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I think this granite thing is going to blow over pretty quickly. First of all, it is only high end granite that is "dangerous" and even that I question. Our concrete flooring in our basement prob. puts out the same levels of radon!
We are seriously looking at putting in a granite tile countertop. I really don't care what everyone says about it, we had tile in California for 20 years and never had any issues with grout. DH could put it in himself, saving us labor costs, and it would still look far better than laminate. Granite tile is $10-$20 per sq. ft. Solid slab granite starts at $45 sq. ft.
BTW: Dh is a perfectionist and redid all of our fixers.....so I am not worried that it will look anything but great.
Quartz was rated best over granite and corain by consumer reports test. Both granire and corian stain .I hated my corian when I has it. Like my granite better but would probably go with qurtz no0w;too bad it wasn't aviolable then. I have seen it it is very nice especailly with some o0f the enging I've seen.
Quartz = Engineered quartz (quartz plus some kind of binding resin which allows it to be shaped into slabs) = trade names: Silestone, Cambria, Zodiac.
Although I like the "look" of Cambria slightly better (the material seems to have more visual depth), absolutely NONE of their current colors appeal to me. Silestone has several colors that I like, and one new one that I love (Olive Green which despite its name is a lovely sage green). One upside to Cambria/downside to Silestone is that Cambria's price per square foot includes all cutouts and any edge style you want; but Silestone charges extra for any but the basic edges, and also charges extra per cutout for sink, faucetry, etc. So Cambria can often come out to be cheaper in the end..... but that's no help if you can't find a color you like in it!
We went with Cambrias "quarry" series a few years ago and couldn't be happier. This one we chose is called Ashford. Looks as good today as it did the day they put it in...and I think they do have some pretty neutral selections so we had no problem finding a color we liked.
I don't like either laminate or corian. I have corian now and it scratches and stains. I hate it. I hate my under mount sink and my single faucet. A lot of these "in" things are truly a PITA to clean. I want simple and easy to maintain.
There is some nice laminate out there but the nicer laminate is costly and it scratches, stains, and burns. I also hate any seams in a counter top.
The natural stones that I have heard of scratch, stain, you can't put hot pots on them, and they are way too expensive. I want easy maintenance and I think if most people thought about it they would also.
IMO, that leaves only one choice and that is tile. Porcelain or ceramic with close grout lines and sealed. That is probably the most indestructible and the easiest to maintain. I would also stay away from Travertine or anything porous. I don't think that can be sterile even though people like it.
I know this is long but I am a common sense person and I never follow trends. But if I only had your 2 choices I would have to pick corian(no seams).
I am in a new home and have Corian countertops with the integrated sink for the first time in my life. I just love it and am SO glad I didn't opt for the granite upgrade. I'm surprised it scratches like it does, though. Love it anyway.
I have granite because it was here when we bought the house and I do enjoy it. However, when we build our next house, I'm going to look at other things, I like older looking materials such as soapstone. I really like the idea of mixing materials. I know that I'm going to have a marble baking station.
I will say that Corian does have the advantage of being sanded. As others have said, Corian scratches, but you can have your fabricator come in and sand it to get rid of the scratches. It basically looks brand new, from my understanding.
I have silestone and love it and I also love my undermount sink! IMO formica is tacky looking, so if it is between that and Corian, I would go with Corian.
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The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~Henry David Thoreau
Back to soapstone...what's the general opinion about this? I'm liking what I'm reading...ages naturally and with the help of a little mineral spirits, more nonporous...but it seems it would scratch easily to me? Love the look, though.
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