Marble, Granite, Quartz or Porcelain Counters?
You love the backsplash tile and flooring that your designer has helped select for your kitchen. It goes perfectly with the stained wood cabinets and the pendant light fixtures are exquisite! Now you need to decide the type of material to use for the counter tops. What difference does it make?
Marble is luxury and that’s what you want for your kitchen!
Woah! Hold your horses! Yes, marble is beautiful and it is the Tesla of countertops. However, you need to make sure that you understand the
pros and cons of each countertop material before you drop thousands of dollars on a slab of counter.
Marble
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE marble. Day 1 this counter will look gorgeous, but it’s pretty much like a high maintenance girlfriend that you need to be prepared to pamper. Marble has to be treated with a lot of care and must be sealed several times a year, especially if you are an avid chef or baker. If you use oils, juices or wines, it has a chance of soaking into the pervious natural mineral and staining. It is also susceptible to scratching since it is a soft mineral.
Now for some positives! Marble is easy to clean with soap and water and has a high heat resistance for hot pans. And above all…. it’s gorgeous!
Granite
These slabs of natural mineral are harder and more heat resistant for hot pans than marble. But just like marble, granite is a pervious natural mineral and requires sealing annually to protect it from oils, juices and wines to keep it from staining. Granite is also a very busy looking mineral, so there is typically a lot of movement in the slab. We recommend choosing the slabs you want to use from the slab yard to make sure that the variations are to your liking.
Quartz
These types of countertops are engineered stone that is formed into shapes. It uses ground up quartz and resins heated together to product a material that is highly durable, never needs to be sealed, easy to clean and has a high temperature resistance. For quartz, oils, juices and wines have no affect because it is a non-porous engineered product. The technology for the printing of the pattern for quartz products has come a long way, just like your cell phone. The patterns now look extremely similar to marble and granite.
Porcelain
Porcelain counters are another type of engineered stone that mimics marble without any of the high maintenance issues. This product is gaining in popularity for use in both residential and commercial due to its extremely high durability, heat resistance and ease of care. The thickness of the slabs is also thinner compared to marble, granite or quartz. I have personally tested the durability of a porcelain counter for a client while hitting it with a beer mug to see if it would chip or crack…let’s just say that I need a new beer mug. One thing to note is that porcelain counters will be just as expensive as granite or marble and the edges are very hard to polish. Expect that the labor to fabricate these counters will be higher than usual.
