Choosing a Countertop
For many homeowners, the countertop selection may be a challenge. There are a lot of options out there, and not much guidance on what works and what doesn’t. I wanted to walk through the options and go over a few pro’s and con’s, along with some pricing. One note on pricing is to be wary of the big box stores with really low numbers on the signs. Often times these numbers do not include finished edges or cutting holes for things like sinks. Once you factor in those additions, you are right back up at the square footage price of your local fabricator.
Quartz is probably the most common choice in kitchens these days. There are some good reasons for that. Quartz is durable, consistent, and cost effective for a solid surface top. As common as quartz tops are, some people don’t know what they are made of. What is commonly referred to as a “Quartz Countertop” is not a solid slab of quartz rock, but an engineered stone product made of ground stone and polymer resins. Common brands of quartz tops are Caesarstone, Cambria, and Silestone. Quartz is typically a little more cost effective than natural stone. Ranging from $75-$125/square foot all in.
There are a few benefits to quartz tops. One big one is that they don’t have to be sealed. Their construction of 5-10% resin means they are already sealed by there construction method. This makes them durable and more resistant to staining than some natural stone products. Other benefits of the quartz being manmade is that they are often more uniform in patterning. This can make it easier to match up tops without large noticeable differences. This uniformity and ability to be matched easily means that often times a client will not need to buy a whole slab of quartz. They can simply purchase the square footage they need for there project, and the rest of the slab can be used on another project as the pattern will match anyway. This can be a significant savings if a client has needs that are only slightly larger than a normal top material slab size.
Quartz is not without drawbacks though. Some of the resins may yellow or discolor with direct sunlight. We haven’t seen this too often, as the materials are improving, but it is a possibility to be aware of. One of the other potential drawbacks in kitchen use is that the resin binders can crack or discolor under high heat, so you should not place hot pots or pans directly on the top. The final potential drawback of quartz is related to one of their strengths. Quartz tops are manmade, and as such, the patterns tend to be consistent and simple. This means there is not typically a lot of character or uniqueness to the tops, and this may be an issue for some people.
Quartzite or Granite are natural stone choices that are also common. We certainly don’t see as much granite as we did 20 years ago, but it is around. Quartzite is common on higher end countertops. Unlike quartz, which is made in a factory, these tops are cut from natural rock that is mined out of the ground. This has some great benefits and some drawbacks as well. As far as pricing, Quartzite can tend to be higher than quartz, coming in at $90-$150/square foot. Granite is typically less, in the $60/square foot plus range.
I mentioned that these solid stone tops are cut from stone that is mined from the ground. Much of the granite and quartzite tops made in the US are stone that has come from quarries in Brazil. India is also a large supplier of granite top materials. Most US granite is the plain gray or pink that is typically used in building construction and paving material rather than countertops. There are some large domestic quartzite mines though. One thing worth noting on the natural stone is that the specific combination of minerals present in each location is what produces the unique coloring and patterns in the natural stone. That means that once the stone is gone from that mine, that particular pattern is not likely to be recreated somewhere else, so if you absolutely fall in love with a slab, you should reserve it right then!