soapstone.

Congrats on the new house - exciting!

Not to sound snooty, but your best bet is to school yourself on countertops. There are lots of choices, but it comes down to your own preference for looks, price, and durability. Your best bet is to wrap your head around the options and then it will become clearer for you. There are hundreds of threads with countertop questions here and you'll find lots of wisdom and ideas. Reading these will be time very well spent!

I suggest going to the stone yards and seeing the slabs in person. Find something you love and that fits your vision. Once you have 2-4 that you like then you can focus on the details like type, price, pros and cons..

Thanks, been doing some reading here and there. More choices in counter tops than Baskin Robbins Ice Cream!

Also keep in mind the variations within categories. Some categories vary enormously. For example, Cpartist suggested soapstone above. There are softer soapstones that chip easily but have a heavenly feel; there are harder soapstones that do not chip as easily, but you have to scout them out. Some soapstones have a lot of veining, some do not. Some have a greenish tone that some love and others don't, and so on.

Granites are even more varied. There are some that can take anything without staining, etching or chipping. Some granites need annual sealing because they stain more easily. Some granites are very absorptive and stain and etch almost as easily as marble. So you can't just say "I want granite counters". There are hundreds (maybe thousands). You need to be more specific.

The manmade counters are more consistent, but some people only want a natural stone for a counter.

A visit to both a good stoneyard and to a showroom with a selection of manmade counters will be helpful to see what you'd prefer. From there you can narrow down more, but start from that.

Regardless of all that, at this stage, with your architect and potential bidders, you don't need to name your counters. You should be concentrating on layout. BTW, even the best, most well-intentioned architects are poor at kitchen design and kitchen layout. Post your architect's kitchen design on this forum before committing to anything.

What do you want? What's your vision? Do you have any inspirational photos?

I would think about how I want the rooms to look, then decide on what materials are suitable and affordable.

Also, I don't think you need to stick with the choices you make for bidding purposes, as long as everyone is bidding apples to apples, you can adjust up or down once work commences.

I say this because you seem to not have plumbed the depths of counter choices, and there's a lot to learn about these things that will bring beauty and priceless value to your daily lives.

I wouldn't bid the job to three contractors. I'd vet three, speak with them, and make a choice on reputation and fit.

Silestone. We love it with no maintenance.

I found Silestone as well. Looks like nice material. I have vetted 2 contractors and 2 more 2 go. All 4 have excellent reputations and build quality. I am thinking they'll all be within 10% to 15% which, on a $300K plus house is significant.

I would warn you about the single color ones. That is what we selected and they tend to show everything. More movement would be easier.

Joseph Cornett, no offense but that seems ridiculous given the variation in pricing. Two contractors can be just as good but vary by 50% depending on how busy they are and many other factors. When I moved into my current house, the contractor that had done the kitchen in my prior place gave a bid that was significantly more than another contractor for some work we wanted done. I was very happy with his work previously but went with a different highly recommended contractor with the lower price. I was just as happy as I would have been with the other guy.

I agree that getting multiple bids is entirely reasonable. When we redid our back bathroom, our bids ranged from around $25,000 to around $70,000. The $70,000 guy seemed very nice, spent a ton of time preparing a bid (even did a 3D visualization of the plan I had given him), had good references, etc.. But that price was just unreasonable given the going rate for the job (the next highest bid was $30,000) and for the value the project would add to the house. No way would we have proceeded with the project at that price.

( The GC we chose did excellent work and we hired him to come back and do our kitchen and hall bathroom. )

You would have left a ton of cash on the table!

Suggestions:

- Go to Lowes, Home Depot or another place that sells countertops and cabinetry and look at the choices. You'll get a general idea of the FINISHED PRODUCT in a way that you don't really get from looking at big, uncut stones. Hopefully you'll come away saying, I like dark granite ... or whatever.

- Granite, soapstone, marble and quartz are the big boys on the block right now, but keep your mind open to other options. Butcher block and recycled glass, for example, are great -- but they don't get much screen time here.

- You say you want to stick with something mid-priced. Remember that most of these options come in a variety of prices (especially granite). Low-end granite will give you the same "food safe, heat resistant, stain resistant" finish as high end.

- Remember that stone is sold by the square foot, not the linear foot. So a $40 granite on a typical 24" deep cabinet would end up costing $80 per linear foot -- no accident that they write it down that way.

- If you go with a stone, remember that some edge treatments cost more than others.

- Remember to include the cost of installation in your budget.

- Finally, I see no reason why you must use the same materials in the kitchen and bathrooms. And don't forget the laundry room.

Pensecola PI:

A top fabricator who does multiple surfaces is more likely to give you more accurate information. It doesn't matter to them what you chose as long as you chose them to do it. Exclusive stone shops want to sell stone and engage in "overselling" often.

Asking which top is best is like asking which vehicle is best. It depends on your lifestyle and preferences. There are lots of trade-offs.