Granite or Quartz (Dupont, Wilson: countertops, tile, maintenance)

[maplelady]

What is the currrent trend in Cincy.

Eight years after I renoed a 7 year old house, and put inn Quartz, now people are understanding why.

Much more sanitary, just a more stable product. I love the colour "Magellan " which is a sea foam green.

I see on HGTV , more often quartz or another engineered stone is being used.

What do you say, Cincy ?

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by maplelady

What is the currrent trend in Cincy.

Eight years after I renoed a 7 year old house, and put inn Quartz, now people are understanding why.

Much more sanitary, just a more stable product. I love the colour "Magellan " which is a sea foam green.

I see on HGTV , more often quartz or another engineered stone is being used.

What do you say, Cincy ?

Granite to me is too porous. You have to be careful of what you spill on it, or the porosity will soak in a stain very difficult to get out. It is somewhat like natural marble in that regard. Don't really have any experience with quartz. Though it is an abundant mineral, was not aware it was readily available in sheets suitable for countertops, etc.

I replaced some bathroom lavatory fixtures with man-made cultured marble and have been very happy with them. They have held up very well, retained their shine, and not adsorbed stains.

I wish when I redid my one bathroom instead of re-walling it in ceramic tile I should have used cultured marble panels. It was available with a quarter round molding which was set in a liquid resin of the same material. Once set it looked like solid material. No more grout line cracks, it is worry free. I prefer the engineered stone over the natural as it is less porous.

[maplelady]

Me too. I loathe tile and grout anywhere.

[rrtechno]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

Granite to me is too porous. You have to be careful of what you spill on it, or the porosity will soak in a stain very difficult to get out. It is somewhat like natural marble in that regard. Don't really have any experience with quartz. Though it is an abundant mineral, was not aware it was readily available in sheets suitable for countertops, etc.

I replaced some bathroom lavatory fixtures with man-made cultured marble and have been very happy with them. They have held up very well, retained their shine, and not adsorbed stains.

I wish when I redid my one bathroom instead of re-walling it in ceramic tile I should have used cultured marble panels. It was available with a quarter round molding which was set in a liquid resin of the same material. Once set it looked like solid material. No more grout line cracks, it is worry free. I prefer the engineered stone over the natural as it is less porous.

The quartz being discussed here is an engineered product, not in it's natural form. Particles of quartz and sometimes other minerals are mixed with resins and formed into sheets that are worked and polished into slabs suitable for use as countertops, etc. It is a very hard, non-porous material.

Here is a link to one manufacturers website.

Quartz Countertops | Stone Surfaces for the Kitchen, Bath & more | Cambria

This manufacturer, by the way is an American owned company with it's facilities in the USA.

[progmac]

anything tile, blech, no thank you.

butcher block seems too high maintenance.

the various rocks seem pretty nice.

laminate....it is what it is and it's the only thing i've ever been able to afford

[rrtechno]

Originally Posted by progmac

anything tile, blech, no thank you.

butcher block seems too high maintenance.

the various rocks seem pretty nice.

laminate....it is what it is and it's the only thing i've ever been able to afford

And they can do some really nice things with laminates these days.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by rrtechno

And they can do some really nice things with laminates these days.

And yes I have laminates in my kitchen. They are definitely showing their age. But for a durability versus cost standpoint, I don't believe you can beat them.

[maplelady]

Yes the new laminates are amazing and they also score high on the sanitary scale.

Quartz is also made by Dupont, made in Mid Atlantic I think. They had the first patent but now there are many like Silestone, etc.

[maplelady]

The only issue with laminate is that it is hard to put in an integrates sink. I hate drop in sinks. There are also new glass based counter tops with integrated sinks , popular in bathrooms.

[rrtechno]

Originally Posted by maplelady

The only issue with laminate is that it is hard to put in an integrates sink. I hate drop in sinks. There are also new glass based counter tops with integrated sinks , popular in bathrooms.

Not as difficult as you think. We have been doing a lot of them lately.

Wilsonart Sinks for Your Kitchen or Bath Countertops

This is just one brand option.