Getting Overwhelmed Picking Out Countertops

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

DH and I are doing our kitchen. We are going to do our countertops, floor and backsplash. Right now we are trying to pick out the countertops. We decided we want granite.

Trying to find something is getting overwhelming. There are so many choices. It would almost be better if they would have 5 to choose from, take it or leave it. LOL Initially we started off at a place that had tiny samples. We quickly came to realize it is imperative you see the entire slab because some that looked gorgeous in the sample were hideous seeing the entire slab.

We had no idea the same design name could have different lot numbers resulting in very, very different color variations. Saturday we were looking for 4 hours at actual suppliers and we finally left feeling no farther ahead then when we started. The one place had room after room of slabs of granite then it was all over their entire parking lot.

I finally found exactly what I wanted, set up in a kitchen display only to find out that of course, it's discontinued. We have to go to their supplier and see if they have it. I told DH I think we need to go back to the 2 distributors we felt comfortable working with and felt they would do a good job installing and pick something. We are just confusing ourselves by continuing to look and it seems like everytime we look, we go in a different color direction.

After this we are picking flooring and the backsplash will be last and I think that's going to wait because I don't want to do this anymore. LOL This isn't fun to me, it's exhausting.

Q4u · ‎03-17-2010

We completely redid our kitchen in our last house and I understand what you're saying! We chose granite and I love it, and I have granite in our new house right now HOWEVER it require care. You have to "seal" it at least once a year (maybe two) but without sealing it, the cracks and crevices can absorb stains. It's a beautiful material and at the time (2008) there really wasn't an alternative that I liked as much.... ltoday I think there are and I might be tempted to go to a product that didn't require any care..... but it IS absolutely beautiful.

*~"Never eat more than you can lift......" Miss Piggy~*

Winkk · ‎03-15-2010

I hear ya! We are redoing our kitchen also with floors, counters, backsplash and cabinets. We see cabinets we like but it doesn't go with the countertops. Or, we see floors we like but they don't go with either the counters or cabinets.

This is hard.

Also, I think we want to do white especially with tile. We are finding out that white tile is the "in" thing now and the price for white is higher. I can't believe this.

Lorik62 · ‎03-14-2010

We are in the process of remodeling our kitchen as well. I don't like the thought of being under construction for weeks but I know I will love the final result. We have decided on quartz countertops instead of granite.

Q4u · ‎03-17-2010

.... and yes, you have to go to the quarry and see the exact slab of granite you want, otherwise you could be in for a not so nice surprise. Good luck, I know you'll just love it once you're done! I loved my kitchen, it was exactly what I wanted....

*~"Never eat more than you can lift......" Miss Piggy~*

Q4u · ‎03-17-2010

We also redid our floors (had ceramic tile) and decided to go with lamanite flooring that looked like old handcarved wood. My only complaint with lamanite is that I couldn't get that floor to shine for the life of me.... until I found a floor product called "REJUVINATE".... it really made a huge difference (QVC used to sell some of the products). We had nearly all the flooring downstairs in it, going from the front door down to the first hallway into a spare bedroom, bathroom, family room, dining room and kitchen and we had it cut diagonally which gave the illusion of not so much flooring and gave it added interest. It was more expensive to do but it was really worth it!

*~"Never eat more than you can lift......" Miss Piggy~*

ID2 · ‎06-25-2012

We built a new home 3 years ago and was deep into picking out everything! I knew I wanted a natural stone such as granite. I love how the pattern varies. I could have chosen quartz but it is far more expensive and I really didn't like how it was manufactured and way too "ordinary" looking. I thought I'd give quartz a try in my laundry room. Wow the quartz I picked out was for a very small counter and the price was ridiculously high. So I chose a piece of granite instead that was half the price. You don't have to go to a quarry, just find a local distributor that you can walk around in their warehouse at the full slabs. We chose our granite this way. Actually the slab we fell in love with was held for someone else. Our rep pulled up many other slabs on-line that were similar. We tagged ours and it was shipped to us in no time. If we didn't like it in person we weren't under any obligation to buy. Good luck in finding yours.

"Pure Michigan"

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

Initially I thought I wanted quartz countertops but I'm not loving any of the designs/colors we've seen in quartz.

I do know we will have to seal the granite every year but we have been told by everyone that sells it, plus people we know who have it, that it's a very easy process of just spraying and wiping on the sealer.

Saturday we met with a company who was super helpful and told us what to look for picking out slabs. Things we had never thought of. She told us the one thing we want to look for and avoid are fissures (sp?) in the slab. Those can cause some real problems in transporting the granite slab to the jobsite because some of the fissures are deep and they've had the granite crack in half. Those fissures are also obviously not smooth and things can get in them like crumbs. So we know we want a smooth slab.

About the only thing we have picked out is the sink, but not the color. We are definitely doing the Silgranit which is the granite composite sink. About the only thing I knew for sure is that I didn't want stainless steel.

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

@Lorik62 wrote:
We are in the process of remodeling our kitchen as well. I don't like the thought of being under construction for weeks but I know I will love the final result. We have decided on quartz countertops instead of granite.

Good luck. LOL We aren't redoing our cabinets and we don't need new appliances. We were told that it will take one day to rip out the current laminate countertops and put in the new and the sink. But then I think we have to wait a few days to use it. I'm not even sure about that.

A co-worker just did a total kitchen redo. They redesigned their entire kitchen and it was gutted. I think she was without a kitchen for a month but it is absolutely gorgeous.