Trend. âÂÂFashion that runs counter to functionality is destined to a short life span,â says Tim Wetzel, an industrial designer with Rejuvenation Lighting. Case in point ��" the fancy chandelier. Though these unexpected luminaries may make a huge style statement and elicit praise from friends gathered round the island drinking wine, Wetzel says, âÂÂthey generally donâÂÂt provide the sort of light that is needed, and have lots of intricate detail that defies cleaning.â At the first glint of dust or layer of grime, the love affair will end. If you are not a clean freak and donâÂÂt have a weekly anal-retentive housekeeper, go for something with less surface area to maintain.

Interesting page! I think McMansions are "out", but large homes are still being built. They are just trending towards a more traditional style. Most new homes around here are trending that way. The whole neo-chateau French country style is getting to be a bit...gauche..

Btw, there is little empirical evidence to suggest young people are flocking to urban areas and staying there. There IS empirical evidence that they they are moving to suburbs jut as their parents once did.

an icon or an exact replica

Seriously? Two words that drive me nuts with their overuse are "icon" and "legendary." I don't even know what icon means in this context. I have happy memories of the kitchen I grew up in. I suppose I wouldn't mind an exact replica of that, but I'd have to piece it together from memory. Blue formica counters with metal edge.

Icon and legendary. LOL. Context is EVERYTHING. Plastic covered granite is legendary if that's what's being pushed, only apparently it's matte today instead.

Maybe a clue to what will endure LEAST is to listen for criticisms of a material when it is in style. They'll be relatively few, but it'd worth looking for the words of people whose taste one respected. Like covering fine stone with plastic, that had to be renewed no less. Some people were repelled by the dissonance and said so on these forums.

BTW, a warning on Mr. Anater's message, another little dissonance thing? He's enthusiastic about matte-surface stones these days, stone that looks like what it is, BUT " believes the whole maintenance issue is overrated." Big warning bells clanging in my ears there... I notice he didn't helpfully point anyone to a couple good stones he likes to use and am guessing a lot of the different stones being sold today with matte surfaces are going to be out, out, out..., or as he puts it, "ugh!"

BTW, I don't hate designers. I just bought another book on a very famous one, even though I have a bunch. What I hate the chasing of a shiny, greasy little soap bubble that results in fine furniture, cabinetry, finish materials, even whole houses, being sent to landfills in increasingly short cycles.

I like uba tuba and verde peacock and lots of other granite. I chose a serpentine marble because I loved it. I'm not going to worry about being dated. If we sell the house and the only impediment to a sale is the counters we can worry about it later. No matter what you chose, some people will like it and some not. I dislike the kitchens 2 of my good friends put in this year. One is contemporary and the other is traditional. They are both very functional, but I would never choose anything in either one including the appliances, but I would buy either house because they have so many other great features.

By saying to avoid Uba Tuba, Baltic Brown, and Santa Cecilia, Anater is crossing out a wide spectrum of colors of black/green, brown, and light/whitish that I would have thought would be safe, neutral colors.

Instead, it seems that he's focused more on whether or not a granite is speckly/spotty than the color itself.

But, what's wrong with speckly and spotty granites? I'm curious if the issue is really an aesthetic decision, or if its more of a snobbish economic issue.

If a granite is speckly or spotty, is it a inexpensive granite? Or, are there also expensive granites that are spotty and speckly?

If something is too cheap, then all the builder grade homes install that feature and it becomes too popular and common until there's a backlash against it.

Since matte or honed granites require that extra step and therefore cost more money, I can see it becoming the next logical choice for granite countertops when polished granite countertops are becoming common in homes.

QUOTE: "He mostly specifies matte stone and believes the whole maintenance issue is overrated."

Rofl. Easy for him to say. He's not the one maintaining it!

QUOTE: But, what's wrong with speckly and spotty granites? I'm curious if the issue is really an aesthetic decision, or if its more of a snobbish economic issue. If a granite is speckly or spotty, is it a inexpensive granite? Or, are there also expensive granites that are spotty and speckly?

Nothing. Snobbish economic issue. Possibly but not necessarily. Yes.

That said, you seem like the kind of guy who isn't quite sure what he likes and prefers a kitchen that the current designers would like. There's nothing wrong with that at all, a lot of people feel the same, it's just meant to be a dispassionate statement of fact. So I think you would be happiest choosing something matte and flowing, not speckled or spotted. In fact, you would probably be happiest working with a designer yourself -- have you considered that?

Good luck with your new kitchen.

I personally love Uba Tuba, and have it in my 6 year old kitchen. It goes with our kitchen, it goes with the house the way we envision it to look when we're done with this phase, and to me, it's easy care. Wipe with a wet paper towel, dry with a micro fiber towel. If spotted a little, use a little cleaner and then use the wet paper towel and the micro fiber towel. Easy! You do have to reseal it every few years.

Before this, I had a tile counter top. UGH. HARD to keep clean, especially the grout!

So I go along with those that say that the granite has to go with the rest of the house, not upstage it in any way.

Donna

Absolute black granite

When I started looking at granite slabs earlier this year, I fell in love with a beautiful slab that would have been perfect for the cabinet color I was looking at. Turns out this new-to-me granite was Peacock Verde - now often considered outdated and over done. My point is, unless you're in the market or currently doing renovations/rebuilds, the average person doesn't know what granite is outdated and overused.

I am a fabricator. I have been following this thread with interest and find it contains a lot of disinformation and skewed perspectives. Over half my business is high end homes where money is often not a consideration and interior designers are common. Natural stone is still the preferred material for the majority of the work we do even though we provide a wide variety of engineered surfaces includes the various quarts brands and the new materials like Dekton. The quartz products are rapidly losing the panache they enjoyed for years as the new alternative to natural stone. This change has been exacerbated by the emergence of discount brands and discounting among the big suppliers as they fight for market share.

Granite has changed in that "exotics" are much more prevalent and alternative finishes to the traditional polish are increasingly common. The buying public has also become more educated and recognizes the actual maintenance for natural stone is minimal unless the material is one of the alternates like marble or travertine which have inferior material properties.

My advice to my customers is always to pick the "look" they want and make sure they understand the material properties. Marble is extraordinarily beautiful but it is only a little harder than jello, wicks up liquids like a sponge, and dissolves readily in common organic acids like acetic acid.

There are many great thoughts in theses comments. I am also late to the party. I found this searching "Will the world run out of blue pearl granite". I have worked for builders in a model home for years. In that time I have found they provide Uba Tuba as a standard feature going all the way back to early 2002ish. When I walk into a house with it I admit I hate it due to overuse. That may not be fair to the stone, however I also noticed the edges also make a huge difference. With a 1/4 round over I think it looks cheap. With a small ogee edge Uba Tuba can look very different. When I was able to pick colors for spec homes, I had great success with Blue Pearl with a small ogee edge in the kitchen, and then did all the baths in a light tan Corian with a white integrated bowl. I have watched the same homes resell at a premium multiple times with the same combination. I just redid my own kitchen in my latest project and let my partner pick the color. (Instead of blue pearl again) I ended up with a Juperana Persia with a 1/8 edge smoothed.and it looks great. Just a sidenote on the Juperana. I paid an extra $200 to pick my piece and request cuts for each area. I have seen some really orange Juperana where the homeowner was not happy. So pick your stone, quartz, marble or Silestone and love what you get for you. :)

It has been fun to read these comments only a day after purchasing a vanity on here with Sant Cecilia granite for my powder room because the color will work with my newe flooring.. My sister in law spent $50K on cabinets with countertops in Uba Tuba about 5 years ago. Those who are jumping on the black countertop bandwagon, know that it will show dust all the time and drive you crazy. I just buy what I like and have a lot of antiques and one of a kind items and don't really care what others think. I am the one living in my house and I don't intend to be wasteful and redo everything every 5 to 10 years. I still have grandmother's mahogany furniture from the 1940's. When I do tire of something I give it to someone who will appreciate it and keep it, not put it in the landfill. Worst case it goes to an auction, charity or Goodwill. Quit encouraging wasting. New doesn't mean better. I was in sales and marketing most of my career so I know how it works.

Just saying that I really love this thread, and especially since it is several years old. It is even more interesting to me.

Everything I said three years ago is still accurate but there are a few new wrinkles. Quartzite, which is a VERY hard stone and quite beautiful, is becoming increasingly popular. However, the reputation of the stone is damaged by marbles which have a similar look that are also sold as "soft quartzite." if it's soft it's not quartzite. As before the engineered stone products ("quartz") are declining in popularity as the general public becomes more educated and less influenced by the marketing hype. Sintered material like Dekton and the recent availability of porcelain slabs have given the consumer more choices with substantially different material properties but those materials have made it even more important to pick the correct fabricator as fabricating those materials involves a steep learning curve. my 2 cents

Love to hear opinions on the newer Dekton and porcelain slabs. I have noticed that they are more and more types available and some companies have come out with thicker options and even full bodied veining. They look so much like the real stone but I guess they will ultimately become dated . We are seriously considering the porcelain slab counters in our kitchen with the marble look. Seems that you can have the marble without the headaches. However that being said I wonder from those that have used it if it has a cold modern feel when installed versus the natural warmth stone counters convey.