Choosing your countertop material is possibly the most important decision you will make among the multitude you will make when you remodel your kitchen. You will look at your new countertop more than any other part of your kitchen.
It is the face of your new kitchen and also the foundation upon which most of your daily meal preparation will be done, taking more wear and abuse than any other part of your kitchen. You should carefully consider your countertop options with respect to durability, appearance, ease of maintenance, and resale value.
For durability, nothing beats stone as a countertop material. You can see some of the options on the Cabinet Discounters website. Although nothing is indestructible , both engineered quartz surfaces and natural granite will take a great deal of punishment. Using these surfaces to cut upon occasionally will not usually leave marks, but why tempt fate – use a cutting board.
This protects the surface of your countertop and also saves the edges on your knives. The occasional hot pot will have little effect although exposure to extreme heat can destroy the sealer in natural granite and sometimes discolor the binding agent in the engineered quartz material.
With respect to appearance, granite has a stark natural beauty but quartz is available in a variety of color schemes unless you prefer a particular color scheme. Both materials offer many edge profiles to provide both function and beauty and the finishes can range from shiny and reflective to soft and dull or even rough.
Although visible seams were once a major complaint about granite and quartz countertops in the past, modern technology has improved to such an extent that seams in granite and quartz surfaces are now hardly noticeable. Both granite and quartz require very little maintenance but quartz is slightly easier to clean being non-porous.
For resale value of your home, you can’t beat the investment made in granite or quartz countertops. They are certainly the most popular materials and can really make a huge contribution to the appearance of your kitchen. But which one is better? It really comes down to your taste and preference.
Quartz has a slight edge in maintenance, but granite is usually preferred for its natural beauty and because it is natural it can be considered to be a “green” product. However, as the old saying goes: “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and since you will be the one looking at it most of the time, go with what appeals to your eye.
Cabinet Discounters is a partner of Creative In Counters, one of the area’s largest manufacturers of custom kitchen countertops. Our countertop manufacturing facility is located in Mount Airy, Maryland.
We carry one of the largest selections of manufactured and stone countertop products to help you choose the look that is right for your kitchen. Together with Creative In Counters, we offer a wide range of products and styles for customers in the Baltimore-Washington metro area and the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
For more countertop information, see the Cabinet Discounters website. For phone numbers and locations, click here.