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[skittles]

I think my opinions have basically been covered.

I had corian for years...it survived small children, art projects, easter egg dying! Cleaned up easily. Loved it! It did however get a few chips on the edges. Still a great buy.

We redid our kitchen 3 years ago and made choices that we liked, not what will sell (although it did turn out nice...we love it). We plan to enjoy our redo. We chose a granite (Cold Spring..gorgeous black & white) for the island and zodiac quartz (black) for the perimeter. Both products have held up well. You don't really have to baby either one of them. Yes, the granite needs to be sealed, but it's as easy as a spray and rub process...no big deal. You just don't want to leave anything that can stain on the counter overnight...but that's true with just about any countertop.

I second the comments about going straight to a stone yard and picking our your individual stone. Especially since it's a small area, you can probably get a remnant for cheaper. There are an overwhelming # of choices and it you go with natural stone, each piece is unique! Besides the color/look, you'll need to figure out what kind of edge you want...the fancier you get, the more expensive it is. Just something I didn't even look at when I was doing my research!

My suggestion is to figure out your budget and look at the options. When we redid the kitchen, some of the corian and other man-made products were as expensive as the granite. You can find lower/higher end prices for all of the different products. It goes back to what your budget can handle and what you will enjoy.

Hope you find something you love!!!

[PamelaSue72]

On 6/3/2014 haddon9 said:

On 6/3/2014 BLH said:

My sister got a granite countertop from Lowe's and she is very displeased with it. In some places it looks wet all the time. But that's what happens when you get granite, it is a natural product so you don't know what you're getting.

You do if you go out to see the slabs and select the one that will be installed in your home. That's what we did and very common to do when buying directly from a granite supplier.

We did that.....in fact, our granite supplier insisted that we go check out the slabs; they wouldn't do the work without us. We used two slabs for the three pieces we needed for our kitchen. Not only did we pick the slabs (and they put our name right on each slab we chose), but we also chose how those three pieces went on the slabs. We arranged the templates of our countertops on the granite slabs to see how we liked the appearance of each piece. There were no surprises; we knew exactly what we were getting and how it was going to look in the kitchen. Two of our slabs ended right in the middle of our sink and were joined together there; you wouldn't even know it unless I pointed it out. Those guys did a fantastic job with our countertops.

I don't know about Lowes, but you can do that with Home Depot, too, because we had talked with a guy from Home Depot and he told us the granite yard to go to look at the slabs. But in the end, we went with a local small-business granite company.

You need to do your homework.

[Sebastian]

Granite is beautiful, although a little visually busy in in my opinion. Ours have been extremely low maintenance, a true plus. However, my favorite counter surfaces are soapstone and zinc with cement a close second. Soapstone and zinc are for those, like me, who love patinas and imperfections. All complement a modern/contemporary home beautifully with just the right balance of juxtaposition.

[misspammie]

speaking of granite counter tops, glad to hear they can be cut on and adhere to extreme heat or cold. Of course, I couldn't trust that, so I got a granite chopping block on ebay and i LOVE it! Yep, sure can slice and chop on it. I really do love it, but the only thing is that once I cut, dice, and slice, it's QUITE difficult to schlurp the board over to the pan on the stove to dump the lovely chopped things into the pan. I'm dealing with it tho, cause I love the block so much. haven't read entire thread here, but what are the best suggestions for cleaning the granite counter? I have the 'all purpose' and don't trust that either. (I don't trust much, do I?) DID hear on hear a year or so ago to NEVER use Windex. glad I'd heard that, that's a go to for me. (Invisible Glass now). So far so good with my tops,,,only been 8 months, but have no complaints. I am a klutz, so I'm trying to be careful on dropping things on it, yoi, I've been known to drop things. So if 'my drop' hits the counter, it just bounces onto the ceramic tile floor!! thanks for any replies.

[casuallady]

LOVE my granite counter tops! We have had them about 4-5 yrs. I have a large counter, and for something I use and enjoy everyday it was well worth it. I would try to save for the farm type sink, I don't have one, but it makes the look.

[Allegheny]

There are various price levels of granite, if your neighbor is selling her home, she probably went with a lower priced granite. I like all the various materials mentioned, except tile which is what I replaced. I went with quartz (Cambria) because of the low maintenance. They are a very reputable company, our installers were very impressed with them.

Look at it all to get an idea what you like and the prices. You need a reputable installer who knows hows where to place the seams and how to do them properly. The seams in my quartz is virtually invisible, even I have trouble finding them.

If you're going with granite, you can even go to a stone yard and pick out your own slab. I am thinking this would be more costly however. A lot of stone yards have their own installers who are excellent at their craft.

[PamelaSue72]

On 6/3/2014 misspammie said:

speaking of granite counter tops, glad to hear they can be cut on and adhere to extreme heat or cold. Of course, I couldn't trust that, so I got a granite chopping block on ebay and i LOVE it! Yep, sure can slice and chop on it. I really do love it, but the only thing is that once I cut, dice, and slice, it's QUITE difficult to schlurp the board over to the pan on the stove to dump the lovely chopped things into the pan. I'm dealing with it tho, cause I love the block so much. haven't read entire thread here, but what are the best suggestions for cleaning the granite counter? I have the 'all purpose' and don't trust that either. (I don't trust much, do I?) DID hear on hear a year or so ago to NEVER use Windex. glad I'd heard that, that's a go to for me. (Invisible Glass now). So far so good with my tops,,,only been 8 months, but have no complaints. I am a klutz, so I'm trying to be careful on dropping things on it, yoi, I've been known to drop things. So if 'my drop' hits the counter, it just bounces onto the ceramic tile floor!! thanks for any replies.

Good morning from Pam to Pammie! I use Weiman granite cleaner; it can also be used on marble. It works beautifully. Somebody mentioned Method Granite Cleaner, too, and I've used that as well. Both are fine. For just my weekly cleaning, I use soap and very hot water. Every Saturday morning, after feeding my cats their breakfast, I remove everything from my countertops. Then I clean them down. I clean everything and put it all back on the counters. (In fairness, I also did this when we had our laminate counters, too. It's my routine Saturday "clean the kitchen" morning.)

We've had our counters for almost two years now and they're still going strong. While I don't use my counters as a cutting board, I do cut my dough right on the counter. No problem.

I don't know how you handle a granite cutting board! You must have good arm muscles!

[misspammie]

Pamela Sue, me strong like bull (as my BaBa used to say). counters really don't get that dirty, but ya know, dust etc. I'll even check under the sink,,,,,sad but true, there are a lot more products under there than I remember. Thanks for reply Pams

[Marienkaefer2]

I have granite and I like it.

In a previous house I.had white ceramic tile. I liked that too, at that time.

[ive been framed]

Everyone I know who owns granite counters love them.

My SIL's neighbor replaced their laminate tops with a beautiful dark granite when they were selling their house. The new couple that bought the house didn't like the dark heavy look and ended up tearing it out and replaced it with granite in a lighter color! All that wasted time and money for the sellers! The new people gave a nice slab of the dark granite to my SIL and her DH made it into an outdoor table top to use as a work station next to the grill. Really beautiful and useful!

I think what is practical for you is what you should choose. I heard quartz is great as well but tends to chip easier than granite.